The Backlands Coalition

View Rare Jack Pine barrens protected in the Purcells Cove backlands
Posted on nsnt.ca on 16 Mar, 2022. From the post:

We’re pleased to announce a new protected property in the Purcells Cove backlands area, sitting on 27 acres of upland forests, forested swamp and open woodlands and peatlands.

Thanks to the generosity of siblings David and Donald Longard and Shirley Zwicker, this land will be protected, forever. After learning that the area where their grandfather’s camp was once located is part of a special Jack Pine forest system, the siblings were pleased to donate their property to the Nature Trust for future generations to enjoy Continue reading →

A report by  Martha R Leary
Sparrows Hawks & Doves Coordinator
March, 2022

Hermit Thrush Photo by Joshua Barss Donham

Sparrows Hawks & Doves (SHD) is a project of Williams Lake Conservation Company (WLCC) in cooperation with Backlands Coalition & Urban Farm Museum Society of Spryfield. Our volunteers come from each of these organizations. Our funding is provided by HRM Community Project Grants and runs from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

Our primary goal is to begin a tradition of surveying the birds in the many areas of the Backlands. We want to record the number and variety of species who pass through, note those species who find the Backlands habitat to be a good place for summer nesting and keep track of successful fledging of young birds. Continue reading →

Invasive multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) is a threat to the wetlands/watercourse margins in particular. Appearance of other, non-invasive exotics such as clover, dandelion and plantain on the barrens are indicative of some loss of Ecological Integrity. I have some concern that continued loss of Ecological Integrity could result in substantial change in the “nationally unique and globally rare” Jack Pine/Broom Crowberry communities.

Purcell’s Cove Conservation Lands are disturbed
periodically by fire (burned stands can be seen in the
distance, unburned Jack Pine/Broom Crowberry 
Barrens up close) but there  were no exotic species in a
2012 survey. What about now?
Click on image for larger version

Post & related pages by David Patriquin
June 13, 2021

A remarkable feature of the Backlands is that there are very few exotic plant species within in its confines.

Exotic species (also described as alien, introduced or non-native)  are those  that have arrived in NS  since European colonization, as opposed to native species which “been observed in the form of a naturally occurring and self-sustaining population in historical times”. (However species that are native in adjacent  areas like N.B.  but that have been recorded here only recently would be considered “native”.)     View Definitions

Roughly 1/3rd  of the approximately 2400 vascular (higher) plant species in Nova Scotia  are species of exotic origin.  Most of these exotic species are species of human-disturbed habitats such as clovers , plantain and Queen Anne’s lace. Many arrived here with the early settlers, but exotic species also continue to arrive  either through deliberate introductions (e.g. for gardens) or inadvertently and some of them to naturalize (“go wild”).

The general absence of exotic species in the Backlands  is good news because it is  an indication that the plant communities in the Backlands have a high degree of ‘Ecological Integrity‘.
Continue reading →