Wilderness land full of possibilities

Brilliant foresight by municipal staff has given residents of Halifax Regional Municipality an opportunity to decide how to design a recreational wilderness site that will make us the envy of large cities across Canada.

Just before amalgamation in 1995, the city of Halifax purchased 8,000 acres of land from the Halifax Water Commission. The land, between the Otter Lake interchange on Highway 103, Ragged Lake Business Park and Prospect Road, is known as the Western Common. It is larger than the Halifax peninsula.

It was protected from development for many years because it was part of Halifax's water reserve.

Now, HRM wants to get input from residents as it creates a plan for a park that could benefit all residents of HRM. It will hire a consultant who will hold public meetings that will provide residents an opportunity to share their ideas.

The park has vast potential for camping, hiking, biking and as a picnic park. There is old forest, and other habitats worth protecting that are home to rare plants and animals.

Other parks nearby, such as Long Lake Provincial Park and the Bluff Wilderness Trail, offer some outdoor activities. But if the new park is to be a complement to these parks, it should include camping sites.

One thing that Halifax is sorely lacking is a place for people to camp - and we don't mean to park a big honking RV. Our city needs more campgrounds. The beauty of this park, is that it is near a trail that has the potential to provide campers with biking access to Halifax.

Creating an active transportation corridor into Halifax from this area could attract eco-tourists. A park here could serve as a base camp for those who would like to be able to go into Halifax, but still be close to other attractions such as kayaking in the Terence Bay area.

The Western Common is only about 10 kilometres from downtown Halifax. It would be easy to convert it into a parking lot for RVs, but hopefully that will be avoided. What HRM needs is a nice place for residents to go camping without having to drive an hour or more. At the moment, campgrounds are too scarce.