Digby Neck and Islands Valued Environmental Components Compiled by Marilyn Stanton and Christine Callaghan

At the scoping session in Sandy Cove, Dr, Fournier said that anyone is free to submit a list of VEC’s. We would like to begin this submission with a poem written by a lifelong summer resident of Sandy Cove.

LIST OF VALUED ENVIRONMENTALCOMPONENTS by Judith Morehouse

My family, Morehouses, were Loyalists and they fled for their lives from the USA . . .Fairfield Judith’s Mountain View Conn...and landed on this empty Neck . . 1783 . . . old foundations are still there to see ravens soaring...from Fundy shore to St Marys I value . . .that their souls are in every square inch shore. of rock on this land . . The FOG and its silence ... As it rolls up the I value FAR beyond words: Seawall coast and into the cove . . .the colours of The nothing to Do-ness. . . flowers in the grey fog . . . Peacefulness, The clear sweet smelling air . The Quiet,Spiritual SILENCE . . and stillness of the air. NIGHT-time lazy Quiet How sleepy it makes me feel . . . Looking up at the billions of stars... Some shooting...making wishes. Sight and Sounds of gulls, hawks, eagles and Seeing the lights of planes as they fly on their way to Europe Seeing the light from Grand Manan Island through my window . . . The Sunsets with the occasional whale spouting as it swims up the shore line silently past Sunset Look-out ...... Sitting on the beach watching 7-8 whales playing and splashing . . .or a seal poking its head up to look at me curiously Lots of clean safe good WATER,

Going for Ice Cream at Royces in Little River Rug Hooking with friends at the “The nothing to-do-ness...” Library. (Bench atop Tommy’s Reach, Little River) 1 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society The Annual Library Tea Being with my many cousins I grew up with from all over the world, who return here every summer Blueberries in the fields, and blueberry PIE! year after year –

Taking the ferries Being able to walk in from Neck to the woods, or pick Islands with all the Chanterelle “tourists!” mushrooms Sitting on top of MAGNIFICANT Mount Shubal . . . . WONDEROUS And being FAR, FAR, beautiful landscape far from the rat race, Rocks, basalt still Recharging my being. shorelines as seen from a boat... Having fresh fish The most beautiful brought to my door, neck and islands or sitting on the rocky on the shore line and looking sea...anywhere . . for miles and feeling We are frightened that the quarry will affect the whales it all and seeing Getting together off the Digby Neck shore nothing but rocks and with friends at The trees and sky and weekly Garden birds and all alone in Party. . . . … . . .(In a real Garden ) its quiet and still . . .beauty. .. Weddings . .dancing . .together Traditions . . Singing in church. . . such as Knowing that I am here with 8 generations of my Always visiting by the Back door . . . family. . All buried in the churchyard outside . .. . .and my children Caring people who take the time to talk to each grew up here and so other . . even if they have never met you before . . maybe will my .. . . . neighbourliness, grandchildren . . one Such as help when the well runs dry from more day . than 2 showers a day! ..and A chance to teach my children that water is a thing it will remain the to be RESPECTED!. and taken care of. . . .. same . . and that teeth can be brushed with 2 teaspoons of .”Roses in water and not 2 buckets! December “ for all who are lucky Sitting with my father aged 98 every summer on enough to know and the porch . . come to this Digby and hearing and recording stories about long ago Neck of the Rocks.. life on the Neck, and Islands . . Judith Getting together with family and friends.

2 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society those sounds. And there are so many more: The We Value… predictable, excited “Oohhhh” from the passengers on a whale-watch cruise a mile offshore, as a huge, We value the bouquets of wildflowers that shiny black back emerges near their vessel. The decorate the tables at community events, and we patter of thousands of herring “boiling” at the value that people will take the time to pick them. surface of the water. Spring peepers in the night. And those who pick them cherish the chance to spend an hour in a This little spit of wildflower meadow. land is so An hour in a narrow, you can wildflower meadow – often hear the what a gift to the ocean when senses! The riotous you’re walking mix of colours – in the woods. vermillion Indian Other times, paint brush, purple there is just the and pink and mauve hush of the and cream-coloured forest, and lupins, white daisies, nothing else. blue harebells, yellow And when “the dandelions, stately winds are blue iris – all in a blowing a gale”, shimmering dance Lupins - just one of the many varieties of wildflowers whipping the against a backdrop of that paint our landscape branches this blue ocean. The way and that, breeze carries on it the sweet scent of pink clover, the sound of its force is awe-inspiring. the delicate fragrances of Queen Anne’s lace and sweet hay. And wild roses. There are no words to We value our communities. That everyone in the describe the perfume of wild rose blended with salt village will look out for your child, and your dog. air. “Breathtaking” would be a paltry attempt. That when we go to Digby on errands, it never crosses our mind to lock our doors. And that In a wildflower meadow in early July, there are before one of us goes to Digby, we’re likely to call tiny, sweet strawberries to stain your fingertips red. our neighbours to ask if they need anything. We In August there are blueberries. And always, the value our volunteers, who give so much in time sound of the seagulls, wheeling above. and effort to keep these little villages functioning. We value that a neighbour will bake for your Sounds are so much a part of this place… The Church bake sale – even though she doesn’t go to whisper of a bird’s wings as it flies overhead – on your Church! And that people flock to fund- a still day, we can hear that here. The muffled raising suppers, whether to help a neighbour with moan of the distant foghorn lulling us to sleep. medical expenses, or to protest an unwanted The lapping – or thundering – of waves reaching quarry. That when you go to a fund-raising supper, shore. Bell buoys, church bells, snow crunching the cost is “free will offering”, and everyone underfoot. A whale blowing – my friend has heard donates generously. We value our meeting places – this through her open kitchen window! Or the the little white churches, the little post offices, the repeated slap of a humpback’s flipper on the water. little general stores – the best places to catch up on The “poof” of a harbour porpoise’s short, quick the latest village news. breaths. The melancholy call of a loon. We value 3 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society We value so much about this place and our lives here that trying to make a list threatens to become an endless endeavour. (Good thing there’s a deadline!) Here are some Valued Environmental Components our friends and neighbours have asked us to include:

