The Nova Scotia government has given Parks Canada in mainland Nova Scotia $27,250 to help promote sites like Kejimkujik National Park.
Queens MLA Kim Masland said in a news release that the money is part of the Tourism Digital Content Marketing Initiative. It helps organizations create engaging digital marketing campaigns.
“Kejimkujik is a world-class park that gets thousands of visitors every year. This increased marketing will bring even more tourists to our communities in the future,” Masland said.
“More tourists means more money for our local businesses. This investment is great news for the residents of Queens County.”
Masland says the funding will help bring even more visitors to Keji and more tourists to shop at Queens County businesses.
Scientists are hopeful a beetle from BC will stop a pest threatening Hemlock trees across the province.
The Hemlock Wolly Adelgid or HWA, is a small aphid-like insect that kills Hemlock trees by eating the food and water the tree stores at the base of its needles.
Kejimkujik has banned bringing firewood into the park to keep the pest out but efforts to eradicate the adelgid have so far, not been successful.
Dr. Lucas Roscoe is part of a Canadian Forest Service team that is bringing a beetle from British Columbia to Nova Scotia in hopes it will be effective in eradicating HWA.
Roscoe says scientists are always cautious about introducing a non-native species into a new environment.
He says the Laricobius is a species of beetle, indigenous to BC which feeds on only one thing, the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid.
“It’s similar to, like a ladybug, not as big as a ladybug and actually about the size of a pinhead,” said Roscoe. “It’s about you know, two maybe three millimeters long. They’re small, they’re black, they’re pretty nondescript but they’re a really important predator of hemlock woolly adelgids.”
Dr Lucas Roscoe releases the laricobius beetle in Kejimkujik. Photo courtesy Natural Resources Canada
The beetle has kept the adelgid in check in that province.
Roscoe says 3,000 of them have been collected and brought to Nova Scotia this fall to determine if they can survive this province’s colder climate over winter.
“We know the insect can find HWA in the field and we know it can eat can it. We know it can develop on it but the one thing we don’t know is whether or not it can actually survive the winters that can sometimes be quite harsh in Nova Scotia,” said Roscoe. “And the goal of what we were doing this fall and into this winter is to kind of put populations out there and see if we can actually recover them in the spring.”
The Laricobius beetles have been released in several locations across Queens and Shelburne counties and just outside Bridgewater.
Roscoe says the work to protect the hemlocks is being taken seriously and has spurred a collaborative effort between several federal and provincial agencies including the Canadian Forest Service, Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Parks Canada as well as Nova Scotia’s Departments of Natural Resources and Renewables, and Environment and Climate Change.
Roscoe says this is a long-term project and the work will be carefully monitored to ensure the hemlocks are protected for future generations.
To hear the full interview with Dr. Lucas Roscoe click play below.
Environment Canada satellite image of Hurricane Lee tracking towards Nova Scotia
Nova Scotians are once again preparing to weather the storm as Hurricane Lee bares down on the province.
Officials at Environment Canada are predicting Lee will make landfall somewhere between Southwest Nova Scotia and Southern New Brunswick on Saturday.
Lee will enter the region as a category 1 hurricane, diminishing to a tropical storm then a post tropical low as it makes landfall somewhere between Shelburne, NS and Grand Manan Island in NB.
Queens County is included in the hurricane watch which could see the slow-moving storm dump heavy rains up to 100mm and blow gusts of wind up to 120km/h.
Gale Storm warnings have been issued for southwestern marine areas beginning Friday bringing waves 15 to 20 feet (4-6 metres) high.
Closure announcements began Thursday morning.
Nova Scotia Provincial Parks are being closed at 1pm Friday, day use parks will close at 7pm.
Kejimkujik National Park is closing beginning Friday at noon. All reservations between the nights of Sep 15-19 are cancelled and campers will receive a refund. Park officials say an update on reopening will be provided Monday.
