Avon River Heritage Society
  • About
    • Avon River Heritage Society
    • Artifacts & Archives
    • The Avon River
    • Meet the People in our Neighbourhood >
      • Dawn Allen, August 21st, 2020
      • Sara Beanlands, July 22nd, 2021
      • Carolyn Connors, July 30th, 2020
      • Carolyn Connors, July 21st, 2021
      • Louis Countinho, August 13th, 2020
      • Sean Countinho, January 13th, 2021
      • Eva Evans, July 24th, 2020
      • Elizabeth Ferguson, July 27th, 2020
      • Nicholas Hughes, August 6th, 2020
      • Olwynn Hughes, August 11th, 2020
      • Kim Lake, January 18th & 21st, 2021
      • Trudy Lake, March 13th, 2022
      • Raymond Parker, August 12th, 2020
      • Raymond Parker, July 7th, 2021
      • Zacchary Paul, August 21st, 2021
      • Tacha Reed, August 27th, 2020
      • Allen Shaw, January 18th, 2021
      • Carolyn vanGurp, July 16th, 2020
      • Abraham Zebian, August 24th, 2020
    • Avondale Walking Tour
    • Fundraising
    • Book an Appointment
  • History
    • Natural History >
      • Highest Tides in the World
      • Tidal Bore
      • Avon Peninsula Ecology
      • Birds of the Avon
      • Marine and Freshwater Species of the Avon
      • Karst Environment
      • Gypsum
      • Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society >
        • Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society, Interview with President, Raymond Parker
    • Mi'kmaq >
      • Mi'kmaq Birch Bark Canoes
      • Mi'kmaq of the Avon River >
        • Treaty Truckhouse 2 & Zacchary Paul
    • The Coming of the Europeans
    • The North American Colonies
    • Acadians >
      • Pisiquit
      • Acadians of the Avon River
      • Village Thibodeau (Poplar Grove)
      • Acadian Families After Expulsion
    • New England Planters >
      • New England Planters in Avondale >
        • Genealogy
        • James and Lydia Mosher
    • Loyalist
    • African Nova Scotians
    • Local Home Histories >
      • 28 Chip Hill Road
      • 51 Avondale Road
      • 38 Avondale Road: The Clifford Mosher House
      • 58 Avondale Road
      • 60 Avondale Cross Road
      • 71 Avondale Road: The John A. Harvie House
      • 354 Belmont Road: The Yellow House
      • 603 Belmont Road: Wallace Point
      • 801 Avondale Road
      • The Acadia House
      • The Avondale Church
      • The Avondale Parsonage
      • The Church Farm
      • The Fred Robart House
      • The Henry Lyon House
      • The House Across From The Church
      • The John E.F. Mosher House
      • The Knowles Homestead
      • The Mounce Mansions >
        • Captain George R. Mounce House
        • The Thomas A. Mounce House (Honeymoon House) >
          • Interior of the Honeymoon House
      • The Mrs. Dunham Hotel
      • The Old Newton Mosher House
      • The Old Stone House >
        • The Mystery of the Fieldstone House
      • The Roley Mosher House
      • The W.H. Mosher House
    • The Avondale School
    • Golden Age of Sail >
      • The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Sail in Newport
      • The Mosher Shipyards
      • Sailing Ships, Sugar, and Salt
      • Vessels of the Avon River
      • Shipbuilding Process
      • Shipbuilding Tools
      • Ship Directories
      • The Avon Spirit
      • Kings Wharf
      • The Hamburg >
        • Obituary Capt. Andrew B. Coldwell
        • The Hamburg and Alice Coalfleet’s Diary
      • Captain George Richard Mounce Sr
      • Annie Armstrong Mounce Correspondence 1875-1892
      • Captain Daniel William Dexter & The Emma Payzant >
        • Captain Daniel William Dexter and Family, Interview with Debbie Siler, July 21st, 2021
        • Diary of Sarah Dexter, 1892-1893
      • The Rotundus
    • Avondale Wharf & The Landing
    • Community Orchard
    • Edmund McCarthy
  • Arts & Culture
    • The Great Little Art Show >
      • Great Little Art Show 2021 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2021 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2022 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2022 - Artwork
    • Artists Landing Art Gallery
    • Open Studio at the Museum
    • Full Circle Festival >
      • Sofa Sundays
      • Solstice Market
    • Artisans in Action >
      • Artist in Residence 2022
      • Paint Avondale
    • Avondale Wharf Day
    • Honey Harvest Festival
    • Yoga, Meditation, Free Writing Series
    • Lyrics & Letters Concert/Workshop
  • Events Calendar
  • Planters Sea Chest Gift Shop
  • Lydia and Sally Cafe
  • Rentals
  • Volunteer and Employment Opportunities
  • How to find us!
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Preserving the Commons Watershed

Our watershed is where we live; it is like a neighborhood where all the plants, animals and people in our community share water. 

