Community Working Together on New Trail

Nature lovers will have an opportunity to contribute to a new community-managed hiking trail in the Gully Lake Wilderness Area of Colchester County.

The Cobequid Eco-trails Society is working with the departments of Environment and Labour and Natural Resources and private landowners, to develop the proposed hiking trail.

The society is seeking public input on the project and will hold a meeting at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 19, at Sugar Moon Farm in Earltown, Colchester Co.

"The project demonstrates how the community can work together to further enhance our natural environment," said Mark Parent, Minister of Environment and Labour. "Our province is blessed with pristine beauty and this trail will provide another opportunity to enjoy it."

About half of the trail will be within the hardwood hills of the Gully Lake Wilderness Area. The area was the former home of the late Willard Kitchener MacDonald, known as The Hermit of Gully Lake.

It will be the sixth hiking trail built by a community trail group in one of Nova Scotia's designated wilderness areas.

Outside of Gully Lake Wilderness Area, the proposed trail will cross a mix of Crown and privately owned lands, past Earltown, to Nuttby Mountain.

Gully Lake Wilderness Area was designated under the Wilderness Areas Protection Act in 2005. More information on this protected area is available at: www.gov.ns.ca/enla/protectedareas/wa_gullylake.asp.

The Cobequid Eco-trails Society has received funding for trail planning from the Municipality of Colchester County and Health Promotion and Protection.

For more information on the proposed trail or meeting, call Norris Whiston at 902-657-3476.

Under the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, Nova Scotia has established a target to have one of the cleanest and most sustainable environments in the world by 2020. Through projects such as this, the province is working together to help protect one of Nova Scotia's most valuable asset, the natural environment.