Neighbours Practise What they Preach
Neighbours Practise What they Preach
Voluntary Actions Will Enlarge Nature Preserve by One-Third
Bocabec neighbours Jamie Simpson and Dave Stevens will volunteer to keep their combined 100-acre Acadian forest intact for future generations, according to the Nature Trust of New Brunswick.
The two landowners made the decision as their gesture of support for the Nature Trust’s Campaign for Coastal Lands, which aims to protect major portions of Navy Island and lands next to the Sam Orr’s Pond (Caughey-Taylor) Nature Preserve in Bocabec.
Stevens and Simpson own houses close to each other on Route 127 bordering the Caughey-Taylor Nature Preserve, and the location suits them just fine. So much are they taken with the protected forest next door they’re willing to sign voluntary agreements that although not legally binding, commit them to protecting even more of this special ecosystem—their own woodlots— to help create a natural buffer around the preserve. The other party to the agreements is the Nature Trust.
This type of agreement is at one end of a conservation options ‘spectrum’ that goes from legally-recognized and final, like a land donation, to informal. It is at the informal end, says Margo Sheppard, Coordinator of the Nature Trust’s Campaign for Coastal Lands. “The agreements basically acknowledge the owners’ intentions for their land are good ones,” she says, “but doesn’t hold them to a standard of care that would cause hardship should their circumstances change or should they have to sell their land.”
Other options, like donating land for conservation, are more absolute, Sheppard says, and involve actual transfer of title or of a legal interest in land to the Nature Trust.
The two men have developed a great love for the outdoors: Stevens as a prospector, naturalist and cartoonist, Simpson as a career conservationist, forester and writer. A recent article he wrote for the online magazine Elements describes vividly his passion for his 93- acre woods. “It’s a luxury to have a daily connection with the forest,” Simpson writes. “There’s something special in sharing the woodlot with friends who come to hike or ski, and with strangers who seek out the trails for a Sunday walk.” Heating with wood he cut from his mixed spruce, ash and maple woods also gives him satisfaction and a sense he is keeping his environmental footprint small.
In addition to these simple pleasures, wildlife encounters in their forests inspire the two men.
Dave Stevens recalls following an Eastern cougar’s distinctive tracks and tail marks in the snow around thirty years ago. The animal is listed as officially ‘endangered.’ “I also heard it on top of Chickahominy,” he says “like it was in my back pocket.” Lots of time in the woods had not prepared him for the impact of the cougar’s tortured howl. “Once I hit planet Earth again it took me about fifteen minutes to get down a trail that should have taken half an hour. I knew who had the home ice advantage.”
Stevens built a rock cairn at the height of land that Simpson now owns, the summit of Chickahominy Mountain, as a monument to the “joy of wild places,” he says. Many hikers have visited the spot and added their own stones over the years. Part of the “Blue Hills of Bocabec,” Chickahominy is the highest peak on the St. Andrews Peninsula.
These landowners clearly love their respective homes, nestled in this tranquil setting. But they note that how long the area will stay tranquil will be decided by the way landowners like them manage and ultimately develop or protect their forest lands.
Bulldozers, large homes and general sprawl have made their way inland to the Charlotte County countryside, phenomena previously reserved for coastal areas around St. Andrews. The highway is dotted with new houses and right next to the preserve, a major new subdivision appears to be taking shape. Things are changing.
Through their actions, Simpson and Stevens hope to keep some of that change at bay, making their own positive mark on the land and distinguishing it, for the time they own it at least, from the ever-shifting sands around them. Theirs will remain a place of peace and quiet, where wild animals can freely roam and people can come to experience the Acadian forest for what it willingly provides every day of the year: clean air, pure water, natural habitat and an aesthetically pleasing landscape.
For these two conservation-minded individuals, this is what it’s all about.
Jamie Simpson’s book, “Restoring the Acadian Forest: A Guide to Forest Stewardship for Woodlot Owners in the Maritimes” is being published this spring. Copies may be obtained by contacting him at bocabec@gmail.com. Dave Stevens is the President of Campfire Resources Ltd. He may be reached at 506-529-3793.