902-425-5263 (LAND)
Land Stewards
Majestic stands of Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch, and White Ash once dominated the rolling hills and fertile lands of the Annapolis Valley. For more than 200 years now, the Valley landscape has been highly altered by human activities, where today, only small isolated stands of old forest still remain. The goal of the Land Stewards project was to undertake ecological restoration work at three of its Valley properties with the intent to return parts of these lands to pre-settlement conditions. The two year Project from 2002 to 2004 just recently closed, and featured a habitat restoration initiative that encouraged native forest regeneration and re-establishment. Activities included manual removal of invasive species, planting of old growth forest species, the removal of garbage, hazardous fencing and wiring, the design and installation of signage to reduce the threat of inappropriate public use, and finally, in building stewardship monitoring teams as a local presence to oversee the care of these properties in the longer term.
More than 60 volunteers were involved in making the Land Stewards Project a great success. Many of the volunteers will maintain their association with Project and with the Nature Trust to continue with on going ecological restoration work and/or as volunteer land stewards for the properties. By involving local communities directly in our work, the Nature Trust has contributed to the enhancement of a stewardship ethic and sense of pride in the protected areas.
Thank you to our sponsors: Environment Canada's EcoAction Community Funding Program, Shell Environmental Fund and Mountain Equipment Coop.
Thank you to our team of volunteers for your time and dedication to this Project: Mr. George Alliston, Kings Regional Working Group, NSCC at Kingstec, Acadia University, NS Department of Environment and Labour, NS. Department of Natural Resources, and Nature Trust volunteers.
Sponsors
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| EcoAction | Shell Environmental Fund | Mountain Equipment Co-op |