My Bioregion: The Chebucto Peninsula (and more)
In 2004, when I had just passed my 60th year, I felt abysmally ignorant of my immediate surroundings. I knew the coast pretty well, but not the hinterlands.
So I decided to spend as much of my spare time as possible exploring and studying the natural history of my bioregion, which I somewhat arbitarily defined as the area within 50 km driving distance of my home in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. More or less, that corresponds to the area within a circle of 35 km radius centred on downtown Halifax.
I say "somewhat arbitarily ", because I chose 50 km and the 35 km circle so that they would include Lawrencetown/Conrad Beach (east of my home, ca. 47 km driving distance) and Polly's Cove (west. also ca. 47 km), which are my favourite places in the whole wide world. Of course a circle is not an appropriate way to define a bioregion which should correspond to some natural geographic entity such as a watershed. So I expanded the circle slightly in order to include the entire Sackville Primary Watershed.
As 2012 rolled in, I finally settled on the Chebucto Peninsula as my immediate bioregion and the area I would try to get to know most intimately, the Sackville Primary Watershed as a larger, natural entity I should know more about and the 36 km circle as the area I can still explore without major guilt trips about carbon footprints. These areas are quite reduced from The Whole World, which is the ultimate bioregion for all of us and that I, like many youth, felt compelled to explore in my earler years; and from the Acadian Bioregion which is my family heritage in the New World and which I still love to explore and enjoy in the summer season.
Only more recently (2015) have I fully appreciated that I reside not in Acadia, but in Mi'kma'ki, the land of the Mi'kmaq and the connection, understanding and reverence for this landscape held by the Mi'kmaq past and present.
- David P. (JackPine)
Acadian Bioregion. From Bioregional Farmer/Scientist Workshop in Organic Agriculture (Maine & Maritime Provinces), 1988. |
 A circle of 36 km radius centred on downtown Halifax. Courtesy of Google Earth.
The Sackville Primary Watershed, from Nova Scotia Environment: Primary Watersheds of Nova Scotia
The Chebucto Peninsula, courtesy of Plasma_east
The Whole World, the bioregion we all share. Courtest NASA: Visible Earth. |
A circle of 36 km radius centred on downtown Halifax. Courtesy of Google Earth.
