Nova Scotia
Wild Flora Society
Links: Conservation/Species at Risk
Nova Scotia
Links were verified 6 Jan. 2010.- Nova Scotia Dept. Natural Resources Wildlife Division
- Biodiversity Data and Information
Lists key resources provided by DNR and other agencies.
- NS Endangered Species Act: Legally Listed Species
Endangered: 7 vascular plant species, 1 lichen species; Threatened: 3 vascular plant species; Vulnerable: 6 vascular plant species.
- General Status Ranks of Wild Species in Nova Scotia
"General Status Assessments, are by design - coarse grained. They…provide a "first-step tool" to help identify priorities for more detailed status evaluations, inventory, research and management." Red Listed (at risk or maybe at risk) vascular plant species: 164; lichens: 13 spp.
See also Rarity Ranks and Legal Status by province on the website for the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre. This site provides data similar to the above in a different format and with some additional information, e.g., global ranks for each species; as well, more bryophytes are listed.
- Nova Scotia's Species at Risk: Municipal & Community Stewardship
Various resources for municipalities including species at risk by municipality, summaries of related legislation and species assessment classifications; power point presentations and guides for muncipalities, developers. A section on Species Status Assessments provides a helpful summary of global, national and sub-national schemes for classifying conservation status of species.
- Biodiversity Data and Information
- Nova Scotia Dept. of Environment
- Protected Areas
The Nova Scotia Dept. Environment and Labour's
"Protected Areas Branch is responsible for planning and managing Nova Scotia's Wilderness Areas, Nature Reserves and Heritage Rivers, and for encouraging and supporting private land conservation. "
- Protected Areas
The Nova Scotia Dept. Environment and Labour's
"Protected Areas Branch is responsible for planning and managing Nova Scotia's Wilderness Areas, Nature Reserves and Heritage Rivers, and for encouraging and supporting private land conservation. "
- Nova Scotia's Species at Risk
Links for for Nova Scotia's Species at Risk recovery teams and recovery projects. - CanLii Statutes and Regulations of Nova Scotia
A convenient place to find details related to legal aspects of conservation; specifics of particular sites. Some examples: - NS DNR Mineral Resources Branch Digital Products
Live Maps and Data and Downloadable Data on geology, significant species and habitats, hydrogeology and more. The Live Maps and Data allow online creation of maps with different layers (specialized software not required). There are links to free Map Viewers for working with the Downloadable Data. - GeoNova
"The GeoNOVA Portal is the Province of Nova Scotia's gateway to geographic information about Nova Scotia. Geographic data access is our goal." - Nova Scotia Nature Trust Property Explorer
Use NSNT's Property Explorer to view the 4,449 acres of wilderness the Nova Scotia Nature Trust currently has under protection. - Nova Scotia ¥ Protected Areas ¥ Lands and Regulations ¥ Issues & Advocacy
This page on the website of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada provides some pertinent statistics, history of protected in N.S. etc. - Nova Scotia's Coastal Plain Flora : Conservation and recovery
"Nova Scotia is home to a unique group of over 60 Coastal Plain wildflowers, herbs and plants; some of which grow nowhere else in Canada." The document "National Recovery of the ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN FLORA VOLUME I The Multiple Species Recovery and Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (January 2005)" is available from this site as a PDF . See also: Field Guide to the Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora of Nova Scotia (PDF document) produced by the Nova Scotia Nature Trust (2005).
- Nova Scotia's Dry Bogs
This page on the website of the Clean Annapolis River Project provides an ecological description of dry bogs (Pine Moorlands) of the Annapolis Valley. "The main characteristic that allows the dry bogs to be easily recognizable is the dark green/brown Broom Crowberry (Corema conradii) which is typical of the dry bog sites. These sites are not actually bogs, as their name may imply. They are called dry bogs because their soil and plant composition is similar to a bog (high acidity and sandy soil composition), but they are very dry -- hence the name dry bog. Dry bogs are sometimes referred to as "Pine Moorlands" because of their characteristic plants, including pine trees, and plant members from the heath family."
- Species Occurrence Data for Nova Scotia
A table provided by the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre that lists vulnerable and imperilled plant and animal species for each county in Nova Scotia. The categories are those of NatureServe; provincial designations under the N.S. Endangered Species Act are also given.
- Endangered Wild Plants of N.S. by Paul Keddy (1978)
This article was in the June 1978 issue of DNR's CONSERVATION publication. Paul addresses the questions, "What are they [rare and endangered species]? Where do they grow? What can be done to protect them?" See Paul's map of the three less common floras which host most of our species at risk. (The map was unforunately deleted in the mosr recent posting of this article.) - Rare Plants in the Highlands - Key to Glacial History by: James Bridgland (1989)
This article was in the SUMMER 1989 issue of DNR's CONSERVATION publication. "Over a third of the 210 species designated as rare in Nova Scotia are found in the Cape Breton Highlands, and half of these are found mainly in deep rocky gorges which dissect the plateau." - The Natural History of Nova Scotia (1996)
The entire two volume set of the 2nd edition of this comprehensive work is available as downloadable pdf documents of individual chapters. Look up the contents under Topics, Habitats and Geographic Regions. (There is a search tool, but it did not bring up some items that are contained in the text, so don't rely on it.)
Volume II of the Natural History of Nova Scotia provides a geographical classification system for N.S. that "closely follows the Biophysical Land Classification System that had been widely applied to terrestrial areas since the mid-1960s." It is a hierarchical system with 9 Regions (8 on land, 1 in the sea), 37 Districts (4 in the the sea) and 65 Units (11 in the sea.)
Three other systems of landscape classification have been produced for N.S. in recent years by different agencies.- Ecoregions and Ecodistricts of Nova Scotia (1999)
A classification developed by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and Environment Canada. See A National Ecological Framework for Canada (Environment Canada) for national coverage. Natural Landscapes of Nova Scotia: Summary Descriptions (2002)
A Report and Map produced by the Protected Areas Branch of Nova Scotia Dept. Environment are available online. - Ecoregions and Ecodistricts of Nova Scotia (1999)
- Ecological Land Classification (2003)
This is a product and ongoing project of the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources Renewable Resources Branch, with an orientation on forest management. Online maps and databases can be accessed through ths site.
Prepared by geologist Ralph Stea for DNR, it includes The Story of Glaciers in Maritime Canada.
An overview of the New England-Acadian Forests in easten Canada and the northeastern U.S., their conservation status, with lists of remaining blocks of habitat, the most important protected areas in the region, pirority activities and conservation partners.
Information about occurrence and control of invasive alien species in Nova Scotia.