Feedback: Eisner’s Cove Wetlands

I read with interest the article about the recent purchase of a large piece of land in Woodside from Innovacorp, a Provincial Crown Corporation. The CEO describes the land as not being usable “because there’s a big swamp in the middle of it”. 

That “swamp” is the Eisner’s Cove wetlands, an ecologically sensitive area. The Friends of the Eisner’s Cove wetlands have been working for years to raise awareness about the area and its wildlife. They have also been organizing to prevent development since the time that Innovacorp first announced that they were planning their now abandoned expansion onto that site. Neither they nor the bordering Southdale community were consulted about the recent sale.

The Provincial government has declared a climate emergency. That doesn’t square with the sale of a parcel of government-owned wetland to a “shrewd real estate investor”. Set against the current controversy around the delisting of another sensitive area—Owl’s Head—to facilitate sale to a developer it establishes a concerning pattern. If this government took climate change seriously, they would have engaged the community on the idea of keeping the land and making it a proper and protected park, while potentially carving off other parts of the parcel for sale.

Sincerely,

Claudia Chender

MLA Dartmouth South