Reconnect With Wild Places
(Department of Natural Resources)
Opinion piece by Dylan Yates, NSEN’s Information and Communications Manager
There is something about wild places that resonates with me, whether it is a picturesque landscape or the call of a loon echoing across a lake. I can’t imagine a world without wild places.
Each day around the world wild places are being destroyed and wildlife is being pushed to the edge of extinction and we are not doing enough to save them.
In Nova Scotia there are many forms of flora and fauna that are endangered and in need of our protection. What does protection mean? It means more than just words, without enforcement what is the point of having protections in the first place?
I have over the years come to realize that just because we have protective measures doesn’t mean they are always followed, even by those who are tasked with enforcing them. In May of 2020, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice ruled that the Province had failed to live up to its self-prescribed legal obligations to protect species at risk and ordered the minister of lands and forestry to fulfil those duties.
I have also witnessed over the years the lack of respect for our natural places even in areas that are classified as protected. Just a few kilometers from my home lies a migratory bird sanctuary which is in the process of receiving a new designation.
What does this mean? This means more protections will be added to an area where regulations are very rarely enforced or respected. Time and time again I witness off-highway vehicles as well as trucks driving on sensitive dune systems and dogs off their leashes running amok in areas where these actions are prohibited under the federal species at risk act.
The beach barrier is littered with many forms of harmful plastics. Some washing in from other areas but the majority left behind by beachgoers. Several pairs of endangered piping plovers are known to nest on this barrier, and the entire sanctuary is home to a variety of birds including terns, willets, American black ducks, great blue heron, gulls and Canada geese. Low tide is when the magic happens, thousands of birds can be seen scavenging for food on the tidal flats. It is a bird watchers dream.
Piping Plover (Species at risk Canada, n.d.)
It may seem meniscal to some, but one of the threats to the piping plover’s survival are humans (on foot and in vehicles) and dogs disturbing plover families and sometimes destroying their nests. (Species at risk Canada, n.d.) Educate yourself and your family about endangered species and why it is important to follow posted signage and regulations when visiting sensitive areas.
Much of my free time is spent cleaning shorelines throughout Cape Breton removing thousands of pounds of litter and each time I return it is much of the same. It is evidence of our carelessness and disregard for everything around us. It is evidence of our disposable and wasteful behavior that we have become so accustomed to. When did we as a society become so disconnected from the natural world?
When I first heard about the Nova Scotia mainland moose issue and how habitat loss and fragmentation was driving their population decline, I was not surprised. In 2003 they made their way onto the endangered species list, and things have been going downhill ever since. Nova Scotia Mainland moose are native to Nova Scotia and are a different subspecies to those found in Cape Breton, which were reintroduced in the 1940s from Alberta. (Species at risk Canada, n.d.)
Poor land management practices are leading to increased clearcutting and transforming wilderness areas into barren wastelands. I am not against forestry; I think we can all agree it is an essential part of life. However, we need to create balance between harvesting and protecting our endangered species. Two years ago, Richard Amero photographed a moose and her calf on Crown land that he says is now being logged by Nova Scotia's Department of Lands and Forestry. Nova Scotia mainland moose are facing extirpation and we must do everything we can to help their populations rebound before it is too late. Interview with Bob Bancroft, Retired Wildlife Biologist
“The land does not belong to us, we belong to the land. We are one, intertwined, not separate. We owe everything we are to the natural world around us.”
THE DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTRY NEEDS TO UPHOLD THEIR OBLIGATIONS AND PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES IN NOVA SCOTIA
Voice your concerns for the mainland moose in Nova Scotia
Contact your elected officials!
Minister of Lands and Forestry, Derek Mombourquette
Phone: (902) 424-5935
Fax: (902) 424-7735
mindnr@novascotia.ca
Premier, Stephen Mcneil
Phone: (902) 424-6600
Fax: (902) 424-7648
Email: premier@novascotia.ca
Minister of Nova Scotia Environment, Gordon Wilson
Phone: 902-424-3736
Fax: (902) 424-1599
Email: minister.environment@novascotia.ca
Contact your local Member of the Legislative Assembly