Protect the Big Hill at Lawrencetown Beach
The Issue
The big hill between Lawrencetown Beach and the lake, the one with the trails, the trees on the end, and the eroding cliff facing the ocean, just went up for sale: 399 acres, listed at $7.5 million. Most of us grew up thinking it was Crown land. It isn't. It's privately owned, and once it sells we could lose it for good.
I live out here and I'm a nurse. I walk those trails, and so do families, dog walkers, birders, seniors, and the surfers who've been paddling out at the Point since the 1970s.
I'm asking the Province of Nova Scotia to work with the Nova Scotia Nature Trust and the Nature Conservancy of Canada to buy the hill and add it to the Cole Harbour–Lawrencetown Coastal Heritage Park System that already surrounds it.
About property rights:
The owner has every right to sell, and nobody is asking to take the land. We just want a conservation buyer to make a fair offer like anyone else.
Nova Scotia already has a fund for this. The Crown Share Land Legacy Trust uses offshore oil and gas royalties, not new taxes, to help land trusts buy private land [1]. The province also has a legal target to protect 20% of our land by 2030, and we’re only at about 14% [2].
The Nature Trust reports that 85% of Nova Scotia’s coastline is privately owned, so coastal land the public can actually walk on is rare, precious, and must be protected.
Why it matters for our health:
On paper, the Eastern Shore is struggling. Nova Scotia Health found that 25.8% of people in the Eastern Shore/Musquodoboit area live with two or more chronic conditions, higher than the provincial rate of 24.1% [3]. Sixty percent of adults in Nova Scotia are overweight or obese, compared to 54% across Canada [4]. Out here there are no sidewalks and very few free places to be active. The hill is one of them.
The research backs this up:
• A systematic review and meta-analysis of 143 studies found that people with more green space had lower blood pressure and stress hormones, and lower rates of type 2 diabetes and death from cardiovascular disease [5].
• A systematic review of 35 studies found that coastal and water spaces are linked with better mental health and more physical activity [6].
• A systematic review of 33 studies of programs in ocean and water settings, including surfing, found mostly positive effects on mental and social wellbeing [7].
• A study of nearly 20,000 people found that two hours a week in nature was linked with better health and wellbeing. That held for older adults and people with long-term illness too [8].
• A Canadian study estimated that each physically inactive person costs the health system about $712 a year [9].
About the retirement home idea
I've heard talk that the land could become a retirement home. I understand the appeal, because we need senior housing. But this is a poor spot for it.
The hill is exposed, with an eroding cliff on a stretch of coast where the sea is rising and the drumlin headlands are wearing away [10].
A lot of it is wetland and coastal grassland. HRM's own planning strategy for Lawrencetown names the headland as part of the Cole Harbour–Lawrencetown Regional Park, and the regional park zone in that plan only allows low-impact uses like hiking, picnicking and wildlife watching [11]. Anyone living there would need a car to get groceries or reach a doctor.
There's a bigger point too. Places like this help keep seniors out of care homes in the first place. Falls are the leading cause of injury hospitalizations for Canadians over 65, and over a third of seniors hospitalized for a fall end up in long-term care [12]. A Cochrane review of 108 trials found that exercise cuts the rate of falls by about 23% [13]. A meta-analysis found frail older adults had more than five times the odds of moving into a nursing home, and the author notes that exercise may help prevent or reverse frailty [14].
A trail where an 80-year-old can walk every day does more to keep her in her own home than a building on a cliff.
Birds, wildlife and surf:
Birders have logged 184 species at the provincial park right next door [15]. The nearby salt marshes are a known migration stop for herons, plovers and yellowlegs [17], and ospreys are regulars along the Atlantic View Trail [18]. Lawrencetown Point is known as the birthplace of surfing in Nova Scotia [16], and the surf schools and shops bring people and business to the Eastern Shore year round.
How you can help (besides signing)
1. Share this petition with friends, family, and local Facebook groups.
2. Email your representatives. A few lines in your own words is enough.
◦ Minister of Natural Resources Tory Rushton: mindnr@novascotia.ca
◦ Eastern Shore MLA Kent Smith: kent.smith@novascotia.ca. If you live elsewhere, you can find your own MLA at nslegislature.ca.
◦ District 2 Councillor David Hendsbee: david.hendsbee@halifax.ca
3. Tell the land trusts you want them to buy it: nature@nsnt.ca and atlantic@natureconservancy.ca. If they start a fundraising campaign, every bit helps.
4. Post your photos and stories about the hill in the comments. Reporters and politicians do read them.
5. Write a letter to the editor, or call in to CBC’s Information Morning or Mainstreet.
6. Help organize. If you’d like to get involved, contact [your name/email].
Thank you for caring about this place!!!