Our lifestyle is the envy of tourists and visitors. They perceive it as slow and peaceful and friendly, far from the rat race. “Traveling down the Digby Neck and Islands is You know your air is clean when you dry your fish and sheets on the an excursion into a different same line! (Tiddville, Digby Neck) state of mind, an uninterrupted rural seaside respite.” polluted by the ballast, dust, noise, lights and contaminated aquifer promised to the residents of Our air is clean. You can hang your wash out and it Digby Neck by this quarry. comes in clean and fresh-smelling; there’s no soot in the air. I value the dream of living in a place which is not controlled by the corporate world. On a clear night, we can see thousands of stars. There is no light pollution here. It’s restful and peaceful and natural and undisturbed here. Life-long residents and seniors see this area as their “world”, where things are good and things are We enjoy the unspoiled beauty of a land not dependable. They are a people of the land and the ravaged by greed. sea. There is no place in this world for tearing down the mountains that they visualize are there to It’s an area secluded from ecological and human protect them from sea surges and storms. disaster.

Ownership of the culture - residents have always We have a sense of safety and security. enjoyed and celebrated the very things that ‘make them different’ from other, more ‘progressive’ Digby Neck is like one big family: we might areas. They have always felt they had the choice squabble among ourselves, but we band together to keep things this way – ‘unspoiled’ in their eyes. against outside threats! This project, should it be imposed upon the area, will teach people the futility of the decision making process they believed was inherent in We value our heritage; we consider the area to be a Democracy. ‘classroom and a theatre’ for the next generation to ‘learn the ways of the sea’. The dream of retiring to a community which is not 4 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society We value our Ancestry. Many summer residents example of a culture whose values are closer to and summer visitors have family roots that go back nature and to the land. generations. Through their genealogy they feel a very strong spiritual attachment to the area. One There exists a spiritual quality in their infinity with of the strongest contributors to this feeling of the land and each other, as a sort of ‘area family’ ‘connectedness’ to the past, is the fact that the area on the part of residents, former residents and changes so little over incremental periods of ten or summer residents and relatives and families of twenty years. these people.

“I came back to my roots – both the land and the MEMORIES of White’s Cove – although only the people.” elders of the Community recall parents talking about family roots in White’s Cove, Family connections to place, the many community members easily fact that many families go back ten recall times spent at White’s Cove, or more generations. In Canada that overnight at a camp, or during day must be quite rare. trips to have picnics on a very regular basis. To many, childhood We value the history of White’s memories include many social Cove . In the 19th century, it was a activities taking place in this area. dynamic community, home to To destroy it is desecration in the several generations of six Hersey eyes of many. families, as well as at least four other families who were born, We value the knowledge and skills worked and died in the community. passed down through families about Archival research indicates that fishing, fishing grounds, etc. approximately seventy people were permanent residents of White’s We take pride in what fishermen and Cove in the 1800’s. Destruction of this area is the their families are and what they do. destruction of the cultural heritage of all these families. We value our Folklore.

Stories and the “cellar stones” of the thriving We value the responsibility of the stewardship of community of White’s Cove formed the this great natural system, which is shared background of Julia Sauer’s Newberry Medal- internationally with the United States through the winning children’s story “Fog Magic”, published Gulf of Maine ecosystem. in 1943. Those who visit and even some of the residents White’s Cove was also the summer residence of don’t seem to realize the awe-inspiring beauty and First Nations people. The Mi’kmaq people of Bear diversity of the area. Many who visit and walk River used White’s Cove as the base for their among us see very little of what lies beneath: the seasonal fishing industry. Thus, exploitation of the tides, the waters, the life, the Bay. The true driving land for quarry operations destroys the historical forces lie hidden beneath the surface of the Bay linkage between the area and the First Nations and in its peoples’ attitudes and customs. Free people. access to the Bay and its shores has always been everyone’s “God Given Right”. With this “Right” Value System – teaching future generations, comes the responsibility to defend the Bay and its through building a love for the area, a living shores to the end. 5 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society shaped our language. There is a wealth of words There are many things we value about our describing sea conditions: a bobble, a chuck, communities: glassy smooth, oily smooth, a sea, a wave, swell, surge, a comber… We value our relationships within our communities. People matter to each other here. Listening to the fishermen talk about the current season, their hauls, and the prices of fish. Profit and commerce are kept in perspective “The Bay and its water is so engraved upon us We value the solidarity of the community, the after so many generations that our blood and the united stand against the quarry. People who, Bay waters must have many similarities.” though most think they are uneducated and uninterested, will fight to the end to protect what is Families are proud of the fact that they and their most important to them. ancestors have been fishing in the same area for one hundred or more years. We value the ways we get The SAFETY of together and the area – people support each feel this is a other - lobster simple area, free suppers, fund- from crime and raising events. the We value the ‘sophistication’ places where we usually associated hold these with activities, such as Industrialized the Digby Neck areas. The ‘simple Consolidated life’ is not School in Sandy appealing to Cove, which acts everyone, but as a community people here gathering place, Our history reinforces our sense of place and community. would like it to especially for (Little River Cemetery) remain that way. community and school functions, Christmas concerts, public We value our traditions. Drying dulse on the Fundy meetings etc. We value the fellowship we enjoy Shore. Going to the plant to buy the freshest fish when we get together for these events. anywhere, during all seasons of the year. Picking berries, according to the seasons. Sharing what we The invisible “Welcome Signs” on almost grow in our gardens, for free. everyone’s homes. People here aren’t too busy with work to take the time to invest in friendships. Jerome’s Rock, and the story of the mysterious We value get-togethers with family and friends. sailor after whom it is named. Picnics, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows around a bonfire on the shore. We value visits to the local, very small grocery stores rather than venture 20+ miles into town to the larger stores. We value the way living next to the Bay has

