The Role of Local Landowners in Protecting our Coastal Legacy

by Craig Smith
 

Hiking Cape Chignecto’s magnificent cliffs Photo: Craig Smith

Nova Scotia’s iconic coasts inspire artists, dreamers, and beach roamers. They can also inspire passion and generosity. Rudy Haase is one coastal landowner who has had a significant impact on coastal conservation in Nova Scotia.

Spring has just arrived at Haase’s Goat Lake property where he has lived long enough to witness the impacts of modern coastal development and to see tiny saplings grow into large trees. Tall poplars and ashes now block his view of Mahone Bay, but they will remain uncut. In his opinion, he is no more entitled to a view of the ocean than those trees are entitled to live and grow.

Habitat conversion and shoreline alteration as a result of both residential and industrial development are all too familiar to many residents of Nova Scotia. However, with 95% of Nova Scotia’s 11 000 kilometres of coastline in private ownership, coastal landowners have extraordinary power to regulate the pace and extent of development along the coast. Yet, while many coastal landowners are aware of, and affected by, the impacts of coastal development, few feel empowered to take action.

Rudy Haase knows the power of the landowner. On three separate occasions, he has exercised his ability to protect coastal property. In 1998, Haase signed the first conservation easement established by the Nova Scotia Nature Trust and has since helped protect the Ship Rock Islands and Shelter Cove, both along the Eastern shore.

Organizations like the Nova Scotia Nature Trust help people protect their land from future development - an important desire for an increasing number of people. Ecologically significant land can be protected by donating the property, or by a entering into a legal agreement that allows the landowner to retain ownership and the right to live on the property, but regulates future activity and development to protect important ecological features.

There are costs to the landowner, but protection also comes with significant benefits. In addition to knowing that the land will be protected in perpetuity, owners may receive a charitable tax receipt for the value of their contribution through the Federal Ecological Gifts Program and may also earn an exemption from paying capital gains tax.

These combined benefits make the protection of privately owned property an increasingly attractive option for landowners.

Protecting the natural heritage of our coastline is a desire shared by many, but few have the power to contribute as significantly as coastal landowners. At the Nature Trust we hope that examples such as that set by Rudy Haase may inspire others to protect coastal landscapes. By doing so, landowners can lead the way in protecting the habitats and ecosystems which are so essential to maintaining the natural and cultural heritage of the coastline that has and will continue to define this province.

Craig Smith is Coastal Conservation Coordinator with the Nova Scotia Nature Trust (http://www.nsnt.ca/)