NOVA SCOTIA CROWN SHARE LAND LEGACY TRUST
A land conservation story to celebrate!
Thanks to an innovative and wildly successful conservation fund, 14,000 hectares of Nova Scotia’s best and most threatened wild spaces are now protected.
100 Wild Islands, Credit: Dave Culligan
Nova Scotia’s private land challenge.
Nova Scotia is unique in Canada in that more than 65% of our lands, including 85% of our coastline, are privately owned.
This means many of our most ecologically-rich and diverse natural areas are beyond the reach of traditional conservation efforts.
The provincial government created the Land Legacy Trust in 2008 in order to address this reality. The trust empowers both landowners and non-government conservation groups (land trusts) to make the most of this unique conservation opportunity.
The Land Legacy Trust is an elegant solution.
This trust has provided critical funds to land trusts—the experts in protecting privately-owned natural areas—to protect Nova Scotia’s increasingly threatened wild spaces. And on December 12, 2022 the province announced an additional $20 million to renew the Land Legacy Trust for the future.
It’s truly been a game changer for Nova Scotia.
Over the past 14 years it’s led to more wild spaces saved, and more quickly, than ever before. It’s a creative and remarkably effective complement to the government’s own work conserving public land.
A wildly successful idea.
14,000
Over 14,000 hectares of newly-protected land
$23 M
$23 million invested to date
300%
300% return on investment!
$65 M
$65 million in conservation value to date
7
Protected land that is over 7 times the size of Halifax Peninsula
100 Km
100 km of coastline protected
40 Species
Habitat preserved for 40 at-risk species
And 179 newly-protected areas including...
A remarkable example of collaboration.
Since its inception, the Land Legacy Trust has brought together countless Nova Scotians who love our natural areas and care about their future.
Thanks to the Land Legacy Trust, landowners, volunteers, community members, and businesses have all stepped up, and it’s helped land trusts inspire generous donations of land and other conservation funding.
It has also nurtured unprecedented collaboration—Nova Scotia’s land trusts, Mi’kmaw, research and academic partners, and all levels of government are all working closely together to protect Nova Scotia’s natural legacy in new and exciting ways.
Lowland Cove, Cape Breton, Credit: Ashley MacDonald
Innovation and impact.
Fourteen years ago, Nova Scotia demonstrated nation-leading foresight and ingenuity in establishing the Land Legacy Trust. And that innovative idea will continue to support conservation for years to come.
By recognizing the critical role of landowners and land trust partners in meeting Nova Scotia’s environmental goals, the Land Legacy Trust has empowered private land conservation results that government simply could not achieve alone.
With access to this innovative fund, land trusts have been able to achieve $3 of land conservation for every $1 of provincial funds invested—an incredible return on investment!
Let’s keep it going.
The Land Legacy Trust has proven itself essential to meeting Nova Scotia’s conservation goals to date—and now we can keep going!
We will continue building on the success of these conservation efforts.
The renewed Land Legacy Trust is critical to meeting both growing environmental challenges and the ambitious new commitment of protecting 20% of the province by 2030.
Learn more about and support Nova Scotia’s conservation land trusts.
Piping-Plover-Hatchling, Credit: Jason-Dain
All Nova Scotians share this success.
We invite Nova Scotians to show their appreciation and support of this innovative program.
Please join us in celebrating the Land Legacy Trust and the many outstanding natural areas protected so far.
Share the news. Show us your “likes”.
Together, we can ensure that even more of Nova Scotia’s natural legacy is protected for future generations.