6 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society In 1998, UN Habitat Settlements named Western a part.. “A group of researchers at Saint Mary’s Valley Development Authority to Global Best University have partnered with the Western Valley Practices List, thus recognizing its economic Development Authority and the Digby Neck development approach as one of the best in the Community Development Association to study world. community well-being in the communities along Digby Neck. Parallel studies are also being done We are proud that Digby Neck has been in coastal communities in Cuba, Chile and Brazil, recognized by UNESCO as a paradigm of by other partners in the project. The intent of the community economic development for North project is to understand how people are able to Atlantic communities – in its (MOST) improve their community health in the age of Management of Social Transformation globalization, and to draw on this experience to Programme. benefit other coastal communities in Canada, Latin There is currently a study of which Digby Neck is America and the Caribbean.

The quarry has brought the Community don tartan and sou’westers and sing songs that together in a stronger, united front against the they create to express their disdain for the entire perceived threat to the area. This led a group process. They open all public meetings and fund of seniors to form a group called “The Blue raising events for the protest of the quarry. Tartan Brigade”. This group of feisty seniors

(Tune: ‘Sink the Bismark’) THE ‘PROCESS’ Whenever we would question him There is a lovely area that many call their home. about his point of view And people from all over come and through it He’d say: “We have to follow roam “The Process” – there’s nothing I But we never saw the can do. danger that our government The government gave the order would bring to call a Panel Review It’s a MONSTER called But it would take a long, long “The Process” and that time, not just a month or two is why we sing They’d talk to many experts who were drawn from far and wide CHORUS: And, as always, the proponent The process is a The Tartan Brigade belts out a said ... “We’ve not one thing to function of our protest song hide.” Government you see It provides them with a CHORUS ...... method for confusing you and me It makes a lovely vehicle to sneak a quarry in But just as the “Process” began to get underway Is “The Process” just a smoke screen to cover The proponents restructured their companies and up their sin caused a big delay So here we are, and White’s Cove is still an ugly We’ve heard about “The Process” cause our mess former MLA And, like little sheep, we’re asked to trust the Used to talk about it – in fact it’s monster called “process”. ALL he’d say

7 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society We value the freedom our chosen lifestyle allows us to enjoy.

The freedom to roam through woods and walk the shoreline and the beaches, again during all seasons of the year.

We value the solitude we can enjoy during those wanderings; it’s possible to walk for hours and not meet another soul. We value the quiet and opportunity to reflect.

Kayakers feel free to land along the shores of the Fundy, when touring the ‘Bay of Fundy Highway’. This thin, fragile spit of land is no place for (White’s Cove is a desireable spot for such a mega-quarry. (Sandy Cove) landings, and there are still the remnants of the ‘haul-up poles’ from when the area was actively fishing.) and natural.

We value our unaltered Shoreline (as stated by Peace of Mind is one of our most valued VEC’S. Gulf of Maine group) . We don’t want to have to worry about the potential disasters that could result from a mega- quarry in The Peace that imbues this place is elemental to our midst: our enjoyment of it. - the potential for water problems - the potential that our livelihoods will be damaged or destroyed - the potential for irreversible damage to the unique and delicate ecosystem of the Bay of Fundy - the dangers of transporting and storing explosives - the potential that whales or even people will be struck by the huge ships, and so many more concerns that people expressed at the scoping sessions.

We value the ambience of our surroundings:

Our landscape is close to pristine. Some visitors We value our unaltered shoreline refer to the Neck and Islands as “Brigadoon”, or “the land that time forgot”. We are envied for this by those from more urban areas. Peace that comes from a spiritual attachment to the land and the water. There is a feeling of ‘belonging’ We cherish the quiet and clean air. Our sunsets are here. Local people as well as visitors from around spectacular, and each village has a spot where the world find peace in connecting to Nature in all locals can go to enjoy them. its many forms. This place is perceived as untouched

8 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society We value that this is a non-industrialized area. That there is no heavy industry here.

We value the darkness of the nights, and the multitude of stars visible to us.

We even value the fog; it keeps our landscape lush and green. Fog can be a friendly and magical entity. We value the beauty of the coast. Our lighthouses.

Did we mention the sunsets? Oh yes, I guess we did, but they deserve repeating. Sunsets viewed through dustless air, over a calm, Did we mention the sunsets? safe, ocean. Occasionally with a whale showing off, just for good measure. The view from our front windows – of Sandy Cove and Mount Shubal as well as most of the village of Sandy Cove; of the harbour; of the Bay.

