Halifax Field Naturalists

Today’s decision confirms that Nova Scotia’s ESA is the law, and not a set of vague or voluntary guidelines. The Minister is required to fulfill the law’s mandatory requirements to protect some of the province’s most vulnerable species. – Sarah McDonald, Ecojustice lawyer

Ram’s Head orchid

The Minister of Lands and Forestry (the Minister) is responsible for implementing the ESA [Endangered Species Act]. The Applicants say the Minister has failed to implement the ESA as it pertains to six representative species: Mainland Moose, Ram’s-head Lady Slipper, Canada Warbler, Black Ash, Wood Turtle, and Eastern Wood Pewee. Each of these species is native to Nova Scotia and is listed as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable under the ESA. The Applicants [Robert Bancroft, Federation of Nova Scotia Naturalists, Blomidon Naturalists Society and The Halifax Field Naturalists with East Coast Environmental Law Association as Intervenor] seek a declaration that the Minister’s failure to implement the ESA, specifically section 15, is unlawful and unreasonable; an order of mandamus; and a supervisory order by which the court would retain jurisdiction and require the Minister to produce status reports on the implementation of section 15.

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The volunteer work of HFN members Grace and Richard Beazley with the NS Nature Trust are featured in a recent post on NSNT’s blog:
Volunteer All-Stars Richard & Grace: Helping conserve nature one clean basement at a time
By Andrew Robinson on nsnt.ca/blog. Mar 23, 2020.

Photo from the NSNT blog post

“With a lifetime spent in the health sciences field, Richard and Grace Beazley knew they wanted an active retirement—doing something healthy and physical in the outdoors. That decision, made almost 20 years ago, opened doors and opportunities they might never have expected…The Beazleys desire for an active retirement led them to become Property Guardians, first at Purcell’s Cove and later at Meander River.”

Read more to find out about basement cleaning!

Both of those properties will be familiar to many HFN members. HFN was involved in the initial purchase of the Purcell’s Cove Conservation Lands in the early 2000s and Richard and Grace led several field trips to the NSNT Meander River property over the years. The Beazleys have also led HFN members to many wonderful waterfall sites, not to mention their many other volunteer activities with HFN.

So it’s nice to learn about their basement-cleaning skills too!

From action.cpaws.org:

“The Nova Scotia government has secretly de-listed Owls Head Provincial Park Reserve and is now preparing to sell-off these public lands to a private developer who is interested in building golf courses.

“This decision was made behind-closed-doors with ZERO public consultation. The only reason why this delisting is known is because of the investigative reporting by Michael Gorman at CBC Nova Scotia.

“We urgently need your help to STOP the Nova Scotia government from selling off this coastal park for private development.

“Please send an email to Premier Stephen McNeil that calls on the government to 1) stop the sale of public lands at Owls Head, and 2) immediately protect these lands using the Wilderness Areas Protection Act.”

The CPAWS Action Website provides a form for sending a letter – please do

For more about this important conservation issue:
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A Canadian Press article on CTV news highights Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes. “Geoffrey Grantham sits painting the granite slope and wind-blown jack pine reflected in the waters of a Nova Scotia lake, his mind far from the busy city just a short walk away. It only took minutes for the 48-year-old artist to hike from a big-box retail hub in Halifax’s west end into the tranquility of the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes urban wilderness. He is among the growing number of eco-tourists — ranging from painters and bird watchers to walkers and canoeists — who journey to this area, often by bus, bike or on foot…” Artist Geoffey Grantham, veteran canoe-kayaker Dusan Soudec, Friends of Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes and Halifax North West Trails Association are all cited – and the long road to actually seeing the area as a Regional Park.

UPDATE Wed Sep 25, 2019: The Amendment “to the Regional Plan’s conservation design development agreement policies to specifically reference the Important and Essential Corridors shown on Map 5)”  received unanimous approval at yesterdays meeting of Halifax Regional Council.

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Map 5 in the Halifax Green Network Plan
Click on image for larger version and legend

Halifax (HRM) is blessed with phenomenal natural assets. In June of 2018, Regional Council tabled the Final Draft of the The Halifax Green Network Plan  which “provides land management and community design direction to:
– maintain ecologically and culturally important land and aquatic systems;
– promote the sustainable use of natural resources and economically important open spaces; and
– identify, define and plan land suited for parks and corridors”

The Essential and Important Corridors shown in Map 5 above allow movement genetic exchange of plants and animals, large and small, between otherwise isolated patches of natural habitat within HRM and across the boundaries of HRM. Without those corridors, biodiversity and ecosystems services provided by our natural spaces will inevitably decline – such habitat fragmentation and isolation is a major driver of the massive species losses currently in progress globally and locally.

Legislative followup to the HGNP is required to actually protect those corridors and  is urgent as some development has already occurred or been approved within those corridors,

“Consequently, to avoid potential conflicts in the near term, staff recommend a narrowly focused amendment to the Regional Plan’s conservation design development agreement policies to specifically reference the Important and Essential Corridors shown on Map 5, Green Network Ecology Map, contained in the HGNP. This will provide a clearer, more up-to-date basis for municipal staff and developers to consider such corridors as part of the conservation design development agreement process.”

HRM is only considering this change – it hasn’t happened yet. We need your help to ensure that they amend the Regional Plan to require all conservation design (rural residential development) to plan based on the ecological findings of the Green Network Plan.

What you can do: attend the hearing or write in advance (by 3 pm Monday, Sep 23 see below for venues) to support the amendment, asking HRM to not allow development to compromise connectivity or the ecological network in any way.

Even a few words to your  Councillor and Mayor Savage will help:  e.g., to  say you are strongly in support of an amendment to the Regional Plan’s conservation design development agreement policies to specifically reference the Important and Essential Corridors shown on Map 5 .
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