Information in this article is based on the Socio Economic Analysis of Five Bridge Lakes Candidate Wilderness Area report.
Chain Lakes, located in southwest Kings County, Nova Scotia, is one of the province’s last remaining undeveloped Crown land tracts. With its landscape of old-growth forests, pristine wetlands, and essential wildlife corridors, it is ecologically invaluable. However, the region stands at a crossroads. On one path lies continued exposure to extractive pressures, clearcutting, mining, and road construction. On the other, a future of ecological protection and sustainable use that supports not only biodiversity, but also long term-socio-economic wellbeing. What lies ahead depends on how we value this landscape, not just in market terms, but in cultural, ecological, and intergenerational terms.
To do this, we categorized and analyzed this value under five key lenses: Biodiversity and Climate Benefits, Commercial Values, Individual Values, Societal Values, Mi’Kmaq Consultation and Treaty Rights. Each represents a different dimension of how people, communities, and future generations interact with the land. Our goal is to highlight the multifaceted significance of Chain Lakes and guide decision-making that secures both community prosperity and ecological integrity.
Biodiversity and Climate Benefits are the functions that nature provides for free. These are functions that sustain life and economic activity alike. In Chain Lakes, these include:
The wetlands and lakes of Chain Lakes filter and store water, helping maintain water quality and quantity for communities downstream. They also mitigate flooding during heavy rain events—a growing concern under climate change.
The region’s forests, especially its old-growth stands, store large amounts of carbon both in living biomass and soil. Logging or mining releases this carbon back into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Protection allows Chain Lakes to function as a long-term carbon sink—a vital public service in a warming world.
Chain Lakes hosts species at risk, including the Canada Warbler, Black Ash, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and several rare lichens. These species depend on intact ecosystems for survival. Biodiversity also underpins ecosystem resilience, allowing nature to adapt to changing conditions and continue supporting human life.
Commercial values refer to the economic returns that can be derived from direct, extractive or revenue-generating uses of land (forestry, mining, energy development, or tourism). In a traditional economic framework, these values are often prioritized due to their direct contributions to GDP, jobs, and tax revenues. However, such valuation must be balanced against long-term sustainability and the risks of resource depletion and environmental degradation.
The proposed uranium mining activity in Chain Lakes, and other parts of rural Nova Scotia, epitomizes the tension between short-term economic gain and long-term socio-ecological cost.
While it may provide jobs during development, extraction, and closure phases, the total number of long-term positions is low and typically goes to specialized external contractors.
Additionally, it brings disproportionate risks: radioactive contamination, long-lived tailings, and potential groundwater pollution. Chain Lakes contains wetlands and lakes that support regional water filtration, resources that uranium mining would permanently compromise. Beyond the health and safety concerns, uranium mining would also erode the region’s potential for eco-tourism.
Forestry has historically been a pillar of rural Nova Scotia’s economy. In Chain Lakes, commercial forestry, especially clearcutting, has been ongoing, driven by industrial forestry operations. While timber extraction creates economic activity, it often comes at the cost of biodiversity, landscape fragmentation, and the collapse of ecosystem services. This is particularly damaging in areas like Chain Lakes, which harbour old-growth stands and species at risk.
However, not all forestry is destructive. There is increasing momentum across Canada for community-based sustainable forestry. This model emphasizes:
Selective harvesting rather than clearcutting
Local employment and value-added processing
Long-term forest health and biodiversity outcomes.
Under Wilderness Area designation, industrial forestry would be prohibited. Yet other designations (Special Management Areas or Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas) could allow for highly regulated, low-impact forestry that supports local livelihoods, while still protecting ecological function.
Maple syrup tapping is often overlooked in wilderness planning; however, it represents a unique economic bridge between conservation and local development. The economic value of maple syrup production extends beyond the syrup itself:
Diversified farm income: Many rural landowners and small communities tap maple as a seasonal revenue stream.
Eco-cultural tourism: Sugar shack experiences attract families and tourists, offering educational and culinary tourism.
Minimal environmental footprint: When done responsibly, syrup tapping does not require cutting down trees of major land alteration.
The growing demand for nature-based tourism in Nova Scotia adds another commercial dimension to Chain Lakes’ value. Activities like hiking, birdwatching, paddling, and guided ecological tours can generate ongoing income, while still preserving the land. Additionally, the area offers rich opportunities for academic research in biodiversity, climate resilience, and wetland ecology. These uses create knowledge and economic multipliers without sacrificing the natural capital of the area.
Individual values reflect the personal benefits that people derive from their interactions with the land (physical, mental, emotional, etc.). These are often unquantified in economic terms, but carry enormous significance for public wellbeing.