Many local events are also being postponed. Anyone with plans for Saturday in to Sunday should contact organizers to find out if the event is being rescheduled.
The Regional Emergency Management Organization advises everyone to be prepared to shelter in place for 72 hours.
That includes ensuring there’s enough food and water on hand to last three days for the entire household, including pets. People should gather batteries, flashlights and radios and charge electronics. Keep a list of all medications, gather irreplaceable items such as photo albums and make copies of important documents like insurance policies, deeds and titles.
An emergency preparedness checklist and many other helpful tips are available on the Region of Queens web page. Head to regionofqueens.com and click on the emergency measures tab at the top.
Environment Canada is continuing to track the path of Hurricane Lee and will be providing regular updates as it edges closer to the Maritimes.
To hear the broadcast of this story click play below.
A picnic in Kejimkujik. Photo courtesy Parks Canada
If the early bookings are any indication, it’s going to be a busy year at Kejimkujik.
Almost 10,000 campers raced to book their favourite spots at the National Park and Historic Site when the online reservation system opened on March 31, a nine percent increase over last year.
The feat is more remarkable considering Parks Canada rolled out a new online booking system this year, requiring all users to create new accounts.
Visitor Experience Manager at Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site Sophie Borcoman says Keji is consistently one of the most popular parks in Canada.
“Kejimkujik, every year we have such a loyal fan base of 85 percent repeat visitation who come back year after year, multiple generations,” said Borcoman. “And we’ve for, between Jasper and Banff, as being the most popular site.”
The park, which straddles Queens and Annapolis Counties features a variety of sites for tents trailers and RVs, located near services and washrooms, or in the backcountry, far away from anyone.
The washrooms were completely renovated just two years ago to provide a toilet and sink behind a private door in the washroom facilities and private individual showers, making them more inclusive and eliminating the need for traditional separate male and female facilities.
Borcoman says despite the large number of bookings there are still lots of sites available between the May long weekend and the end of October when the park closes.
In fact, the park is offering a new service that will make it easier to book last minute.
Every Tuesday, staff will post how many sites are available in the coming week on their Facebook page, listing unbooked sites as well as any last-minute cancellations.
Borcoman says staff at Kejimkujik are constantly looking for ways to highlight the attributes of the park and historic site and encourages people to visit their web page for dates and times of several special events taking place including an ultra-marathon and the dark-sky weekend.
Kejimkujik also hosts many interpretive programs honouring the Mi’kmaw, the First People of the area.
Visitors can take a guided petroglyph tour, visit a Mi’kmaw encampment or watch and talk to master-builder Todd Labrador as he builds birchbark canoes.
Parks Canada Staff taking measurements of blanding’s turtle with Terranaut Club participants. Photo Courtesy Terranaut Club
A program launched through Parks Canada got young girls into the woods and working on science.
Kejimkujik National Park and Historic site has joined with the Terranaut Club to encourage women and under-represented genders to enter STEM fields.
According to reports, those groups account for just 25 percent of people involved in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics across Canada.
This past summer Parks Canada staff and Terranaut Club teamed up to offer youth aged 9-18 the experience of working on three separate projects mentored by women.
Terranaut Club founder Julia Whidden says you never know what event will spark someone’s passion for learning.
“Sometimes all you need is one really meaningful experience that can change everything for you and open a lot of new doors to careers that maybe you never considered,” said Whidden.
Over three outings the youth and their mentors studied funghi, worked on conservation programs involving piping plovers, sea birds and seals, looked into the impacts of invasive species like chain pickerel and monitored the progress of blanding’s turtles.
Whidden says the association with Keji happened after an executive with Parks Canada heard her being interviewed on the radio and approached her with the thought both groups had something to offer.
Parks Canada Environmental Scientist Megan Gallant was one of the mentors involved in the program.
She says Kejimkujik is the perfect place to introduce youth to STEM.