Sources
1. NS Government news release, May 27, 2026 – Crown Share Land Legacy Trust. news.novascotia.ca
2. Ecology Action Centre (April 22, 2026). Press release: New polling shows majority of Nova Scotians want Province to protect more land. ecologyaction.ca
3. Nova Scotia Health (July 2026). Community Health Snapshot: Key Determinants of Population Health and Health Care Utilization in Nova Scotian Communities. Appendix 3, Table A3.2. nshealth.ca
4. Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness (2026). 2026 Nova Scotia Population Health Report. novascotia.ca/dhw/populationhealth
5. Twohig-Bennett C, Jones A (2018). The health benefits of the great outdoors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of greenspace exposure and health outcomes. Environmental Research 166:628–637. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2018.06.030
6. Gascon M, Zijlema W, Vert C, White MP, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ (2017). Outdoor blue spaces, human health and well-being: A systematic review of quantitative studies. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health 220(8):1207–1221. doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2017.08.004
7. Britton E, Kindermann G, Domegan C, Carlin C (2020). Blue care: a systematic review of blue space interventions for health and wellbeing. Health Promotion International 35(1):50–69. doi:10.1093/heapro/day103
8. White MP, Alcock I, Grellier J, et al. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports 9:7730. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-44097-3
9. Krueger H, et al. (2015). Variation across Canada in the economic burden attributable to excess weight, tobacco smoking and physical inactivity. Canadian Journal of Public Health 106. doi:10.17269/cjph.106.4994. Per-person figure as reported by CBC News.
10. Forde TC, Nedimović MR, Gibling MR, et al. (2016). Coastal evolution over the past 3000 years at Conrads Beach, Nova Scotia: the influence of local sediment supply on a paraglacial transgressive system. Estuaries and Coasts 39:363–384. doi:10.1007/s12237-015-0016-6
11. Halifax Regional Municipality. Lawrencetown Municipal Planning Strategy (Regional Context, p. 9; Policy P-16, pp. 35–36). halifax.ca
12. Public Health Agency of Canada (2014). Seniors' Falls in Canada: Second Report. canada.ca
13. Sherrington C, Fairhall NJ, Wallbank GK, et al. (2019). Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2019, Issue 1, CD012424. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2
14. Kojima G (2018). Frailty as a predictor of nursing home placement among community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy 41(1):42–48. doi:10.1519/JPT.0000000000000097
15. eBird. Lawrencetown Beach Provincial Park hotspot, bird list (184 species). ebird.org/region/L1175145
16. Surfing Heritage and Culture Center. Meet Vic Ruzgys – A Surfer from Nova Scotia. surfmuseum.org
17. Trans Canada Trail. Exploring the Salt Marsh Trail with local birder, Marty Zelenietz. tctrail.ca
18. Our Canada (August 2016). Flocks of Fun (Atlantic View Trail, Lawrencetown). Via PressReader.
105
The Issue
The big hill between Lawrencetown Beach and the lake, the one with the trails, the trees on the end, and the eroding cliff facing the ocean, just went up for sale: 399 acres, listed at $7.5 million. Most of us grew up thinking it was Crown land. It isn't. It's privately owned, and once it sells we could lose it for good.
I live out here and I'm a nurse. I walk those trails, and so do families, dog walkers, birders, seniors, and the surfers who've been paddling out at the Point since the 1970s.
I'm asking the Province of Nova Scotia to work with the Nova Scotia Nature Trust and the Nature Conservancy of Canada to buy the hill and add it to the Cole Harbour–Lawrencetown Coastal Heritage Park System that already surrounds it.
About property rights:
The owner has every right to sell, and nobody is asking to take the land. We just want a conservation buyer to make a fair offer like anyone else.
Nova Scotia already has a fund for this. The Crown Share Land Legacy Trust uses offshore oil and gas royalties, not new taxes, to help land trusts buy private land [1]. The province also has a legal target to protect 20% of our land by 2030, and we’re only at about 14% [2].
The Nature Trust reports that 85% of Nova Scotia’s coastline is privately owned, so coastal land the public can actually walk on is rare, precious, and must be protected.
Why it matters for our health:
On paper, the Eastern Shore is struggling. Nova Scotia Health found that 25.8% of people in the Eastern Shore/Musquodoboit area live with two or more chronic conditions, higher than the provincial rate of 24.1% [3]. Sixty percent of adults in Nova Scotia are overweight or obese, compared to 54% across Canada [4]. Out here there are no sidewalks and very few free places to be active. The hill is one of them.
The research backs this up:
• A systematic review and meta-analysis of 143 studies found that people with more green space had lower blood pressure and stress hormones, and lower rates of type 2 diabetes and death from cardiovascular disease [5].
• A systematic review of 35 studies found that coastal and water spaces are linked with better mental health and more physical activity [6].
• A systematic review of 33 studies of programs in ocean and water settings, including surfing, found mostly positive effects on mental and social wellbeing [7].
• A study of nearly 20,000 people found that two hours a week in nature was linked with better health and wellbeing. That held for older adults and people with long-term illness too [8].
• A Canadian study estimated that each physically inactive person costs the health system about $712 a year [9].
About the retirement home idea
I've heard talk that the land could become a retirement home. I understand the appeal, because we need senior housing. But this is a poor spot for it.
The hill is exposed, with an eroding cliff on a stretch of coast where the sea is rising and the drumlin headlands are wearing away [10].
