Major piece of mature forest protected in southwestern Nova Scotia

Rare plants and animals living in a large section of mature Wabanaki-Acadian forest can continue to thrive undisturbed, thanks to a new $2.8-million conservation deal in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has bought nearly 1,100 hectares of property, including mostly Wabanaki-Acadian forest, over 25 kilometres of lakefront shoreline and 130 hectares of freshwater wetlands in Upper Ohio, N.S.

"It's really significant because it's very big. It's the third-largest project that we've done in NCC's 50-year history here in Nova Scotia," Jaimee Morozoff, the group's program director for the province, told CBC Radio's Information Morning on Tuesday.

"It's a really unique site."

The area, about 25 kilometres north of Shelburne, first came to the nature conservancy's attention when it was listed by a realtor, Morozoff said.

She added that the property actually consists of 24 parcels, so the huge block of land could have been sold to multiple people and "24 different developments could have been on it."

This past summer, she said the NCC surveyed the property and found 300 different plants, including several rare species such as Virginia meadow beauty, swamp loosestrife and long-leaved panic grass. Several endangered lichens were also spotted.

The group noted 66 different bird species; among them 15 rare and three endangered ones, including the Canada warbler. It also found eastern painted turtle and snapping turtle, which are both listed as species of special concern.

The forest itself, which includes eastern hemlock, maples and white spruce, is a rare find. Only one to five per cent of mature forest remains intact in the Maritimes due to centuries of harvesting, said Morozoff. 

"That helps us to inform how we're going to manage the land and really just emphasizes how valuable it is for conservation," Morozoff said.

The NCC recognized the opportunity as "something really special," Morozoff said, and worked with the landowner and realtor to come up with a deal.

The group pulled together money from fundraising, private donors, federal and provincial governments, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to make the purchase.

The total project cost was just under $2.8 million — which includes the purchase price, stewardship funding, legal fees, land appraisals, land surveys and scientific data collection, the NCC said.

The Upper Ohio conservation area is mostly surrounded by conserved lands within the Indian Fields Provincial Park and Tobeatic Wilderness Area. The project also falls within the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, one of 18 such reserves in Canada.

"It's kind of a big chunk in the middle of it that helps to fill in some of those gaps and create a really large protected area for the species of Nova Scotia," said Morozoff.

The NCC said its next step is to develop a property management plan, which will identify conservation priorities and look at how people can enjoy the area for passive recreational uses.