Posted May 18, 2010, 7:16 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: B3K Halifax, NS
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Sable Island
I wasn't sure where to put this so ....
Sable Island to become national park
By OUR STAFF
Tue. May 18 - 1:48 PM
Sable Island will be designated a national park, the Nova Scotia and federal governments announced today.
"The national park designation gives Sable Island the highest level of protection of its natural and cultural features," Nova Scotia's Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell said in a news release.
"The next step is to hear from Mi'kmaq and others as we work with the federal government on an agreement to conserve and manage the island for present and future generations."
MacDonell made the announcement with Jim Prentice, the minister responsible for Parks Canada, that the ecologically sensitive island will soon have the protections of a national park under the Canada National Parks Act.
"In this the International Year of Biodiversity, what better way to celebrate than by ensuring the long-lasting protection of Sable Island, its majestic horses and some of the rarest birds and wildlife in Canada by designating it a national park?" Prentice said in the release.
Conservation groups wrote to both levels of government last Friday, urging them to protect Sable Island. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Ecology Action Centre and Sable Island Green Horse Society said they want the island to become a national park.
The groups have growing concerns that more people will visit the island, which could endanger the wildlife and ecosystem.
"Nobody wants to see Sable Island turned into a theme park or even one of the national parks that’s overrun with visitors," Chris Miller, national manager for wilderness society, a non-governmental society that tries to protect natural landscapes, told The Chronicle Herald last week.
Describing the island as "precious" and "iconic," he said the groups believe capping the number of visitors is vital and that the national park designation would make that easier.
Public consultations on the conservation, management and operational issues with the island as a national park will begin soon, the release says.
In January, both levels of government created the Canada-Nova Scotia Sable Island Task Group to recommend whether the island should get a national park designation or be a national wildlife area. That group, consisting of Parks Canada, Environment Canada and Nova Scotia's Department of Natural Resources, recommended the national park designation.
The island is home to many at-risk species, including most of the world population of the Ipswich Savannah sparrow. It is also home to 150 to 400 wild horses, numerous migrant and breeding birds, harbour seals and the world's largest congregation of breeding grey seals.
( webeditors@herald.ca )
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By the way, why do they need to consult with the Mi'kmaq on this one? Sable Island was never part of their traditional territory and I don't see how it could infringe on any of their rights so I don't know what interest they could possible have. It's probably the only piece of land in Atlantic Canada that you can definitely say that about!
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