Breathtaking sunrises, from any vantage point.

We value the way the sea permeates almost every aspect of our lives.

The tides, known around the world – how they determine the comings and goings of the small boats.

Watching the activities of the fishing boats going Tidy shingled and clapboard houses dot our about their business; enjoying the sight of them landscape tied up at the end of the day.

We value the individual charm of our local We value the affinity we feel with the whales, and villages. The aesthetic appeal of shingled and the way some whales seem to enjoy people. clapboard houses. The way people keep their properties neat and tidy. The flower gardens. Fishing from the wharf.

The lack of fast-food outlets and franchise operations. No McDonald’s? No problem. We value that we live beside an ecosystem so unique, that a world-class “Discovery Centre” is The lack of traffic, traffic signs and traffic lights. proposed for the area. This Interpretive Centre will explore all aspects of the ecology of the Bay, as Having tourists stop to enjoy the view, take well as its history and culture. We consider that pictures, and ask a myriad of questions. this type of project and a mega-quarry are mutually exclusive. 9 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society Following is an excerpt from the membership We value gazing into a tide pool, and being drawn application for the “Bay of Fundy Discovery into the myriad of life forms in such a tiny Centre Association”: ecosystem! “…invites friends near and afar, to become We value the connection we feel one of their members to the Bay. The awe we feel at its and to demonstrate power and beauty. concern for the Bay of Fundy, which has been We enjoy watching a storm for likened in grandeur to the fun of it. the Grand Canyon. As stewards of this The salt air. The pungent salt delicate ecosystem, smell of seaweed washed ashore. we pledge to guard the treasure with which The ruggedness of the shoreline. we have been entrusted, and ensure Watching the fishermen tend the that future generations weirs. Going out with them. learn about these phenomena from the Picking up driftwood. Collecting natural theatre shells. provided by Digby Neck and Islands, The beaches. Taking the kids. through the Swimming in the cold water. establishment of a Centre and satellite All the little coves. sites to teach about We value the connection we feel to the Bay and celebrate a unique How the mood of the Bay way of life. changes from day to day, season -Geological Parthenon: the cliffs of the region are to season. marked by columnar basalt, in dramatic formations such as Long Island’s Balancing Rock. Scenery no artist could hope to capture on canvas. -Paleontology: fossils of phytosaur – large crocodile creatures -Best bird-watching places in Nova Scotia on Brier We value the land… Island. -Powerful tides as engines of remarkable The North Mountain, of craggy basalt. biological productivity, with their intricacies of the marine food web. The trees that cling to the rock, bent and twisted by -A feeding & nursery area for endangered North the fierce north wind. Atlantic Right Whale. -One of the best sites in North America to watch The rare and delicate plants. (The Little River/ whales close to shore: right whale; pilot; finback; Tiddville area of Digby Neck has been identified minke & humpback, as well as pods of Atlantic as one of the few areas where the threatened dolphins and harbour porpoise.” species Lophiola aurea - Golden Crest - can survive.) 10 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society The summer-long succession of wildflowers. and seals. The seabirds and shorebirds, and the songbirds that visit our feeders. All the various Sitting by a stream and fishing, or merely letting animals in the woods, and in the streams and one’s thoughts wander in peace and quiet. ponds. The beautiful butterflies, and the other insects – not so pretty, but each Walks in the woods. with its purpose. We certainly Seeing deer tracks in value the fish and the other the mud, rabbit tracks creatures in the ocean. in the snow. We value the bucolic Flushing a pheasant, atmosphere; seeing the cows and jumping at the grazing peacefully as we drive unexpected flurry when along the road. it waits until the very last minute before it We learn to know the time of takes flight, just as you We value all the creatures that share this year according to which birds pass by. place with us are migrating through.

We value the creatures that share this place with We value the incongruity of seeing a trio of llamas us. in a fenced pasture, and we delight in the gentle way they will nuzzle your cheek if you take the The same pheasants, coming in family groups time to stop for a closer look. every day to eat the scratch we buy in 50 pound sacks, to put out for them. We value the clean air we breathe.

We value hearing bird songs early in the morning. These are just some of the components of our environment that we value. We cannot express We saw our first wood duck in this place. how much. We value the whales and dolphins and porpoise

“I cannot imagine not learning to hate these people who have come to destroy our Neck, our Bay, and our lives, so completely and irrevocably” Kemp Stanton, fisherman and anti-quarry activist.

11 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society Appendix We include the following articles as part of our submission because we feel the writers have captured the nature of this place and the feelings of its residents. At four summers, my own bunch are still very much NATIONAL POST newcomers here, but we are no less welcome for it.

