Examine says golf course would threaten uncommon crops, birds at Cape Breton’s West Mabou Seashore

Ecologists say a proposed golf course in West Mabou Seashore Provincial Park would threaten uncommon crops and birds.

The resort developer Cabot Cape Breton has two 18-hole programs in close by Inverness, N.S., and is eyeing the park for a 3rd.

The corporate first indicated an curiosity within the space in 2018, however met with stiff resistance.

That is when the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society determined to get entangled, stated Chris Miller, the Nova Scotia chapter’s govt director.

“We anticipated that the golf course builders would take one other run at West Mabou Seashore provincial park, so we pre-emptively did some discipline work there to doc the biodiversity,” he stated.

A 2019 examine by Alain Belliveau of Acadia College, commissioned by the society, discovered the distinctive sand dunes and wetlands contained not less than 17 uncommon crops and animals, together with 4 birds which are listed below the provincial Endangered Species Act.

“The place you’ve uncommon ecosystem varieties, you are additionally going to get uncommon species, so within the case of West Mabou Seashore provincial park, there’s a number of several types of uncommon species in that comparatively small geographic space,” Miller stated.

Builders ought to look elsewhere for a brand new golf course, he stated.

Bob Bancroft, a retired provincial biologist and president of Nature Nova Scotia, agreed.

The Cabot Hyperlinks and Cabot Cliffs programs in close by Inverness ought to be sufficient, he stated.

“They’ve already received two golf programs there,” Bancroft stated. “They’ll survive with no third.”

Nature Nova Scotia is one in all a number of environmental teams that has simply launched a courtroom case looking for a judicial evaluation of latest federal species in danger rules.

Bancroft stated the principles used to determine a complete seaside as protected when endangered species, equivalent to piping plovers, are discovered.

This 12 months, the federal government modified that to cut back the protected space to the nesting website, one thing that can be tough to implement, stated Bancroft.

That is an issue, as a result of nesting birds sometimes transfer round relying on the tides and use the whole seaside to forage for meals, he stated.

West Mabou Seashore is below provincial jurisdiction, however Bancroft stated it is likely one of the few locations left that’s secure for endangered birds.

“They need to depart that protected seaside alone, as a result of the piping plover fairly frankly want it and so do a wide range of different species which are additionally on an endangered species record.”

Nova Scotia has a piping plover restoration plan that claims about 40 nesting pairs stay on 17 seashores throughout the province, however are threatened by coastal erosion and human interplay.

Cabot Cape Breton has not but submitted a proper proposal to the federal government, however not too long ago approached a number of local people organizations looking for assist and providing grants if the proposal goes forward.

The corporate has declined interview requests, saying it’s having conversations with the neighborhood first.

Supporters of the golf course say the realm wants financial growth.

However Miller stated growth at West Mabou Seashore would set a precedent and open up different protected areas.

“It is simply jam-packed stuffed with fascinating ecosystems which have necessary species, so any incursion into that park is of great concern to us and we’re actually involved in regards to the precedent that that creates, that it primarily might imply open season on all parks and guarded areas in Nova Scotia,” he stated.

“There’s different locations the place golf programs are extra applicable that are not our provincial protected lands.”

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s 2019 examine discovered 10 uncommon birds, 4 of that are listed in Nova Scotia’s Endangered Species Act:

• Piping plover (endangered)
• Financial institution swallow (endangered)
• Canada warbler (endangered)
• Olive-sided flycatcher (threatened)
• Boreal chickadee
• Pink-breasted nuthatch
• Higher yellowlegs
• Northern harrier
• Ruby-crowned kinglet
• Swainson’s thrush

It additionally discovered seven uncommon crops and lichens:

• Scaly pelt lichen
• Marsh grass-of-Parnassus
• Veinless pelt lichen
• Least moonwort
• Soapberry
• Canada germander
• Loesel’s twayblade