“We are among a few national parks and systems in the world that have a great system wide ecological integrity monitoring and reporting program,” said Gallant. “So across the country we have more than 700 scientific measures that inform park-specific priorities and guides to restoration action so we certainly do have a lot of exciting and hands-on science and nature experiences to offer youth.”
Gallant says she remembers being a young girl and feeling that the environmental field wasn’t for her based on her gender.
She’s glad to now mentor other girls and show STEM is for everyone.
“I’m so happy, on a personal note, to see programs like this because I would have loved to have these when I was a little girl growing up to kind of reinforce yourself and see other females in the field doing the work that you are very capable of doing.”
Whidden says it’s important for the group to make the experience available to everyone and so they offer a pay what you can model.
The Terranaut Club receives funding from corporate donations, grants and fundraising.
Families are asked to pay what they can so those that can pay a little more help provide an experience for those who maybe can’t afford as much.
Whidden says STEM fields are only going to become more important and the people working to drive technology need to represent everyone.
“It’s essential that they are diverse so that we can make sure that when we’re tackling these problems were tackling them from, you know responsible points of view, diverse points of view,” said Whidden. “Making sure that the challenges that we face, we’re really thinking of outcomes that are going to benefit everyone and not just people who look like we do.”
She expects the mentor program will continue next year is hopeful collaboration between the Terranaut Club and Parks Canada will become a formal partnership.
Screen shot of the path Hurricane Fiona will take as it approaches Nova Scotia. From Environment Canada web page
Department of Natural Resources and Parks Canada officials are taking no chances despite expectations Hurricane Fiona will be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it makes landfall in Nova Scotia,
As Hurricane Fiona bares down on Nova Scotia officials with Parks Canada have decided to temporarily close Kejimkujik Park effective at noon Friday, September 23.
Anyone camping or visiting the site is being asked to leave and no one will be permitted to enter after that time.
The measures include the entire park and historic site as well as Kejimkujik Seaside in Port Joli.
Guests with bookings between Sep 23- 26 will be contacted, their reservations cancelled, and fees fully refunded.
To ensure the safety of all visitors Parks Canada officials say the closure will remain in place until conditions are safe.
The public will be updated on park conditions again on Tuesday, September 27 at noon.
Later Thursday morning the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources followed suit and announced all provincial parks would be closing Friday at noon as well.
Parks will be reopened once officials have assessed any damage and addressed safety concerns.
As of Thursday morning, Environment Canada predicts Hurricane Fiona will transform into a post tropical storm bringing very heavy rain and strong to severe wind gusts beginning Friday afternoon with the heaviest rain and wind peaking overnight into Saturday.
They are advising the public the storm has the potential to produce severe and damaging wind gusts, very high waves and coastal storm surge, and intense rainfall.
Officials from the province’s Emergency Management Office are urging all Nova Scotians to monitor local weather forecasts and be ready for the storm’s arrival by ensuring they have enough food and water for 72 hours and preparing their storm kits.
The basic checklist includes:
— having enough food and water for 72 hours
— monitoring local media outlets for updates
— securing gates, doors and windows
— moving yard furniture and securing trash cans, hanging plants and anything that can be picked up by wind
— checking radio batteries
— filling vehicles with gas and parking them away from trees
— keeping pets inside
— moving any type of watercraft to high ground
— ensuring personal and family safety
— checking on neighbours
— not leaving candles unattended.
Site Supervisor Jonathan Sheppard at Kejimkujik’s solar array. Photo Parks Canada
Power consumption at Kejimkujik is now as green as its renowned forests.
Since May, the national park and historic site has been generating enough power onsite using solar panels to meet the needs of campers in Jeremy’s Bay campground.
Site Supervisor at Kejimkujik, Jonathan Sheppard says this makes Keji the first park in Canada to go net-zero.