Friday. August 2, 2002 Maritime hospitality is legendary. We stay in a charming, working fishing village halfway down the Read Fog Magic before it’s too late Digby Neck, in this part of Nova Scotia that has been Children’s tale reminds us what Nova generally overlooked. It’s hard to get to, for a start, and the swells stay down in Chester, Lunenburg and the Scotia may be about to give away other pretty villages on the south shore, where New Noah Richler on Books National Post Yorker writers and U.S.-based Canadian broadcasters go. No such action here. The Neck is known, by and Permit me the overdue discovery of an enchanting large, for Fundy’s dramatic tides, the whale watching children’s book, Fog Magic, written by Julia L. Sauer tours that locals run, and the scallops and lobster you’ll in 1943 — and the dedication of this column to a trio find in the bone-chilling waters here, the best in the of Nova Scotians who should read the book. They are world and the backbone of the local economy. the Nova Scotian Energy and Environment Ministers Gordon Balser and David Morse, and Robert Thibault, Little changes on the Neck, which is why we like it so. the Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. This trait was brought home to me all the more when a couple of concerned villagers dropped by and handed Balser, it’s just possible, might already be familiar with me a copy of Sauer’s beautiful Fog Magic. In the story, the book. One suspects that the scrappy and ll-year-old Greta of Blue Cove, obviously here, walks contemptuous Tory minister, already brawling with through the fog, typical in these parts, that divides our New Brunswick over oil he’d rather sell south of the adult world from her childish, imaginary one. Greta’s border, has long since forgotten the magic of unfettered imagination peoples the ruins of an erstwhile childhood, but he just might remember the other fishing village she discovers with sailors, their wives, landscape the Newberry Medal-winning children’s odd characters and her otherworldly peer, Retha. When book commemorates — the Digby Neck — because he Greta turns 12, she learns she will no longer be able to is also the provincial MLA here. cross the fog into these other worlds, though she is assured by Mrs. Stanton, Retha’s mother, that “none of The Digby Neck, the thin spit of land on the Bay of the things you think you’ve lost on the way are really Fundy that has splintered away from Nova Scotia’s lost. Everyone of them is folded around you — close.” southwestern shore, is a place of remarkable contentment, with somewhere around 1,000 year-round On the Neck I have watched, with affection and wonder residents. The number swells considerably in — no, relief! — as Sophie and Nathalie still cavort on summertime, when many families return — and many Greta’s side of the fog. They swim in Fundy and the have done so for generations now — to the prettily slightly less chilly waters of St. Mary’s Bay, hike rocks kept, century-old white clapboard homes that run the to watch for seals and whales, amuse themselves by length of the peninsula. Many are American, as Sauer picking berries in the meadows, or pass the time with was, and their ties here reflect the traditionally their summer friends by — well, just sitting in it. latitudinal relationships of Canadian provinces and Hanging around. Playing on the tires that hang from American states. Boats from Nova Scotia took salt cod trees in a couple of the village yards, from pieces of to the West Indies and came back with rum (and, more weathered rope. recent lore has it, lobster to Florida and marijuana on the way back). Some houses here have exact replicas, Television doesn’t come into it, nor any of the other built by the sea captains who commuted between them psyche-blunting modern entertainments that make a century ago, in Maine, Rhode Island, etc. cities and commercial travel destinations uniform. Last

12 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society year I listened with considerable amusement as Katie’s quarry, OK’d by the provincial government without friend Diedra explained to one of her Sag Harbour pals any warning to locals (the procedure that, in America, — clearly anxious that her American friend just did not is known as “Sunshine Law”) is to be mined 3.9 get it — that no, really, there’s nothing to do. It wasn’t hectares at a time. In this way, the operation will be a criticism. Far from it. subject to no form of environmental review — as environmental procedures only kick in at projects over The Neck, you see, is just as it was in Sauer’s time, four hectares. This is an old mining company trick when “on a clear day – with the sea a deep blue, with a made even easier by the absence of any defensible crisp wind fanning the excitement of living, with gulls zoning laws on the Neck — so far, they have not been whirling in vast circles and mewing faintly from their required. But count on it. Once digging starts, the great height — on such moments in this place the idea American company will be here to stay. Chapter 11 of of freedom became so real that you could grasp it in the NAFTA agreement permits transborder companies, your two hands.” Why, even the names of the families prevented from operating by a change in the law, to sue are the same. What Anne of Green Gables is to Prince for “lost” profits. Even American companies are up in Edward Island, or Huckleberry Finn is to Mississippi, arms about this clause. Fog Magic is to the Digby Neck, a signal that this bit of Canada is a national treasure. Yet the quarry will avoid environmental review despite the clear fragility of the spectacular and unique land And yet, true to the menace that lurks in most and marine habitat that draws the whales here, and the children’s worlds — and to the craven genuflection prospect of the gaping, ravaged scar that the operation before America, in particular, of so many of the will undoubtedly leave on a promontory that is, at second-rate politicians who manage Canada’s resources various points, barely a kilometre wide. and economy — the welfare of the Digby Neck is now under terrible threat. And it comes, as usual, in the What is remarkable about this story — and also not — guise of “economic development.” is the contempt in which the ministers Morse and Balser appear to be holding their constituents. The The citizens of the Neck now stand at a crossroads, municipal council, caught off guard, is rushing to remarkably unified before a misconceived, avaricious amend the situation here— taking note, not least, of a plan of a trio of American companies to develop a recent petition against the quarry signed by more than massive basalt quarry at the hamlet of Little River that 700 of the Neck’s 1,000 permanent residents. will throw all forms of life here into jeopardy and return next to nothing to local residents. But Morse, Environment Minister, is not interested in helping at all. He told the Digby Neck and Islands The basalt, whose massive column formations are a Committee of Concerned Citizens that the fault was major tourist attraction of nearby Brier Island, will be entirely the municipality’s, as the laxity of their zoning transported by water across the Bay of Fundy to be laws meant that Nova Stone Exporters Ltd had, in used as American road and construction materials. At effect, been accorded “full permission.” Balser, best, the quarry will generate a handful of mostly meanwhile — and it is impossible that he is not aware unskilled jobs, but also noise and dust and shattering of the spectre of NAFTA’s Chapter 11 — wrote a environmental disruption. (Patterson Exploration of slavering editorial in the Digby Courier urging North Carolina’s initial press release promised 60 jobs. residents to “give the idea a chance.” Later the number was cut down to 25-30. Comparison with other quarries suggests the number would be more Consider this scheme again: Nova Scotia is planning to like 12, three or four of these specialists imported from give away 300 acres of basalt for nothing — and will the United States.) Quite astonishingly, the rock will be be devastating the environment of the Digby Neck, and mined — if local protests do not succeed in stopping it the fishing and tourist industries that depend on it, in — without royalty. the process. And for what? Fifteen jobs and the pleasure of putting another American company’s name It gets worse. on the province’s economic brochures?

