Making sex a priority for moose in the Maritimes

HALIFAX – The Nature Conservancy of Canada is another step further in its “Moose Sex” project on the Chignecto Isthmus, a stretch of land between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The Nature Conservancy recently received $26,000 from the US environmental conservation group Open Space Institute (OSI), which will help them secure land that provides essential mating space between Nova Scotia, where moose are endangered, and New Brunswick, where the moose population is healthy and growing.

“The Moose Sex Project” by the Nature Conservancy of Canada started in 2007, and is a strategy that consolidates and builds a wilderness corridor on the isthmus for large mammals, like moose, to travel. The isthmus is a narrow corridor of land that is home to many animals, including the endangered Canada lynx and moose, as well as bobcat and bear.

“It’s important for the wildlife to move back and forth between jurisdictions,” said Andrew Holland of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's important for the wildlife to move back and forth between jurisdictions," said Andrew Holland of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

So far, the Nature Conservancy has been able to secure about 2,600 acres of land on both sides of the isthmus for the corridor. With this new investment from OSI, they can work to secure another 176 acres toward their moose sex project. Another $20,000 is needed by July 31 in order to complete the purchase of the 176 acres.

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The lands have been acquired through donations of purchases of privately owned forested areas, wetlands, and other parcels of land in the area.

“We’re trying to save the best of what’s left,” said Holland.

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The corridor will help moose travel between the two provinces, mate with each other, and hopefully restore some of the suffering moose population in Nova Scotia. The population of moose in New Brunswick is over 29,000 animals, where as in mainland Nova Scotia, the number of moose is less than 1000.

The project is key to wildlife corridors in the Northern Appalachains, and lies within the world’s largest broadleaf forest, and Holland says it “demonstrates a bigger picture,” about nature conservancy across North America. The conservation not only helps the moose population, it also plays a major role in replenishing clean water and helping ensure plants and animals are able to deal with the changing climate.

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Holland said the project receives a great deal of support from many people who also recognize that protecting the populations of many animals that call the isthmus home as important.