A lot of it is wetland and coastal grassland. HRM's own planning strategy for Lawrencetown names the headland as part of the Cole Harbour–Lawrencetown Regional Park, and the regional park zone in that plan only allows low-impact uses like hiking, picnicking and wildlife watching [11]. Anyone living there would need a car to get groceries or reach a doctor.
There's a bigger point too. Places like this help keep seniors out of care homes in the first place. Falls are the leading cause of injury hospitalizations for Canadians over 65, and over a third of seniors hospitalized for a fall end up in long-term care [12]. A Cochrane review of 108 trials found that exercise cuts the rate of falls by about 23% [13]. A meta-analysis found frail older adults had more than five times the odds of moving into a nursing home, and the author notes that exercise may help prevent or reverse frailty [14].
A trail where an 80-year-old can walk every day does more to keep her in her own home than a building on a cliff.
Birds, wildlife and surf:
Birders have logged 184 species at the provincial park right next door [15]. The nearby salt marshes are a known migration stop for herons, plovers and yellowlegs [17], and ospreys are regulars along the Atlantic View Trail [18]. Lawrencetown Point is known as the birthplace of surfing in Nova Scotia [16], and the surf schools and shops bring people and business to the Eastern Shore year round.
How you can help (besides signing)
1. Share this petition with friends, family, and local Facebook groups.
2. Email your representatives. A few lines in your own words is enough.
◦ Minister of Natural Resources Tory Rushton: mindnr@novascotia.ca
◦ Eastern Shore MLA Kent Smith: kent.smith@novascotia.ca. If you live elsewhere, you can find your own MLA at nslegislature.ca.
◦ District 2 Councillor David Hendsbee: david.hendsbee@halifax.ca
3. Tell the land trusts you want them to buy it: nature@nsnt.ca and atlantic@natureconservancy.ca. If they start a fundraising campaign, every bit helps.
4. Post your photos and stories about the hill in the comments. Reporters and politicians do read them.
5. Write a letter to the editor, or call in to CBC’s Information Morning or Mainstreet.
6. Help organize. If you’d like to get involved, contact [your name/email].
Thank you for caring about this place!!!
Sources
1. NS Government news release, May 27, 2026 – Crown Share Land Legacy Trust. news.novascotia.ca
2. Ecology Action Centre (April 22, 2026). Press release: New polling shows majority of Nova Scotians want Province to protect more land. ecologyaction.ca
3. Nova Scotia Health (July 2026). Community Health Snapshot: Key Determinants of Population Health and Health Care Utilization in Nova Scotian Communities. Appendix 3, Table A3.2. nshealth.ca
4. Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness (2026). 2026 Nova Scotia Population Health Report. novascotia.ca/dhw/populationhealth
5. Twohig-Bennett C, Jones A (2018). The health benefits of the great outdoors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of greenspace exposure and health outcomes. Environmental Research 166:628–637. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2018.06.030
6. Gascon M, Zijlema W, Vert C, White MP, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ (2017). Outdoor blue spaces, human health and well-being: A systematic review of quantitative studies. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health 220(8):1207–1221. doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2017.08.004
7. Britton E, Kindermann G, Domegan C, Carlin C (2020). Blue care: a systematic review of blue space interventions for health and wellbeing. Health Promotion International 35(1):50–69. doi:10.1093/heapro/day103
8. White MP, Alcock I, Grellier J, et al. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports 9:7730. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-44097-3
9. Krueger H, et al. (2015). Variation across Canada in the economic burden attributable to excess weight, tobacco smoking and physical inactivity. Canadian Journal of Public Health 106. doi:10.17269/cjph.106.4994. Per-person figure as reported by CBC News.
10. Forde TC, Nedimović MR, Gibling MR, et al. (2016). Coastal evolution over the past 3000 years at Conrads Beach, Nova Scotia: the influence of local sediment supply on a paraglacial transgressive system. Estuaries and Coasts 39:363–384. doi:10.1007/s12237-015-0016-6
11. Halifax Regional Municipality. Lawrencetown Municipal Planning Strategy (Regional Context, p. 9; Policy P-16, pp. 35–36). halifax.ca
12. Public Health Agency of Canada (2014). Seniors' Falls in Canada: Second Report. canada.ca
13. Sherrington C, Fairhall NJ, Wallbank GK, et al. (2019). Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2019, Issue 1, CD012424. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2
14. Kojima G (2018). Frailty as a predictor of nursing home placement among community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy 41(1):42–48. doi:10.1519/JPT.0000000000000097
15. eBird. Lawrencetown Beach Provincial Park hotspot, bird list (184 species). ebird.org/region/L1175145
16. Surfing Heritage and Culture Center. Meet Vic Ruzgys – A Surfer from Nova Scotia. surfmuseum.org
17. Trans Canada Trail. Exploring the Salt Marsh Trail with local birder, Marty Zelenietz. tctrail.ca
18. Our Canada (August 2016). Flocks of Fun (Atlantic View Trail, Lawrencetown). Via PressReader.
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Petition created on November 9, 2026