Thomas Raddall Provincial Park near Port Joli, Queens County, is one of 16 provincial parks getting upgrades. (Nova Scotia Provincial Parks)
The Nova Scotia government is committing $100,000 for upgrades to Thomas Raddall Provincial Park in Port Joli.
The money will help improve the park’s entrance building and water system, according to a news release from the governing Progressive Conservatives.
“We’re making smart upgrades that protect these beautiful spaces and make them easier and more enjoyable to access,” Queens MLA Kim Masland said in the release.
The work at Thomas Raddall is part of the province’s $13.8-million capital plan to improve infrastructure at 16 provincial parks, including water and sewer system upgrades at camping parks, washroom improvements, trail enhancements and parking lot redevelopments, according to the release.
More than 1 million people visited provincial parks in 2024.
Thomas Raddall Provincial Park. (Tourism Nova Scotia)
Campsite bookings at provincial parks in Nova Scotia are now open.
Reservations for parks in the western part of the province opened on Wednesday.
Campers can book spots at Thomas Raddall Provincial Park in Port Joli, Rissers Beach, The Islands in Shelburne, Blomidon, Ellenwood Lake in Deerfield or Valleyview in Bridgetown.
Reservations for other areas of the province, including the Eastern Shore and Cape Breton open on Thursday and Friday.
You can book a spot by calling 1-888-544-3434 or online at parks.novascotia.ca.
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.
