Post by IAMCAPER on Jul 13, 2004 14:08:22 GMT -4
An area of the Mabou Highlands totalling 200 acres will be protected under a legal conservation agreement between the Nova Scotia Nature Trust and landowners.
The properties are part of a larger, 2,000-acre area of the Mabou Highlands which Nature Trust is looking to protect through partnerships with adjacent landowners.
Bonnie Sutherland, executive director of the Nature Trust, said the conservation of the coastal wilderness was started by landowners 20 years ago, including the late Wilbur Walworth and Jean Rosner.
“Both passed away during the time of this and they were the leaders,” said Sutherland. “I think it’s a really important thing to enthuse the landowners again about this and believe it can happen without Jean there.
“Ecologically, it’s really significant in itself, even if the remainder of the 2000 doesn’t get protected. It’s a spectacular coastline (and) unroaded wilderness.”
According to the organization, the 200 acres located just outside of Inverness near Sight Point includes a number of different wildlife habitats, ancient forests, meadows and four major brook systems which cascade from the highlands to rugged beaches and rocky shores.
The site also has a hiking trail network created and managed by the Mabou Trail Club.
The Nature Trust, formed in 1994, is a non-government, charitable land conservation organization looking to protect significant natural areas on private land in the province.
The group secured a number of conservation easements to protect land in the area. The easement is a legal agreement that protects the natural values of a property, is registered with the deed and binds all future landowners.
The easement can be tailored for each property to ensure it protects the conservation values of the land, while allowing other environmentally friendly uses. It can still be sold or passed on to heirs, but all future owners are subject to the easement restrictions.
Sutherland said along with the environmental benefits, the land is also a boost towards the eco-tourism industry as well.
“By the landowners doing this, it helps to make sure the land is going to stay,” she said. “If it became overdeveloped, it would be like everywhere else.
“What makes it really special and what makes hikers go out of their way to go there, is that there aren’t all of those facilities . . . it’s kind of remote and special.”
To celebrate the achievement, the Nature Trust will host a celebratory ceilidh Saturday in Glendale.
The properties are part of a larger, 2,000-acre area of the Mabou Highlands which Nature Trust is looking to protect through partnerships with adjacent landowners.
Bonnie Sutherland, executive director of the Nature Trust, said the conservation of the coastal wilderness was started by landowners 20 years ago, including the late Wilbur Walworth and Jean Rosner.
“Both passed away during the time of this and they were the leaders,” said Sutherland. “I think it’s a really important thing to enthuse the landowners again about this and believe it can happen without Jean there.
“Ecologically, it’s really significant in itself, even if the remainder of the 2000 doesn’t get protected. It’s a spectacular coastline (and) unroaded wilderness.”
According to the organization, the 200 acres located just outside of Inverness near Sight Point includes a number of different wildlife habitats, ancient forests, meadows and four major brook systems which cascade from the highlands to rugged beaches and rocky shores.
The site also has a hiking trail network created and managed by the Mabou Trail Club.
The Nature Trust, formed in 1994, is a non-government, charitable land conservation organization looking to protect significant natural areas on private land in the province.
The group secured a number of conservation easements to protect land in the area. The easement is a legal agreement that protects the natural values of a property, is registered with the deed and binds all future landowners.
The easement can be tailored for each property to ensure it protects the conservation values of the land, while allowing other environmentally friendly uses. It can still be sold or passed on to heirs, but all future owners are subject to the easement restrictions.
Sutherland said along with the environmental benefits, the land is also a boost towards the eco-tourism industry as well.
“By the landowners doing this, it helps to make sure the land is going to stay,” she said. “If it became overdeveloped, it would be like everywhere else.
“What makes it really special and what makes hikers go out of their way to go there, is that there aren’t all of those facilities . . . it’s kind of remote and special.”
To celebrate the achievement, the Nature Trust will host a celebratory ceilidh Saturday in Glendale.