Len Wagg spent more than 100 days in the woods documenting Nova Scotia’s protected wilderness areas for his book Wild Nova Scotia.
By Graham Mason <gr760084@dal.ca>
Posted: Nov. 16, 2007
The Economy Falls - Photo: Len Wagg
Len Wagg was a scout with youth for about 15 years during which time he’d photograph every chance he could get.
For his latest book, Wild Nova Scotia, he set out to photograph beautiful scenes around the province, taking vacation time and camping over the weekends. It was only after he started that he felt there was a message to get across.
He first became aware of the problems facing the Nova Scotia wilderness when trying to find a camping spot in a game sanctuary. He had to walk two kilometres to find a seven-by-seven foot place to camp because of clear cutting.
“It was around this point that I realized that this was bigger than some pictures,” Wagg said.
He was surprised by the lack of protection offered by a sanctuary, but in the distance he saw a green wall. It was the border of a protected wilderness area.
The more he heard about the areas, the more he felt the idea made sense. “Wilderness areas mean you can’t cut, you can’t log, you can’t do any development. We own it but you can camp, you can hike, you can fish, you can do whatever you want to do,” said Wagg.
There are currently 34 wilderness areas in Nova Scotia, with the most recent being added in October in Halifax between Kearney Lake and Timberlea.
Wagg believes the province should work to improve public access to the protected areas.
“What public access will do is bring like-minded people to the areas, and like-minded people don’t like to walk through the woods and have beer cans along the trail,” said Wagg.
Of all the areas Wagg visited, the only ones that didn’t have any garbage were the ones with formal hiking trails.
The more people walk the trails, he says, the more people will understand how important the wilderness areas are.
Oliver Maass works for the Department of Environment and Labour’s Protected Areas branch for Central Nova Scotia, and he too believes in the expansion of designated areas.
The government is aiming at designating 12 per cent of Nova Scotia’s landmass as a protected area by 2015.
“We’re close to 8.4 per cent at this point,” said Maass, “If you look backwards to 1998 when the province designated 31 wilderness areas, before those designations we were at about 2.9 per cent, and most of that was in the national parks.”
He agrees with Wagg that public access should be a consideration. “There’s often a human use side, wilderness recreation and activities, providing areas where people can learn nature.”
Wagg is optimistic that the public will rally to embrace these areas. “They really are special places, and I think it’s up to us to make sure that we do what we can [to protect them].”
