Sable Island – the windswept sandbar off Nova Scotia famous for its wild horses and the world’s largest breeding colony of grey seals – is getting federal money for a cleanup.
Ottawa announced $3.4 million Monday to remove surplus buildings and other debris from Sable Island National Park Reserve, and to design energy measures to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
READ MORE: N.S. energy and mines minister touts Sable Offshore project as an ‘economic success’
The island has a centuries-long history of human inhabitants, and evidence of that history – such as unused buildings and debris, including hazardous debris – remain on the isolated island, posing a risk to its sensitive ecosystems.
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Nova Scotia MP Sean Fraser, parliamentary secretary to the federal environment minister, says the project will help preserve the 42-kilometre-long island for future generations.
Dubbed the Graveyard of the Atlantic, some 350 vessels have wrecked on the island’s shores and hidden reefs since the mid-1700s.
WATCH: Environmental groups call for offshore-drilling ban off Sable Island
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It is home to hundreds of namesake horses, which have roamed there since the 18th century and become synonymous with its romantic and untamed image.
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