Reserve Planning on Private Land Holdings of the Forestry Company Stora Port Hawsbury Limited: Cape Breton Island and Eastern Mainland Nova Scotia

The forestry company, Stora Port Hawkesbury Limited, owns 280 properties throughout Cape Breton Island and eastern mainland Nova Scotia with a total cumulative area of 24 590 ha. This study utilized a coarse filter analysis to determine which of these land holdings support representative and outstanding natural features compatible with the creation of a system of privately-owned nature reserves. Aerial photographs were used to document each property. Approximately 35% of the private land holdings were caught by the coarse filter to be considered candidate protected sites. Significant features identified include old-growth forests, wetlands, ravines, headwaters, lakeshores, coastlines, lagoons, talus slopes, forested floodplains, ephemeral rivers, oxbow lakes, riparian zones, and mountain barrens. Other studies have subdivided Nova Scotia into a series of 80 distinct natural landscape units, most of which have few or no protected areas. A Stora-owned system of nature reserves could help fill significant representation gaps within the province-wide system of protected areas, since nearly three-quarters of landscape units containing Stora properties are inadequately represented with existing protected sites. Other Stora-owned properties are located along significant waterways or positioned adjacent to larger existing protected areas. Later stages of this project will field-verify interpretations of the coarse filter analysis and further refine the list of candidate protected sites presented here. En Nouvelle-Ecosse, la societe forestiere Stora Port Hawkesbury Limited possede 280 proprietes dans l’ile du Cap-Breton et dans l’est de la partie continentale; la superficie totale des proprietes est de 24 590 ha. La presente etude utilise le principe du filtre brut pour etablir quelles proprietes renferment des caracteristiques naturelles representatives et exceptionnelles pour la creation d’un reseau de reserves naturelles privees. On a utilise des photographies aeriennes pour documenter chaque propriete. Environ 35% des proprietes privees analysees ont ete retenues pour analyse plus poussee. Parmi les elements importants reperes, on compte des vieilles forets, des milieux humides, des ravins, des eaux d’amont, des rivages de lacs, des cotes, des lagunes, des pentes d’eboulis, des plaines inondables boisees, des rivieres ephemeres, des meandres morts, des zones riveraines et des landes de montagnes. Dans d’autres etudes, on a subdivise la Nouvelle-Ecosse en 80 unites de paysage naturel, dont la plupart renferment peu de zones protegees ou aucune. Comme pres des trois quarts des unites de paysage qui comprennent des proprietes de la Stora ne sont pas bien representees dans les sites proteges actuels, un reseau de reserves naturelles appartenant a la societe Stora pourrait contribuer a combler des lacunes importantes dans la representation des types de milieux dans le reseau provincial de zones protegees. D’autres proprietes de cette societe sont situees le long d’importantes voies navigables ou sont adjacentes a de grandes zones protegees. Dans les etapes ulterieures du present projet, on validera sur le terrain les resultats de l’analyse par filtre brut et ameliorera la liste des sites candidats presentes dans le present document.