Protecting nature on Cain’s Mountain
Exposed white cliffs, deep caverns and rare vegetation make Cain’s Mountain a spectacular sight even by Cape Breton standards.
But casting a shadow is a decades-old debris pile that has embedded itself into the ground.
The garbage consists of an old stove and other metal left behind from about 50 years ago.
The litter was in place before its most recent owner entrusted the property to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
NCC stewardship co-ordinator for Nova Scotia, Doug van Hemessen, said a group of volunteers from all over the province will spend about two hours Saturday cleaning up the 162-hectare property, located north of Ottawa Brook in Victoria County.
“It’s going to take a little bit of work to get it out,” van Hemessen said Wednesday.
“The plan is to have volunteers help lift it out and we’re going to bring it to a central location on the side of the road and the Municipality of Victoria County has kindly offered to pick it up from there.”
The property was designated as a nature reserve last year, following donation by Dave Newton, a former Cape Breton Post associate editor, and his wife Pam.
The largely untouched space, located between Little Narrows and Iona, features sinkholes, caves and white cliffs characteristic of gypsum topography. The property is divided by a road that can be travelled by vehicle.
As part of its unique features, the land houses species such the Canada warbler and olivesided flycatcher, as well as rare and uncommon plants like the large yellow lady’s slipper.
The land contribution from the Newton family will protect it from future mining developments, said van Hemessen.
“There’s always that possibility that those sites, and that material being in demand, could wind up being mined,” he said.
“We have also acquired some property right next door that we are referring to as Cain’s Mountain as well. It’s just sort of a continuation of that same area.”
The Nature Conservancy will hold a public session at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Wheelhouse Café in Grand Narrows to discuss its efforts in Cape Breton, with cleanup to follow at around 12 p.m.
Volunteers will be collecting garbage and debris for proper disposal. As well, purple loosestrife and invasive non-native plants present in an adjacent wetland, will also be removed.
The cleanup will run despite mild precipitation but will be cancelled under extreme rain or other unsafe weather conditions.
The Cain’s Mountain restoration project is among a half a dozen NCC volunteer events taking place in Nova Scotia this summer.
The Conservancy was started in the early 1960s by a plucky band of naturalists based in Ontario. The private, non-governmental group purchased their first property in Atlantic Canada in 1971 at Sight Point, Inverness County.
Anyone who is interested in volunteering as part of the Cain’s Mountain cleanup can register online at https://events.natureconservancy.ca/al-event/cains-mountainclean-up/.