Protecting Our Precious Nature Areas

Land deal hailed as landmark
Conservancy purchases massive area from Irving
By SHERRI BORDEN COLLEY Staff Reporter
Thu. Jan 14 - 4:47 AM


Linda Stephenson, regional vice-president of the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Atlantic division, announces the acquisition of 1,485 hectares of land in southwestern Nova Scotia. (Peter Parsons / Staff)


A landmark deal reached between the Nature Conservancy of Canada and J.D. Irving Ltd. was hailed Wednesday as the largest private land conservation initiative ever in Nova Scotia.

The land — about 20 times the size of Halifax’s Point Pleasant Park — was purchased by the conservancy from J.D. Irving for a price that is below the property’s appraised value, but neither side, as yet, is disclosing the purchase price.

"At the moment, I’m bound by a confidentiality agreement because there are still lands on the market, although we will certainly be making all the details public in the future," Linda Stephenson, regional vice-president of the Nature Conservancy’s Atlantic Region, told reporters.

"It will become public information because there are public funds in it but today I’m not able to do that."

The land is valued at over $4.5-million.

The acquisition of the 12 properties, almost 1,485 hectares, will preserve some of Nova Scotia’s most critical habitat in Shelburne and Yarmouth counties. The properties are situated in the areas of Quinns Meadow, Bennetts Lake, Lac de l’Ecole, Third Lake and Pearl Lake, about 30 kilometres northeast of Yarmouth.

They include large tracts of forests, lakes, wetlands and shoreline along the Tusket and Clyde river systems and provides habitat to the red maple, black spruce, American black bear and bobcat.

The land is situated in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, an area formed after glacial action submerged the land bridge linking Nova Scotia and Massachusetts. In the process populations of plants were isolated, resulting in what is now referred to as the Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora.

Twelve species of the flora are known to exist on or adjacent to the acquired properties. Many are rare to Nova Scotia and are either provincially or nationally threatened species, including the Plymouth gentian and long’s bulrush.

"This is a project of historic scale. It’s the largest such private sector land conservation action that’s ever been undertaken in the Maritime provinces," Bill Freedman, a trustee with the Nova Scotia Crown Share Land Legacy Trust, told a Halifax news conference.

The trust is an arms-length organization, established by the provincial government almost two years ago, that provides matching funds to help purchase protected lands.

"The . . . trust is highly selective in the projects that we support. They must meet high standards in terms of their biodiversity targets and their stewardship goals," Mr. Freedman said.

The federal government and the trust each contributed close to $2-million towards the purchase.

"We’ve had our eye on these lands for a long time . . . but when they came on the market, it was just a natural fit for us," Ms. Stephenson said.

When J.D. Irving first contemplated the sale of the lands, one of the first groups, in addition to the province, the company approached was the nature conservancy, said J.D. Irving spokeswoman Mary Keith.

"We’ve had the pleasure of working with the nature conservancy for many years both in the U.S. and in Canada. They do vital work and they make a significant contribution," Ms. Keith said.

Nova Scotia is committed to legally protecting 12 per cent — 6,630 square kilometres — of the province’s landmass by 2015, as set out by the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act.

Last May, the province put in a bid for 85 square kilometres of J.D. Irving-owned land in western Nova Scotia. The undisclosed amount offered was turned down by Irving.

( sborden@herald.ca)