Large plot of coastal land protected in Cape Breton

Thanks to a very generous donation, 120 hectares of coastal land in Nova Scotia is being preserved.

The Nova Scotia Nature Trust announced Saturday the Mackenzie Cove property on theBras d'Or Lakes in Inverness County, Cape Breton, would receive permanent protection.

A released stated that Dan Livingston gifted the property to the Nature Trust in order to keep the land undeveloped and wild.

"The land was originally my father's. He loved it for its beauty, its neighbours and its memories," Livingston saidin the release.

"It was where my children learned to work, to forage and to play outdoors. We all found refuge there from the slings and arrows of the modern world. As a working ecologist, I've seen too many beautiful places ruined by development, and I didnt want MacKenzie Cove to go the same way."

The property has more than seven kilometres of shoreline and is home to a variety of ecosystems.It includes rare, mature Acadian hardwood trees and old-growth hemlocks.

"Coastal hardwood forests are exceptionally rare in Nova Scotia. For this property to have large, undisturbed stands of Acadian coastal forest makes it extremely important to preserve, forever," Conservation Manager Dennis Garratt said in the release.

The rare, ribbed mussel can also be found along the protected shoreline.

The Nature Trust said because more than 85 per cent of coastal land is privately owned,it is usually developed upon.

Working with landowners in the province, the Nature Trust has succeeded in protecting 18 coastal properties and a total of 48 properties.