The Chain Lakes area supports a wide array of recreational activities:
Hiking and paddling
Backcountry camping
Snowmobiling and ATV riding
Fishing and wildlife viewing
Formal protection enhances the quality and sustainability of these uses. Clean lakes, old forests, and wildlife-rich ecosystems would attract residents and tourists alike, while access rules would ensure minimal environmental impact. From a public health perspective, the benefits are immense. Time in nature reduces stress, improves cardiovascular health, and boosts mood and resilience
Traditional uses such as hunting and fishing also hold strong individual and cultural significance. Wilderness designation typically preserves these activities under regulated frameworks, ensuring sustainability of game and fish populations.
Societal values refer to the broad, collective benefits that landscapes like Chain Lakes offer to society as a whole. These values are not tied to any one user or group or commercial enterprise. Rather, they reflect how landscapes shape our public life, shared identity, and the responsibilities we carry as stewards of the environment. Societal values capture the ways in which wild places contribute to civic pride, intergenerational equity, educational opportunities, and regional resilience.
Chain Lakes is one of the last large wild areas in Kings County, a region where most undeveloped landscapes have already been fragmented or lost to development. As such, it represents more than ecological value: it carries a symbolic and civic significance. It serves as a natural heritage site that helps define the identity of the region as a place where wild beauty and ecological integrity are still accessible. This has branding implications for municipalities, tourism organizations, and community groups who wish to present their region as sustainable, vibrant, and connected to nature.
Protecting Chain Lakes sends a message, not just locally but provincially, that communities value clean water, biodiversity, and wild spaces, and are prepared to act for their long-term benefit. This identity has tangible value in attracting new residents, retaining youth, and creating a sense of belonging.
Wilderness areas represent a public trust. They are held not for short-term economic gain, but for the enduring benefit of present and future generations. In an era of accelerating ecological degradation and climate instability, choosing to protect a region like Chain Lakes becomes a statement of civic ethics: that we recognize the finite nature of natural capital, and are willing to invest in its preservation as a form of shared security.
This responsibility includes ensuring fair access to nature for all people, regardless of income, location, or background. As pressures on urban green space increase, large wilderness areas like Chain Lakes become essential in maintaining environmental equity. They provide the quiet, undeveloped landscapes that cannot be replicated by urban parks or engineered recreation areas.
Chain Lakes offers a powerful outdoor classroom for citizens of all ages. Whether it's a school group learning about wetlands and climate, or university researchers studying species at risk, the region supports learning that is experiential, place-based, and deeply impactful. Wilderness areas foster ecological literacy, and with that, a more informed and engaged public.
Protecting this region would allow for:
Long-term ecological monitoring projects
Citizen science initiatives such as bird and amphibian counts
Public interpretation programs that connect people to the landscape's geological, biological, and historical stories
In this way, Chain Lakes becomes more than a protected space—it becomes an engine for knowledge, curiosity, and civic participation.
Finally, societal value is fundamentally about time. Protecting Chain Lakes is not only about meeting today's needs; it's about safeguarding opportunities and resources for those who come after us. In this sense, societal value overlaps with ethical responsibility, ensuring that our children and grandchildren inherit a world with functioning ecosystems, natural beauty, and the freedom to explore both.
Mi’kmaw values in Chain lakes are rooted not in ownership or extraction, but in kinship with the land. This includes spiritual sites, food harvesting, ceremonial use, and traditional ecological knowledge systems.
Wilderness designation must be co-developed with Mi’Kmaw communities, reflecting treaty rights and the Duty to Consult and Accommodate. More than a legal requirement, Mi’Kmaq-led conservation offers Nova Scotia a powerful model of relational land management.
Potential opportunities include:
Co-management of wilderness areas
Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas
Cultural tourism rooted in Mi’kmaw stories, language, and traditionals
Ignoring these relationships in favour of resource extraction is not just a policy failure, it is a failure of reconciliation.
The socio-economic case for protecting the Chain Lakes Wilderness Area is both diverse and compelling. It is not simply a question of “saving the trees”, but rather of securing:
Long-term rural employment through sustainable, place-based enterprise
Cultural survival and community identity in both Mi’Kmaq and settler traditions
Healthier citizens through recreation, learning, and connection to nature
A stronger, more resilient climate and water system
Enduring public wealth in the form of ecosystem services and natural capital
Designating Chain Lakes as a Wilderness Area is not a sacrifice of economic opportunity, it is a strategic investment in prosperity that lasts beyond the next budget cycle. Unlike mines that close or forests that are cut, a protected landscape grows in value over time (ecologically, socially, and economically). Now is the time of Nova Scotia to choose the kind of future it wants, one that extracts and depletes, or one that protects and prospers. Chain Lakes offers that choice, and it deserves to be protected accordingly.