The Land Services Branch acts as the land agent for the Department of Natural Resources, providing expert, advice and leadership with respect to land management issues, working to extract the greatest value from the province’s land assets within the framework of sustainable prosperity. The Branch is responsible for making recommendations to Cabinet regarding the use of land and resources on Crown lands that are not allocated for other departmental purposes.
Like a property law office, the branch manages all aspects of land transactions related to these decisions, from client contact and negotiation, through title and records research, to preparation of legal documents, mapping and surveying of the lands, control of land related records, and access to the data via land information retrieval systems.
The Branch is also responsible for the management of all historic and geographic records related to Crown lands, for ensuring that the boundaries are identified and clearly mapped, for migration of Crown lands into the land registration system, for clarifying interests in Crown land, and for providing information to the public, lawyers and surveyors on Crown interests and boundaries.
Under a memorandum of agreement, the Land Services Branch also acts as land agent for the Nova Scotia Environment, working with that department to identify and acquire lands for protection, designate wilderness areas, map and identify boundaries, document and record information related to protected lands. On behalf of Nova Scotia Environment, the Land Services Branch also develops and maintains relationships with land conservation organizations and community groups interested in land protection and negotiates with them in relation to land acquisition proposals.