At a launch event in Halifax, the Nova Scotia Nature Trust launched its 100 Wild Islands Campaign to raise the remaining funds required to protect a vast and beautiful archipelago over 100 wild islands. This island wilderness, nestled between Clam Harbour beach and Mushaboom Harbour, is one of the province’s least known, yet greatest natural treasures. The islands’ diverse habitats, from sand beaches, idyllic lagoons, forests, bogs and barrens, to 250 kilometers of pristine shoreline and 350 acres of saltmarsh and wetlands have gone largely undisturbed by humans for more than 10,000 years.
There are increasingly few opportunities to protect island wilderness of this scale and ecological richness anywhere in the world. To fund this ambitious conservation effort, the Nature Trust has undertaken a $7 million capital campaign. In just over a year, the Nature Trust has raised an impressive $4 million through foundations, businesses and individual donors.
Bonnie Sutherland, Executive Director of the Nature Trust, is confident the community will step up in support. “We love our coast, and here is a chance for everyone to be part of protecting our coastal legacy, on a scale we didn’t even realize still existed anywhere. We have a globally significant 100 island coastal wilderness, right in our own backyard and it’s ours to protect.”
Major supporters include an anonymous lead donor, the Nova Scotia Crown Share Land Legacy Trust, TD Bank Group, Environment Canada’s Eco-Action Community Funding Program, Mountain Equipment Co-op, David Wilson and family, Jim Lawley and Eric Thomson, O’Regan’s, Paul Scott, and the RBC Foundation.
Through the generous gesture of an anonymous donor, every new dollar donated will be matched one-to-one. The Nature Trust needs $1.5 million in donations, which will be matched by the anonymous donor for a total of $3 million, to achieve their campaign goal. Donations can be made at 100wildislands.ca/donate.