Sly complicity with provincial law means the 300-acre In better moments, I think of the many other reasons

13 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society the argument about the Little River quarry belongs in a small bay on the Atlantic, fair shelter in any storm. literary column: the bevy of local characters, and all Three or four lobster boats are tied to the wharf here, the stories of gullibility, duplicity and even treachery waiting for the season to begin again in November. that are circulating here at the moment. But most of the time, I think of Digby’s Fog Magic, and how the This is the St Mary’s Bay side of the Neck, a narrow politicians’ work has buried this peninsula in another spit of land that reaches out from Digby, and dividing kind of obfuscating cloud. It’s not too late to save the the Southwestern Nova Scotian mainland from the Bay Neck. of Fundy and New Brunswick. The promontory is an extension of the North Mountain, the ridge that runs Copyright 2002 National Post along the high side of the Annapolis Valley, and whose most renowned, contemporary bard is the ebullient THE NATIONAL POST Monday, August 12, ‘Africadian’ poet George Elliot Clarke. 2002 More than a century ago, local lore has it, a sailor once My Heart Longs for the Neck rowed to shore here from a clipper out on the water, with bloody stumps for legs and speaking in an But don’t ask me to tell you exactly incomprehensible tongue - though curiously, the rock where that is named after him is on the beach on the Bay of Noah Richler Fundy side. Maybe, as my lot do daily, the old sailor On Digby Neck made a point of crossing over the hump of the Neck – at this, one of its narrowest points – to watch the sunsets over the herring weir. O.Oh dear, the traveler’s dilemma. I don’t want to tell you exactly where I’m writing, here on the Digby It is one of the last on the Neck, a rather mesmerizing Neck, because I like it here too much. Still there are labyrinth of netting attached to high wooden poles. It is plenty of clues here – though I’ve changed people’s shaped like a large bass clef extending out from the names – if you must insist on trying to locate the exact rocky side of the beach. It lures the herring in at high place I am talking about. tide and strands them there when the tide goes out again. Take heart. The truth is you can make my story your own in any number of small villages and coves in Nova Marauding gulls hang about ready for an easy lunch. Scotia, North or South, on any shore . It is summer On most nights, we watch Minke, Right and Pilot family heaven, with joy to be found in the suggestions whales pass, their spume coloured pink as they cross of its place names alone: Murder Point, Jew Cove, the path of the gloriously setting sun. Astonishingly, Whale Cove – and, I must note after my brother’s you can actually hear the snort of whales as they do recent marriage, Delap Cove, a place to which I can this, even when they are a mile or two out. now claim a tenuous family connection.. Most of the pretty and largely well-maintained, century-old clapboard homes look over St. Mary’s Bay. No doubt you can do the same if you try hard enough Fundy is the ‘funkier’ side, says Stephen Kuzma, the (or just 1earn to fib a bit). Nova Scotia was the first spritely nearly septuagenarian New York painter whose stop for many Canadian and American pioneers’ wonderful house-cum-studio is about to fall into the sea families, and is, today this country’s most pleasantly at Whale Cove, just south of here. (“Well, so what,” historical corner - unless, that is, you are a MacLeod, a said Steve when I asked him about this eventuality - miner, a neighbour to the ugly tar ponds, or some you will recognize the house if you’ve seen the film gormless university student who thinks that the world’s Dolores Claiborne. “It’s the sea I paint, not the only ‘Sydney’ is in Australia, as two Britons did last house.”) week. (And we are worried about our own standards of On the Fundy side is where, if you were one of the general knowledge? I am hoping that Air Canada sent lucky Children here, you would imagine Boo Radley, them on to Sydney, in B.C.) or whoever is your bogey man , to be living – perhaps in the old log cabin at the crest of the hill, or in the Back to the Neck. Imagine, will you, a quiet fishing spectacular house that looks like a subject for an village built around the almost unbroken circle of a 14 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society Edward Hopper painting, set as it is against a golden but the size of her toppling cones is criminal.) And all field of hay and a sky that is always, somehow, blue. the while umm, Peter - an American potter with a New England Quaker’s beard plays the fiddle from behind Behind the cabin is the meadow known to all the the potato plants. village for its excellent wild blueberries, and the vegetable garden at the foot of it. Clearly, it must be noted, this method of watering works, for each year the garden sprouts forth a This garden is minded by an exceptionally good- veritable cornucopia of peas, beans, lettuces, potatoes, natured, nearly saintly local - we’ll call him ‘Paul’ – is, carrots and cabbages, etc. And Paul, thrusting a plastic in effect, the village keeper. Paul lives in the old hotel. bucket your way with his one free hand, will insist that (The Olde Village Inn is the one that’s functioning - you take plenty. and up for sale). Paul tends many of the houses and gardens when they are empty in winter. He is also the His peas, and his lettuces, are a delicious postmaster, and does shifts at the village Kwik-Way accompaniment to the ‘unbelievably good scallops grocery store. available in Digby ($8.50 a pound), lobster ($8.99 a pound) or the cod or haddock that - let’s see The Kwik-Way, whose owners I think we’ll call ‘Llewellyn’ brings to your back door on his occasional ‘Steve’ and ‘Penny’, doesn’t sell much of anything as morning rounds. But if you’re feeling too lazy or are far as I can make out. Still, Steve and Penny make perhaps too sloshed to make your own dinner, an their own fine sandwiches, you can get stove fuses excellent chowder ($4), or scallop roll ($4.50 in a very here, and – if perhaps you were scouring eBay for white hot dog bun) is available at Petite Passage, the some, I can tell you that diaper pins are still on sale last stop at the foot of the Neck by the ferry to Long here at 22 cents each. Island. Dianne Theriault runs the kitchen there, and her husband runs very reasonable whale watching tours But really, the point of the Kwik-Way is that you can ($30 for adults, $15 for kids for two or three hours), get a cup of coffee for free and all the shoot-the-breeze though you can also get a tasty scallop roll at Ed’s conversation that comes with it. Even in January, Steve Takeout, in Digby, if perhaps you are shopping for assured me, the regulars are out on the bench watching secondhand clothes at Guy’s Frenchy’s - this, the the tides come in and out and for any unusual Neck’s other great (and penny-wise) family developments. Just in case. entertainment

