Dear Friends,

Spring is starting to push through and LaHave Coastal is setting out on its first full year in operation!

We're protecting habitat and boosting biodiversity throughout the LaHave Islands area. By holding land in trust, we're preserving the beautiful shores for future generations.

I invite you to join us.

Best regards,

      Jim Sunderland, President

Restoring Acadian Forests

There's a movement afoot. And we're part of it.

LaHave Coastal is already managing 45 acres of habitat and working to plant 300+ native trees. We can help nature by accelerating the spread of slow-growing species, like oaks and cedar. Bringing back the full diversity of Nova Scotia's forests will make them more resilient to climate change.

We feel it's essential to acknowledge that we are in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) people first signed with the British Crown in 1725. We recognize and respect them as nations and partners in this territory, as well as their historic connection to the lands and waters around us since time immemorial.

In the early 1600s, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain described LaHave as "a place where there is a bay containing several islands covered with firs, and a great tract of oaks, young elms and birches." Many of those trees have been depleted through 400 years of colonial activity. The World Wildlife Fund has listed the Acadian Forest Region as a critically endangered ecoregion.

Fortunately, there's a grassroots movement taking action across the maritimes to protect and rebuild our forests. New organizations like the Maritime Forest Accord and land trusts like LaHave Coastal are working hard to protect these habitats for generations to come.

Join us this summer on a walk. Help count species in a census and plant new seedlings.

Reading List

If you're both a tree nut and a bookworm, then here's a reading list for the next rainy afternoon:

1. Nature Conservancy of Canada’s "Landowner’s Guide to Theory and Practice of New England–Acadian Forest Restoration" by Josh Noseworthy
2. Book Two, Chapter One of "The Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain 1604-1616 Narrated by Himself." by Samuel de Champlain
3. "Old-growth forests of the Acadian Forest Region" by A. Mosseler, J.A. Lynds, and J.E. Major
4. Jenna Amirault's Acadian Forest: History, Species, and Biodiversity
5. "The Acadian forest: Historical condition and human impacts" by Judy Loo and N. Ives.
6. "Borealization of the New England–Acadian Forest: A Review of the Evidence" by Joshua Noseworthy and Tom Beckley
7. Turning Dollars into Trees to Solve Climate Change on the Terraformation blog
8. New England-Acadian Forest described by the World Wildlife Fund: a 91,700 square mile critically endangered ecoregion.

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support@lahavecoastal.ca