Protecting Sandy Lake - Sackville River Regional Park (webinar)
Event Recording
Event Summary
by Eleanor Willner-Fraser, NSEN Community Engagement Volunteer
On February 23rd, 2021, the Nova Scotia Environmental Network hosted its fifth live virtual coffeehouse event, which educated viewers about the conservation threats and opportunities for Sandy Lake, located near the top of the Bedford Basin. The cohosts for the event were Sophia Lindfield, a grade 12 student and NSEN volunteer, and Shaun Trainor, a Master of Psychology student and also an NSEN volunteer.
The presenter was Karen McKendry, a biologist, conservation planner, and environmental advocate working for the Ecology Action Centre and volunteering in nature education. She is also involved with the Sandy Lake-Sackville River Regional Park Coalition.
McKendry noted that, although she holds a personal connection to Sandy Lake, this body of water is also significant ecologically, and its changes and conservation efforts reflect the larger biodiversity crisis. She referred to a 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that determined that over one million species are at risk of extinction. One of the main causes of this species decline is habitat loss.
In her presentation, McKendry made the point that, these days, the climate crisis seems to eclipse the biodiversity crisis. She stressed, however, that “we have to work on both these crises—and, in fact, other crises—at the same time.”
McKendry provided an overview of Sandy Lake’s features that make it special for conservationists. Unlike most Nova Scotia lakes, it’s a deep blue lake, providing a home for fish, frogs, birds, and other wildlife. It’s part of the Sackville River watershed and is surrounded by patches of old-growth forest and drumlins, which are glacial deposits with very rich soil. Sandy Lake is naturally oligotrophic, meaning that it’s relatively low in plant nutrients. However, the lake is shifting toward being mesotrophic as its nutrient levels increase.
McKendry explained that there have been multiple studies of Sandy Lake over the past 40 years, including many by Dr. David Patriquin, a retired Dalhousie professor. Dr. Patriquin operates a website with natural history information about Sandy Lake and the surrounding area, including a list of species. The area has 15 species at risk and at least 99 species of breeding birds and forms an important wildlife corridor for accessing the Chebucto Peninsula.
Currently, 1000 acres around Sandy Lake are protected as Sandy Lake Regional Park or Jack Lake Regional Park, Jack Lake being a smaller lake nearby. Sandy Lake has a beach with swimming in the summer, and people access the area on informal trails. In 2013, there was clearcutting of about 300 acres near the lake, but the trees are starting to grow back. The Sandy Lake-Sackville River Regional Park Coalition wants to expand the park and see a further 1800 acres protected.
Map of proposed boundaries for Sandy Lake-Sackville River Regional Park (via https://sandylake.org/)
The Sandy Lake area has been slated for protection in Halifax planning documents since the 1970s, but it has never been fully designated as a park. The most recent Halifax Regional Municipal Planning Strategy (Regional Plan), in 2014, proposed to expand Jack Lake Park but also noted Sandy Lake as a potential growth centre. A new housing development near the lake could see 16,000 people move to the area.
McKendry explained that there hasn’t tended to be a systems plan for biodiversity and landscapes in Nova Scotia. “In a lot of municipalities in Nova Scotia, we don’t have a parks strategy or a greenspace strategy—it’s kind of done more ad hoc. That’s a kind of biodiversity death by a thousand cuts.”
McKendry acknowledged the need for housing in the Halifax Regional Municipality but argued that access to nature is also a human right. She emphasized the benefits of having nature close to the city in terms of residents’ health—especially during the pandemic—and in terms of getting people to care about nature.
In response to a question about climate change seeming to overshadow the biodiversity crisis, McKendry reflected that maybe framing climate change and biodiversity loss as an emergency has not been the best approach. After all, governments have made rapid changes and spent large sums of money in response to the global pandemic but have not reacted with the same urgency to nature issues. It may be more effective to frame “working on biodiversity conservation and restoration … as an exceptional opportunity.”
McKendry mentioned some new initiatives to promote biodiversity, including a project in some small Canadian municipalities to make a list of natural assets like wetlands in addition to traditional assets like swimming pools. In HRM, there’s a pilot project to let native plants grow in the strip between lanes of traffic. These types of small biodiversity projects allow people to reconnect with nature and feel empowered.
McKendry recommended that individuals who are concerned about Sandy Lake’s future should visit the lake and connect with their city councilor. They could even take their councilor on a walk by the lake to help instill a desire to protect this beautiful place. In addition, interested individuals can visit the Sandy Lake-Sackville River Regional Park Coalition website to learn more about the issue and sign up for updates. Expect an action to occur in the next year or so as there is a review of Halifax’s Regional Plan.
To stay up-to-date on the efforts to protect Sandy Lake, visit the Coalition’s website: