Nature Conservancy of Canada protects Yarmouth County island
Habitat protected for nationally-rare salt marsh species on World Wetlands Day
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has announced a significant conservation effort in Lobster Bay, Yarmouth County. The notfor-profit land trust has conserved a 25-hectare (61-acre) island that contains a plant that is rare in Canada and listed as threatened under the Canadian Species at Risk Act.
NCC’s newly protected island provides important salt marsh habitat for the eastern baccharis (pronounced BACK- are- is), a flowering shrub measuring about 3 metres tall that, in Canada, is found only in Nova Scotia. Approximately 3,000 of these shrubs, the entire Canadian population, can be found in the marshes of Lobster Bay, Nova Scotia.
The eastern baccharis is at the northern tip of its range in Nova Scotia, and is more common on the east and southern coasts of the U.S.
NCC’s Lobster Bay island is a drumlin, a rich mound of soil and rocky debris formed thousands of years ago by retreating glaciers. Along with the eastern baccharis, the conservation area supports a mix of black spruce, white spruce, red maple and aspen, and provides valuable salt marsh habitat for shorebirds and waterfowl, such as willets and American black ducks.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada purchased the property from John Brett of Halifax, who wanted to see its rare salt marsh plants permanently protected. This conservation project was supported by funding from the Government of Canada through the Natural Areas Conservation Program, the Nova Scotia Crown Share Legacy Trust and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.
NCC has now completed two conservation projects in the Lobster Bay region, building on work by the Province of Nova Scotia to establish the Tusket Islands Wilderness Area.
“The Nature Conservancy of Canada wishes to thank land owner John Brett, the Government of Canada, the Nova Scotia Land Legacy Trust, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and our individual donors for helping us conserve this nationally significant salt marsh habitat,” said Craig Smith, Nova Scotia Program Director, Nature Conservancy of Canada. “NCC is very pleased to be able to have protected this habitat for the eastern baccharis, as part of our ongoing efforts to conserve coastal wilderness on the south shore of Nova Scotia.”
The former land owner John Brett said, “I am most gratified, and my late mother and father would also be most gratified to know that Tete a Millie is now protected for all time by the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
“Unique to the area is the shrub eastern baccharis, which I first no- ticed while walking the marshes on Tete a Millie shore back about 15 years ago,” he said. “This presence was confirmed by Ray Fielding, author of Shrubs of Nova Scotia. As an amateur naturalist you can imagine how excited I was: it’s not every day you come across a large, prominent shrub that turns out to be the only member of its genus to be found in the entire country! And here it was, hiding in plain sight.”