Most of the time, however, Paul, a (courteous, These expeditions are just occasional, of course, philosophical, and non-proselytizing) vegan, - and thus because you need to have a very good reason to want to pretty well useless to his lobster- fishing family - is to leave the village, whose name I still refuse to supply be found at his vegetable garden, one that he tends you. This might be whale-watching, or Guy’s with exemplary lassitude. Paul plants in the spring, and Frenchy’s, a trip to one of the exceptional - flat, sandy, then he sits, drink in hand; Maria Callas playing on his empty – beaches on the Acadian shore, or simply to cassette deck (to scare the crows, he says) and watches stock up on groceries or rug hooking supplies for the the plants come up, or not. He doesn’t even water, let children learning Maud Lewis’ craft. Or, lamentably, it alone spray the garden - unless of course, you count the might be because the day has finally come that we must garden parties that are now a fixture each Sunday go home again – this moment that Sarah, the kids and I afternoon. regret for 50 weeks of the ensuing year. Oh, calendar come round again, and in the meantime here’s to These informal parties routinely stretch into evening, ‘Paul’, to ‘Steve’ and ‘Penny’, ‘Judith’, ‘Audrey’ and or until the mosquitoes become too much, and the local all the others. Mind the store till we get back. and summer residents who gather there discuss, National Post somewhat boozily, the burning issue of the day - whether or not Grizzly Tracks or Razmattaz are the better flavours of Nova Scotia’s excellent ice-creams. (These are available at the Mariner roadside restaurant, where Debbie charges fairly heftily for fish and chips,

15 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society TORONTO STAR - Two weeks ago, local residents fighting the project SATURDAY. JULY 26, 2002 finally found an ally: Federal Fisheries Minister Robert Thibault requested a formal review of the project, which could delay blasting for at least a year.

DIGBY NECK ON The fight in Digby Neck has drawn together an unusual coalition of local residents who say not just THE LINE their way of life, but their livelihoods are at stake.

Their fight has helped heal the rift between native and Planned quarry threatens a scenic non-native fishermen who fought violent battles over lobster resources in nearby St. Mary’s Nova Scotia area Bay just two years ago, and forged new friendships between summer residents and those who count their Opponents say fishing and a way time in the area by generations, not mere years. of life under siege Project engineer Paul Buxton says the fight is a classic one of change versus jobs, that the residents who now oppose the project will be its biggest boosters KELLY TOUGHILL in just a few years. ATLANTIC CANADA BUREAU But that’s not the way Rick Klein sees it. He says WHITE’ S COVE, N.S.-More than 150 hectares of the unlike many development battles, this project is going most scenic shoreline in Nova Scotia may soon be to cost the area jobs, not bring them more. ground into gravel under a New Jersey family’s ambi- tious business plan to pave more roads in the United Klein is a newcomer to Digby Neck. The former States. Washington, D.C. transit official fell in love with the area when a realtor refused to show him a listing If members of the Clayton family have been here, they because she was going out fishing. would have seen how the wind whips the wildflowers “Have you ever heard of a real estate agent refusing to into a kaleidoscope of colour along the shore of Digby show a property? Have you ever heard of a real estate Neck peninsula, how the laurel and bluebells, the agent caring about anything more than the almighty daisies and buttercups, thistle and clover cling to the buck?” he asks as he bounces down a rough road grey rocks at the edge of a pounding blue sea. But the toward the quarry in his old four-wheel-drive Chevy. rock is basalt, the sharp-edged remnants of a lava flow that is perfect for making asphalt and concrete paving. I knew right away there was something different about this place.” If the Claytons get their way, and it looks like they will, one of the largest quarries on the East Coast will It is different. Even by the high standards of the soon spring up near one of the tiniest - and prettiest - Maritimes, the skinny peninsula called Digby Neck in fishing villages in the Maritimes. The plan is to strip southwestern Nova Scotia is extraordinarily beautiful, the trees from a section of coast the size of Toronto’s and extraordinarily empty, populated by a string of High Park, then blast, grind and ship about two million small villages clustered on either side of a high hill that tonnes of crushed rock from the shore of the Bay of runs down the peninsula like a bony spine. Fundy every year. On one side is the Bay of Fundy, a vast bay with the The quarry will provide no royalties. It threatens to world’s highest tides, summer home to endangered destroy fishing grounds and create only mere jobs, but whales, which come to feed their newborn calves in its until recently, it looked like nothing could stop the cold waters. On the other side is St Mary’s Bay, a bulldozers. The local member of the Nova Scotia shallow, warmer bay of clam beds and lobster boats. legislature has taken a hand’s-off approach, as have the The quarry is slated for White’s Cove, an abandoned premier and the environment minister. 16 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society fishing village at the end of a treacherous dirt road that and control go straight back to the United States. snakes over the hill from Little River, a tiny town of 100-year-old homes clustered around a wharf built in The land is owned by two couples from North Caro- the shadow of a high rock cliff. lina and the Nova Scotia company is controlled by the Digby Neck doesn’t usually get much attention from Clayton Group, a privately owned web of companies the outside world. There are the tourists who come to that includes one of the largest concrete manufacturers see the rare right whales, the fishermen and their kin, in the United States. and the virtual visitors who have read Fog Magic - a beloved 1946 children’s book set in the same aban- No one from Clayton Group returned the Star’s doned fishing village where the quarry is slated to go. request for an interview about the project.

