Over 300 people, young and old, attended the public meeting for the Facilitator’s Report on the Blue Mountain Birch Cove Lakes Regional Park; the room accommodated less than 200. No questions or discussion were allowed and the microphone was turned off when participants attempted to hold their own discussions after presentations by the Facilitator, HRM and a developer. An audio of the meeting is available here.
The developer’s slides did not show the hardscaping (shown in map at left) that would occur under their plan. Under the original concept of the Regional Park, there would be a core wilderness area, with a outdoor recreation-oriented park providing a buffer outside of the wilderness area as well as access to the core wilderness area. HRM committed to purchasing private lands as necessary for the latter. The core wilderness area is now a Wilderness Protected Area set up by the province in 2009 on this understanding. Under the developers’ plan, hardscape would abut directly on the protected wilderness area. It would enclose a large portion of the Keji-like lakes. The watershed would be heavily impacted and we would lose a priceless asset and a lot of what makes Halifax such an attractive place to live and work.
The Blue Mt Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area is a sister wilderness to the Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area, and like the FBLWA, it’s worth fighting for. Please see the See EAC document and the facilitator’s report (and/or listen to the audio) and send your comments to Regional Council by 3 pm Monday July 4 – see HRM page.