[BNS_members] Protecting Old Growth Forest in Kentville

[Caroline Beddoe]

Good day,

I hope you are enjoying this pleasant summer's day, after some hard 
weeks in this province. With the heat and rains, and some other projects 
on the go, summer programming has been subdued for us this year. We will 
send some updates about upcoming events and programming soon, and 
meanwhile Flying Squirrel Adventures continues with their great 
programs.

However, we do have an advocacy action to note, and are encouraging 
local members to get engaged to help protect old forest in Kentville.

The BNS has learned of an area of old-growth forest being proposed for 
expropriation and road development in Kentville. Supporting this issue 
falls in line with our values and our existing work to support nature, 
support the Save Our Old Forests campaign, and advocate for protected 
areas (including the proposed Chain Lakes Wilderness Areas in southwest 
Kings County).

Ron Cousins of 88 School St has received a letter asking him to sell (or 
it will be expropriated) 1.6 acres of a 27 acre forested parcel of land 
he owns. This parcel of land is in behind the water tower and School St 
and Prospect Street, accessed by the dirt Hiltz Connector trail, which 
the Town seeks to further develop and enlarge as they build out that 
part of town over the next years. Ron has stewarded the land, only 
selectively cutting in some areas, and the area slated for 
sale/expropriation has never been cut in his lifetime nor since or 
before the land was bought in the 1940s. It seems developing across his 
land is preferable for road flow - but at what cost! And there is an 
alternate route through more recently disturbed land.

The Blomidon Naturalists Society Board has sent a letter to Mayor Snow 
and Kentville Town Council asking that the proposed road development of 
the Hiltz Connector Road be amended to avoid cutting a 1.6-acre parcel 
of old-growth forest, as determined by naturalists and ecologists among 
the BNS, currently owned by Mr Ron Cousins. We urge Town Council to deny 
the expropriation of Mr. Ron Cousins' land, and to uphold ecological 
protection in a time of biodiversity loss and climate crisis.  This 
could be a good win for Kentville and our local biodiversity.

You can see our letter, attached. We welcome other BNS members, 
especially those in the area, to send their own letters of support, if 
desired. There may be a need to show up to a Council meeting, too.

Other seeking to learn more or get involved may contact myself or:

Ron Cousins, landowner, 902-678-2080

Or his neighbour Garry Randall: garryerandall at gmail.com

-- 
Caroline Beddoe
  She/her
  613-619-1098
  Program Coordinator
  Blomidon Naturalists Society
  Wolfville, Nova Scotia

_ Blomidon Naturalists Society activities take place in Mi'kma'ki, the 
traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq People. We 
acknowledge that we have a responsibility to honour and learn about 
their histories and current cultures and to actively work in support of 
reconciliation. We are committed to fostering respectful and sustainable 
relationships with the Indigenous Peoples of this land, with all other 
organisms, with the land and with the water._
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/pipermail/members_blomidonnaturalists.ca/attachments/20230731/7520235c/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Old Growth Forest - Letter to Kentville Town Council.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 2153324 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/pipermail/members_blomidonnaturalists.ca/attachments/20230731/7520235c/attachment-0001.docx>