Council Transfers Land to Private Non-profit

Council Matters

COUNCIL TRANSFERS LAND TO PRIVATE NON-PROFIT

AFTER THE VOTE: WHAT LAND CONSERVATION LOOKS LIKE IN QUEENS

By Denaige McDonnell

Council has approved the transfer of municipal land at Path Lake to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, placing the property under permanent conservation stewardship for a nominal price of $1. This transfer continues a long-standing pattern in Queens, where multiple ecologically significant properties have moved into conservation ownership over the past two decades. Protected sites include Port Joli, Stuart Lake, Long Lake Bog, Shingle Mill Bog, and Toby Island nature reserves, each recognized for sensitive habitats or rare species.

From an ecological perspective, these are precisely the kinds of landscapes conservation organizations exist to protect. The value of these sites is real, documented, and in some cases nationally recognized. The question, now that the Path Lake decision is made, is not whether conservation is worthwhile — but how conservation functions in practice, and what the cumulative effect of these decisions means for local governance and long-term strategy.

Conservation and Stewardship Are Not the Same Thing

A common assumption is that land transferred to a conservation organization is actively managed on an ongoing basis. In practice, stewardship varies. Some sites have formal management plans and regular monitoring; others rely primarily on legal protection through ownership, with limited on-site presence.

Doug van Hemessen, Stewardship Manager for the Nature Conservancy of Canada in Nova Scotia, confirmed that several conservation properties in Queens do not currently have a designated on-site steward. Instead, NCC relies on a volunteer-based Property Steward Program, in which trained volunteers visit assigned sites at least annually and report observations to NCC staff, who retain overall responsibility.

In context, NCC conservation lands account for approximately 6,234 acres, or just over one per cent, of the Region of Queens Municipality’s roughly 590,000 acres.

This light-touch approach to land management can be appropriate for sensitive habitats such as bogs and wetlands. At the same time, periodic monitoring shapes how conservation is experienced locally and brings practical governance considerations into focus: how issues are identified between visits, who responds to access-related impacts, and how ecological conditions are tracked over time.

As the footprint of protected land in Queens continues to grow, these considerations become central to understanding how conservation functions in practice and how responsibilities are shared.

What Changes When Land Leaves Municipal Ownership

For residents, the Path Lake transfer may look like little has changed. The land remains accessible. The landscape remains intact. Recreation continues. From a governance perspective, however, the change is significant.

Once land leaves municipal ownership, control leaves with it. Elected officials no longer have authority over how the land is managed or adapted over time. Accountability shifts from a democratic body to an external organization, even when public access is preserved.

That tradeoff is often acceptable when the goal is permanent protection. But it also reduces municipal flexibility by permanently removing land from the public asset base. Land set aside for conservation can no longer support future community, cultural, or region-led development initiatives.

The impact of that loss is magnified by the absence of a clear long-term growth strategy. Without a shared vision for how Queens wants to grow or what it hopes to attract, land decisions are made one parcel at a time rather than as part of an integrated plan.

The Strategic Question Queens Has Yet to Answer

Taken on their own, each conservation transfer in Queens is easy to support. Taken together, they raise a larger question: how do these decisions fit within a coherent long-term strategy for municipal land?

There is no publicly articulated inventory of municipal lands and their intended purpose, nor a clear framework showing how conservation transfers are weighed alongside housing needs, recreation planning, climate adaptation, or economic development. Council does not routinely assess how much land has been permanently removed from future municipal use or what that loss of flexibility means over the long term.

Without that strategic context, land decisions risk being shaped by opportunity and goodwill rather than by a deliberate vision for how the region wants to grow and what assets it needs to retain to get there.

A Legacy Worth Managing Intentionally

The Path Lake transfer is now complete. The land is protected, and that outcome will be welcomed by many. The work ahead is not to revisit the decision, but to deepen the conversation. As Queens continues to partner with conservation organizations, clearer communication about stewardship, cumulative impacts, and long-term intent would strengthen public trust and understanding.

Conservation is a legacy decision. Its value is highest when it is guided by intention, transparency, and a clear vision for the future.