Scientist Eric Mill's critique of NS’s inadequate wetland policy in comparison to other jurisdictions.
Originally sent to Mr Mark Parent, Minister of Environment and Labour, Province of Nova Scotia
Dear Mr Parent,
This note refers to the infilling of the saltmarsh and dune area that is going on along Hwy 332 in Rose Bay, Lunenburg County (the Sand Dollar Beach area).
As reported in yesterday's Chronicle-Herald, your officials consider the area "a sand dune complex" and thus suitable for development. I want to challenge that opinion. I do not believe that they are competent to judge the biological importance of such a system. The Rose Bay salt marsh - sand dune complex cannot be separated into discrete units, some suitable for infilling and development, others not. It is a unified ecosystem, in which changes in the protective dunes may affect the biologically very productive salt marsh within, and in which any changes in the marsh itself will affect current patterns, sediment deposition, and thus the nature of the beach and the dunes. Many East Coast jurisdictions - but not Nova Scotia - take a unified view of the relationships in coastal inlets like the Sand Dollar Beach area and will not permit development of any kind IN THE WHOLE ECOSYSTEM. Unfortunately, Nova Scotia is light-years behind this level of environmental protection. It is time to take a step to catch up by giving full protection to the Sand Dollar Beach ecosystem.
There are a number of other factors that should affect the possibility of development in areas like Sand Dollar Beach. I will mention two.
The first is the fact that the infilling and development is exactly in an area in which a threatened species, Nelson's Sharp- tailed Sparrow nests at Sand Dollar Beach. The South Shore area is one of the refuges of this endemic species, which is totally dependent on the drier vegetation above and along salt marshes and which we believe is decreasing in the Maritimes due to loss of habitat.
Another factor is the slow but inexorable effect of sea-level rise which is already beginning to affect coastal properties, along with the increase in recent years of northeasterly storms and storm surges. Sand Dollar Beach and its marine ecosystem are subject to both. Coastal developments like the one proposed here will be disastrous investments and this should be recognized now, not later when the losses of houses and property will be greater.
I would like to urge you to put a stop to the infilling along one of the South Shores small but very biologically-important saltmarsh-dune complexes, Sand Dollar Beach. Clearly some kind of negotiated solution will be needed. I urge you to help find one.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Eric L. Mills Professor Emeritus of Oceanography Dalhousie University