Peter A. Newton, Warden

Municipality of the County of Annapoli

Peter:

We have been receiving information that the Municipality of Shelburne County has initiated a proposal to open a road through the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, and that it is soliciting funding and support for this project from agencies and Municipalities in southwestern Nova Scotia.

As a committee, we have worked tirelessly and long for the protection of the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, and are alarmed that such a proposal has been be made.

The old military road they refer to has not existed in reality since the early 1800’

s. In the opinion of many historians, if it existed even then, it may have been nothing more than a mere foot path over most of its length.

“Re-opening”

this track would essentially mean building an entirely new road where none exists. If the new road is to be, as Shelburne proposes, wide enough to accommodate emergency vehicles and ATV traffic, it would require major effort and taxpayer funding, better spent on more essential projects. It would effectively open the entire wilderness to vehicular traffic, and destroy the very nature of this pristine and very special place.

The resulting environmental damage cannot be mitigated, and the economic benefits of such a project could never outweigh the degradation and loss of such a unique ecosystem.

Not only is the project ill-conceived, it is without argument illegal under the province’

s Wilderness Act and the Tobeatic Wilderness Area Management Plan.

We wish to underline our extreme opposition to this proposal, and intend to encourage other like-minded eNGO’

s, agencies and individuals to express their opposition as well.

Thank you,

Jim Todd, Don Rice

Tobeatic Wilderness Committee