It is a little eerie to visit White’s Cove after reading Buxton accuses the quarry opponents of fear-monger- Fog Magic, to spot the cellar holes just as they are ing, saying their tales of a ruined economy, ruined described in the magical tale, to see the thick steel rings environment and damaged water supply are poppycock. driven into the rock that fishermen once used to haul There are already several quarries on Digby Neck, he their boats to land. points out.

These days, the hill and clearing have already been That comparison irritates his opponents, who point stripped bare in anticipation of blasting and a sharp out that all of those quarries are tiny compared with the tang of spruce sap hangs over the cove, the Pungent White’s Cove proposal, less than one tenth the size. So reminder of thousands of trees scraped from the rock. far, Buxton has found few public supporters on the Neck, where “Stop The Quarry” signs are prominent on If approved, the quarry will cover 153 hectares, almost driveways all along the major road. exactly the size of High Park. Kemp Stanton has been setting his traps in White’s Cove all his life, just as his father, his grandfather and It will ship three times more rock to the United States his great grandfather did before him. than the largest quarry in nearby Maine, which prides itself on its rock production. The only way the quarry If the cove gets a massive new wharf and huge makes economic sense is if the rock can be shipped by freighters start moving in and out, the traps will have to superfreighter. go, he says.

That, says Buxton, is where Paul Martin’s old com- If he moves his traps to another cove, that will crowd pany, Canada Steamship Lines, comes in. In its official out other fishermen. More than 40 boats fish in the proposal, Global Quarry Products, the Nova Scotia waters affected by the new shipping, he says, and those company behind the quarry project, suggests using boats employ more than 120 people. CSL to ship the crushed basalt to the United States. The former finance minister, who is almost sure to The quarry controversy is not a matter of jobs versus become prime minister, has no direct involvement any the environment, he insists, not at all. He argues - as longer with CSL, but Buxton is careful to make sure all many do here - that even if the quarry adds a few dozen officials – and reporters – know there is a Martin new jobs, it will destroy hundreds more. connection. There are only two ways to make money on Digby “Of course we want to use a Canadian company he Neck: One is to take tourists out to see whales in the says. “We have talked to CSL, but nothing is signed summer; the other is to fish. yet.” . Whale researchers have warned that sound from the Buxton is a little touchy about the Canadian aspects of blasting could travel through the water and alter the the project. Although the quarry project is spearheaded migration pattern of the sound-sensitive whales. by a company registered in the province and Buxton is the public face of the project, he says both ownership Stanton believes the same thing will happen with

17 Partnership for Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society lobster, that the underwater tremors caused by on-shore Mountain, overlooking both the rugged open seas of the blasting will drive them away from the coast and spell Bay of Fundy and the sheltered waters of St. Mary’s Bay. ruin for the hundreds of fishermen and crew who depend on the tasty crustaceans for their living. “Anybody who enjoys hearing birds chirping, frogs Buxton dismisses the fears of seismic Pollution, peeping, you won’t hear that any more, he says. pointing out that the project will follow all federal and provincial regulations on blasting. He worries that owls will no longer be able to hear their prey scurrying in the dark, because of noise from the Then there is the issue of the wells. quarry’s crushers, that silt runoff from the project will foul the seaweed, driving away the herring that are the Freshwater supplies are fragile on the Neck, with lure for whales. water filtering through the tiny cracks of the basalt mountain in unpredictable patterns. He worries that the lobster will vanish, and he will be driven into poverty. “It is sad to me that when I’m done, anybody who comes after me won’t be able to see what I Buxton says the company will drill a new well for have seen,” Stanton says. anyone whose water supply is affected by the blasting. . “I could go out to the cove at night and hear the herring Finally, there is the issue of royalties. Nova Scotia, flapping, could catch a fish off a wharf. With the lights unlike Ontario and some other provinces, charges no from the quarry, I won’t even be able to see the stars at royalties on construction stone. Taxpayers won’t get a night. If I walk along the cove, I have always been able to dime from the massive quarry project. go to any stream and drink the water. It’s that pure.

It is the never-again stuff that gets Stanton the most. “It’s this never-again stuff that gets to me. All this, never again.” He lives in the home where he grew up, high on North

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