Provincial protected areas include:

• Wilderness areas protect nature and support wilderness recreation, hunting, sport fishing, trapping, and other uses.
• Nature reserves offer the highest level of protection for unique or rare species or features; they are used mainly for education and research.
• Provincial parks and reserves protect a wide range of heritage values and opportunities for outdoor recreation, nature-based education, and tourism.

National parks and wildlife areas, lands owned by land-trust organizations, and conservation easement lands also contribute to our protected land.

Interim management

All provincially owned lands included in this plan will be managed under interim guidelines until they are legally protected, or in the case of lands for potential protection, until final decisions are made respecting protection.

These interim guidelines will be consistently applied by the Department of Lands and Forestry and Nova Scotia Environment to ensure that the areas included in the plan are managed in a manner consistent with their intended protection.

Additional planning

To address site-specific issues or opportunities, some areas included in the plan will also require additional planning and consultation before they are legally protected. The areas where this applies are noted in the table at the back of this document. This work will refine final protection considerations within the context of this broader plan, and in some cases will include additional public or stakeholder consultation.

Final legal protection

This plan expresses government decisions for this new system of protected areas. Additional time is needed to complete the planning, legal, and survey work that will result in the final legal designation of the lands under protection legislation.

This additional work will result in other minor adjustments to individual properties that were not captured under this broader planning exercise. As lands become legally designated under respective legislation, information will be updated on the Parks and Protected Areas Website.