The Avon Peninsula in Hants County, Nova Scotia, is bounded to the west by the Avon River, to the south by the St. Croix River, to the north by the Kennetcook River, and to the east by the Lawrence Road.  The peninsula’s watershed is the area of land that rain flows across or through on its way to our wells, wetlands, ponds, streams, marshes and tidal rivers. 

The eastern part of the peninsula has been deeply impacted by gypsum mining. However the high, wooded land in the interior of the western part of the peninsula is still relatively intact.  It is the heart of our watershed, as it is where the headwaters begin, and where most of our wildlife habitat is. Underlying the heartland is one of the most complex “gypsum karst” geological formations on the planet, which gives rise to the fragile hydrology, unique ecology, and very special landscape of the gypsum woods. 

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Many community residents still refer to the western wooded upland of the watershed as the Commons. Although owned by individual community members, the Commons was once managed collectively by local farmers. It was valued as a sustainable source of firewood and lumber for local residents.

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In 2006 the heritage of the Commons Watershed had become threatened. As Fundy Gypsum, a division of United States Gypsum, acquired woodland—which is often subsequently clearcut—the watershed would be degraded in the absence of the moderating influence of the trees. A proposal to start industrial mining in the watershed could spell a future where our quality of life would be ruined, for generations to come, with no net benefit to the community or our watershed. The life it sustains would be degraded, if not destroyed. Thanks to community involvement in 2010 the mine's plans for expansion were successfully halted and the watershed remains protected to this day.

Core Values

  • Appreciative Inquiry: we believe that a discussion of what is already valued by people in our community can lead to a positive image of the future and inspire collective action. 

  • Full Cost Accounting: in calculating net economic benefit, we count the services provided by our natural environment as benefits, and count the depreciation of these services as costs. We count our human and social assets the same way.

  • Community Sustainable Development: we believe development should benefit our local community, preserve and enhance our watershed and the natural services it provides, and be sustainable for future generations.

Vision

  • The peninsula watershed is valued as the core of our local ecosystem and is celebrated as the natural heartland of our community. It is comprised of a number of environmentally compatible land uses and is protected from incompatible residential, commercial, and industrial development in perpetuity. 

  • Our quality of life is protected and enhanced. The integrity of the peninsula watershed ties together the community’s rural landscape, ponds, streams, wetlands, tidal rivers, scenic vistas, waterfront, heritage sites, farms, and homes.

  • Net benefit is the key criteria of community planning. Economic and social renewal is rooted in an appreciation of our unique natural and cultural heritage. As with natural communities, economic and social vitality is best served by diversity: the way forward lies in a broad and self-generating approach to development, rather than the cycles of dependence, inertia, environmental devastation, and economic decline that characterize resource extraction and single industry dependence. 

Mission

  • To protect the ecological integrity of the Avon Peninsula and the Commons Watershed. 

  • To preserve and enhance the rural and agricultural quality of life on the Avon Peninsula.

  • To promote local sustainable community development on the Avon Peninsula.

  • To work with other communities and organizations to promote watershed protection and local sustainable development in the region.

Goals

  • To establish responsible environmental oversight of gypsum mining east of the Ferry Road.

  • To achieve a permanent moratorium on gypsum mining west of the Ferry Road.

  • To work with community residents to develop and implement a sustainable land use plan for the Commons Watershed.

  • To repatriate the gypsum rights and Commons lands claimed or acquired by Fundy Gypsum, a division of United States Gypsum. ​

Objective

  • Develop the organizational capacity to achieve these goals.

  • Broaden and solidify community support and participation through outreach and education.

  • Help facilitate the development of a community based environmental assessment of the impacts of mining on the peninsula.

  • Ensure government ministers carry out their responsibility under the Environment Act to protect the Commons Watershed. 

  • Ensure West Hants Municipality exercises its planning and development authority responsibly to protect the Commons Watershed.
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The Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society was formed to be a voice for the Commons Watershed. The APWPS was formed in 2006 by residents who were concerned about the proposed expansion of the Fundy Gypsum mine across the Ferry Road. Time was of the essence when gathering public support for protection of the watershed and move toward a more sustainable vision of our shared future.
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To find out more about how you can help, or to participate in the revitalization of the Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society, please contact us at infoavonriver@gmail.com
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Avon River Heritage Society Museum, 17 Belmont Road, Avondale/Newport Landing, Hants County, Nova Scotia, B0N 2A0
Email us at infoavonriver@gmail.com
Telephone us, May through October, at (902) 757-1718