By Liv Monck-Whipp, Nature Trust Stewardship Coordinator

While the places the Nature Trust protects are mostly beautiful, ecologically significant wilderness, some of them come with… a little extra. I’m talking trash. Garbage. A little litter if we’re lucky, but occasionally dumpsites that have been accumulating junk for years, everything from old tires, shingles, and plastic bottles to discarded lobster dinner leftovers (true story!).

In the spirit of spring cleaning, I wanted to share some insights from the past year about how we go about taking the rubbish out of the wild!

Property Guardians on Guard against Garbage

Nature Trust Property Guardians (PGs) are the primary, and most important defense against garbage. As PGs are regularly at the properties they help steward, they generally are the first to notice if any new litter shows up. Many PGs regularly bring a bag with them to remove garbage when they are out on the land, or help Nature Trust staff assess what resources are needed for removing dump sites.

We know this amazing work has been going on for years, but recently we’ve developed some better ways to track these contributions, which has revealed some awesome insights!

Consistent Efforts

One PG in particular, Kim McCallum, has made a long-term commitment to remove any litter that appears along the trail she walks with her dog on the Pennant River Conservation Lands. This may seem like a small act, but her continued dedication to protecting this area adds up – her regular visits prevent litter from accumulating, and we estimate she’s removed between 5-10kg in the past year, one or two bottles at a time.

While we wish people wouldn’t litter, we’re so glad that there are folks like Kim who care and show up consistently for nature!

Team Work Makes the Dream Work

When there’s a bigger bunch of garbage, sometimes we need to team up! Last year we had several group clean ups to remove small dump sites on Conservation Lands.

Joline and Mary with their garbage haul

When I contacted long-time PGs Mary Guptill and Joline Belliveau about some help removing garbage at the newly protected Gilfillan Lake (Inkberry Shores) Conservation Lands, they were there in a heartbeat! In just a few short hours, we’d pulled over 180 kg from the brush, including paint cans, a massive old rug and even several old pesticide containers (yikes)!

Riki Kerbrat + QLF Interns cleaned up several dump sites last year.

Similarly, our Field Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, Riki Kerbrat, led visiting interns from the Quebec Labrador Foundation in removing garbage from our Barren Meadow and Tangier Conservation Lands. This small but mighty crew removed 430kgs, almost half a metric ton in just a couple of days!

Supporting local businesses while supporting nature

For newly protected Conservation Lands, sometimes there are historic dumpsites that are just too big to tackle without specialized skills or equipment. In these cases, we work with contractors to remove the garbage. Our Land Management Coordinator, Fiona Dulanto-Hassenstein has been organizing much of this work, hiring local community members and supporting small businesses, while also achieving stewardship outcomes.

It all adds up!

Between Property Guardians and staff, we tidied up 26 sites across Nova Scotia in 2025, resulting in over 1,500 kg of garbage removed.

It’s relatively easy to measure the weight of the garbage removed. But what’s even more meaningful and harder to measure is the impacts this has on nature and the people who care for it – microplastics gone, eyesores removed, habitats improved, spirits lifted, and hope renewed.

Here’s to another season of stewardship!