“The power that’s actually consumed by visitors and the number of visitors we have here is actually a hard category of greenhouse gas emissions to reduce because it’s up to individual choices and equipment and gear and stuff,” said Sheppard. “So, the principal for this one, for offsetting it, allows us to generate an equivalent amount of power so that when visitors come here, they know that their experience is powered by the sun and basically it’s a net-zero camping experience.”
Power is not stored at Keji but is sold to Nova Scotia Power and purchased back, creating a net-zero exchange.
Generating over 12,000Kw per month, the 100Kw solar array is made up of 272 photo-voltaic panels and covers a 40 x 60 metre area.
The array is located in a clearing near the front of the park out of view of visitors on the site of a former weather station.
Kejimkujik solar array viewed from above. Photo Parks Canada
Sheppard says the location was chosen after consultation with Mi’kmaq partners.
“They were involved in the archaeology around this project. We did that collaboratively,” said Sheppard. “They were very supportive of the benefits of this project but because we’re also a national historic site that’s designated so because of the Mi’kmaq cultural landscape, they were also interested in making sure that when you came into the park you didn’t see a big piece of infrastructure.”
The solar project was funded through an almost $600,000 Government of Canada investment to support greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts and clean technology.
Sheppard estimates at the rate the array is producing power, that investment will be paid off in 20 years.
And perhaps most importantly, over their projected 35-year lifespan, the panels will be responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 3,300 tonnes, the equivalent of taking 1035 cars off the road.
Sheppard says since the pandemic people have sought connection with the outdoors and it’s important to make that experience as enjoyable and green as possible.
“There’s a direct link between the visitor’s experience here in the campground and the knowledge that their experience is powered entirely by the sun,” said Sheppard. “That, for us, provides a really neat connection between a visitor understanding their visit in the context of the larger picture, not only of protecting a national park but the work to mitigate against climate change as well, while they’re here.”
Acting visitor experience manager Mark Schmidt says the number of reservations is down slightly from 2020 but that’s to be expected.
“We’re roughly 17 percent less than we were on our opening of reservations last year. Now the one thing I do have to point out though is, we opened our reservation system in February this year. Last year it was in April. It was closer to the opening of the park, there was still a lot of uncertainty about travel beyond the provincial borders.”
Schmidt expects the number of reservations will exceed last year by the time April rolls around.
Kejimkujik closed part of its camping for the 2020 season to install new washrooms and underground infrastructure.
It was the first major renovation in the park in 50 years.
Schmidt says they’ve been hearing rave reviews from people about those upgrades and the park continues to improve the visitor experience.
The Ukme’k trail, which means ‘twisted’ in Mi’kmaq, is a 6.5 km trail connecting the visitor centre to the Mersey River trail that was updated in 2021 to not only improve the experience for hikers but expand its appeal to other users.
“It’s a multi-use experience in that it’s something that’s meant for all levels of users. But it also incorporates unique features specifically for mountain biking,” said Schmidt. “So there’s a handful of really cool optional features that will test the skills of mountain bikers that are out there.”
Schmidt says he’s most excited about the newly constructed Mills Falls Bridge which takes visitors from the Mill Falls day-use area across to the Ukme’k trail.
“It’s the first of its kind in Canada, in terms of the type of bridge that it is,” said Schmidt. “It’s actually placed in a way that you’re on the lower part of the falls so you have this feeling, like when you’re standing in the middle of the bridge, that you feel the power of the water underneath you.”
Schmidt says there are still many sites available, and others will open as people’s plans change and they change their reservations.
While summer is the peak time for visits to Keji, Schmidt says people shouldn’t miss exploring the park during the shoulder seasons as well.
“The park is amazing and different in all seasons,” said Schmidt. “So, if you come in the summer you need to come back in the fall because it’s such a different experience. I encourage everybody to get out and enjoy themselves.”
Conservation area is expanding in Queens. Photo Nature Conservancy of Canada
Another 157 hectares of land has been protected by the Nature Conservancy of Canada in Port Joli.
