“Nature is how I unwind,” says Peter Himmelman, who’s been volunteering as a Property Guardian since 2021. “It’s what I do to de-stress, and it’s been like that my whole life.” Peter grew up roaming around the woods of Nova Scotia and has carried his love of the outdoors into his adult life. “Getting out into nature is something that is very important to me,” he says, “and it is something that we often do together as a family.” He notes that the vast majority of the family trips that he and his wife, Loreley, have taken their four children on have revolved around camping and visiting favourite beaches. Peter adds that at least one of his children almost always joins him on his Property Guardian monitoring visits to Goose Point, the coastal land under his care.

As a teacher, Peter also explains that nature offers him a good balance to the high energy school environment. “After being in school all day,” he explains, “it can be nice to be around fewer people.”

Peter’s training as a teacher extends well beyond the classroom. Among other additional degrees, he completed a Certificate in Outdoor Education from St. FX which, he says, “solidified my skills and confidence to take kids out into nature.” He graduated from the program certified to lead groups hiking, canoeing, doing archery, mountain biking, and several other outdoor adventures, as well as trained in Advanced Wilderness First Aid and other general outdoor skills.

Peter now works in a Junior/Senior high school in Shelburne. “I work with kids who find attending school to be a challenge because of things like behaviour or anxiety,” he says, “so I help them develop strategies and support networks that enable them to become more independent.” Part of that work includes running the school’s Duke of Edinburgh program, which “empowers young people to learn and grow through non-formal education” outside the classroom. Participants volunteer in the community, engage in physical activity, learn new skills, and challenge themselves. For thirteen years, Peter has taken students in the program to Kejimkujik, but this year he just upped the challenge by taking two students camping in the wilds of the Tobeatic.

He happened to catch wind of the Nature Trust during the 100 Wild Islands Legacy Campaign. He remembers, “It matched with what I felt – that we should be keeping wild areas wild but still enjoy them.” He signed up as a volunteer just as the pandemic was in full swing, participating in the volunteer onboarding process online, and was assigned as a Property Guardian for Goose Point (previously called “Port La Tour Beach”), which the Nature Trust had just succeeded in protecting.

“I just love the variety of the land there,” Peter says. “There’s something different every time you go. It’s a really rough property [and] there are a number of bogs that need to be monitored, so there’s a lot of bushwhacking involved – crawling and pushing through the brush.”

He adds, “I thought a bog was a bog until I walked through, and I saw the difference between a cranberry bog and a black spruce bog, for example.” He aims to visit the property every six weeks or so, so that it’s clear to other visitors that the land is being cared for. In the last two years he has also helped to monitor several other coastal properties in the area, making connections with local residents and long-time visitors to the lands now under Nature Trust protection. This summer, he’ll add lands at Gilfillan Lake to his Property Guardian roster and adds that he’s “looking forward to seeing the difference between an inland property and the shoreline properties.”

“I’ve really enjoyed volunteering,” he says. “It’s neat that you’re seen as responsible for the property, even though it’s the Nature Trust’s property – we’re volunteers, but we’re treated as part of the team. Everybody is appreciative and supportive, and it really feels like, ‘we need your help!’”

This is absolutely true – the Nature Trust’s accelerated pace of saving lands is showing no signs of slowing, and Property Guardians like Peter are essential to caring for these special places and ensuring that they remain “forever wild.”

Please join us in thanking Peter – and all of our Property Guardians – for his care and commitment to protecting nature!