Parks Canada – Winnipeg Free Press

HALIFAX – Parks Canada says an urban wilderness area on the outskirts of Halifax has met a key requirement in the process to become a national urban park.

The agency says that a pre-feasibility report in the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes area has determined that the candidate site can proceed to the planning stage.

Parks Canada also announced that it will provide $2.1 million to help the province work with the Nova Scotia Nature Trust and the Halifax Regional Municipality.

The planning stage will also look at how the park will be managed, where boundaries will be placed, and what trails and infrastructure will be needed for public access.

In addition, there will be continued collaboration with local indigenous communities as the project includes land and water that are culturally significant to the Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia.

The federal and Nova Scotia governments committed to establishing the province’s first national urban park last August.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said at the time that Ottawa had already committed to investing in land acquisition and infrastructure by the end of 2023.

The existing Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Provincial Wilderness Area is near Kearney Lake and Bayers Lake Business Park in Halifax.