The two sites located near Thomas Raddall Provincial Park and Kejimkujik National Park are composed of salt marshes, tidal flats, white sandy beaches and stretches of intact Wabanaki (Acadian) forest.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Nova Scotia Program Director Jaimee Morozoff says adding the two sites to the surrounding protected areas will benefit wildlife.
“To kind of, create these corridors. A lot of these species, I mean, lichen isn’t moving too far but some of the rare birds, the migratory waterfowl, the mammals like the moose, they need a lot of land,” said Morozoff. “They like to roam and move and some of them are really particular about what they need for habitat. They need certain buffers or distances from disturbance.”
Morozoff says the Nature Conservancy bought one of the parcels of at a tax sale from the Region of Queens and the other was a donation by Nova Scotian author, journalist and naturalist Dirk van Loon.
Morozoff says people donating land for conservation can take advantage of the Canadian government’s Ecological Gifts Program.
Under the program, an individual’s 50 percent capital gains tax on the donation is reduced to zero and can be carried forward 10 years.
Established in 1995, the Ecological Gifts Program has protected over 211,000 hectares of land worth close to a billion dollars by offering tax incentives to donors.
Morozoff says the Nature Conservancy is grateful for the large number of donations made by residents of Queens.
“Just from my own experience there seems to be a lot of community support of people recognizing the value that his land has and really, appreciating nature and wanting it to be there in the future.”
Morozoff says having so many landowners willing to donate to Nature Conservancy is a recipe for great conservation work.
The Government of Canada continues to support Kejimkujik through a series of announcements.
This week, the MP for South Shore-St. Margaret’s and Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Bernadette Jordan announced 2,000 trees will be planted in Keji as part of government’s initiative to plant 2 billion trees across the nation.
Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site is surrounded by Acadian forest and Jordan says the species of trees to be planted are chosen based on what is appropriate for the location.
“It’s important that when we’re planting trees were doing it in collaboration with the communities to make sure that we’re planting the right trees. It’s not just about planting a tree, it’s about making sure that you’re putting the right ones for the environment that you live in and that you work in and play in so that they match what we need to see,” said Jordan.
Keji will see several species like red oak, yellow birch and sugar maple planted to help the Acadian forest become more resilient.
Government has set targets for the 2 billion tree planting initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 12 megatonnes annually by 2050, while also generating up to 4,300 jobs.
At the end of June Minister Jordan was again at Kejimkujik to announce $1.16 million in federal infrastructure renewal funding to help rebuild part of the park damaged by post-tropical storm Dorian in the fall of 2019.
Visitors will see a new climate-resilient, permanent pedestrian bridge built along the Mersey River trail after the former floating pedestrian bridge at Mills Falls had become susceptible to storm damage following Dorian.
Unfortunately for some visitors, the Mills Falls day-use park and part of the trail will be closed while the area is under construction.
Jordan explains any construction in a national park comes with challenges.
“Getting the infrastructure into the park, they don’t want to put in a road, so of course, there’s a lot of different things that they have to do to make it work and it’s very exciting to see it happening in Keji,” said Jordan.
Dorian also damaged the Seaside trail network causing coastal erosion and trail undercutting, washouts, strewn boulders, and loss of headland surface.
Part of the announced funding will cover the cost of repairing damage to both the Harbour Rocks Trail and the Port Joli Head Trail at the Seaside.
These announcements come on the heels of the reopening of Jeremy’s Bay Campground. The area was closed for a year to update water infrastructure and washrooms dating back to their original construction in the 1970s.
The federal government poured $10 million into Kejimkujjik to bring that infrastructure up to modern standards.
Jordan calls that money well spent.
“Everybody loves Keji, I don’t know anybody that doesn’t. It’s an absolute jewel in Nova Scotia. We’ve invested significantly in Keji in the last six years, making sure that they have what they need to continue to grow and meet the needs of the park.”
