On February 19th, Nature Nova Scotia was made aware of some shocking and concerning structural changes within the Department of Natural Resources which seemed to reduce or even remove the functionality of the wildlife division. This is our letter to the Premier and Minister of Natural Resources seeking clarification.
Update – July 14, 2026:
Nature Nova Scotia received the following reply from new Minister of Natural Resources on June 22nd. No representative from the province responded to our reminder email, sent March 4th, with additional questions regarding administration of the Habitat Conservation Fund and our own overdue grant installments from the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which fired DNR staff were working to remedy.
Nature Nova Scotia Executive Director, Becky Parker, to DNR on March 4th:
“I’m checking on your progress on answering the urgent questions I asked in my February 20th letter. Beyond the general concern I expressed in that letter, the government of Nova Scotia also owes Nature Nova Scotia several thousand dollars in late Habitat Conservation Fund payments for our funded project monitoring the endangered mainland moose, an issue your Wildlife Division has been trying to remedy for many months despite lacking staff capacity. I have new questions about specific reporting and invoicing requirements since last speaking with Wildlife staff in the fall, but you have fired the managers I would have sent them to. Please respond to my letter immediately, particularly with instruction on who to contact regarding the management of the Habitat Conservation Fund.”
June 22nd response from Minister Tory Rushton:
We take issue with this response in four ways:
- Both our February and March correspondence with the province, firstly outlining our general concerns around the department’s restructuring and secondly regarding confusion around who or what entity Nature Nova Scotia must follow up with regarding our own late Habitat Conservation Fund payments, were labelled urgent. To receive a response months later is unacceptable.
- In his June 19th letter, Minister Rushton claims that no biologists or field staff were affected by the restructuring and that the restructuring did not reduce any of the Department’s core wildlife functions. The fired Wildlife managers were biologists, responsible for several species at risk and other wildlife responsibilities. Given how difficult it was for those managers to keep on top of files like Nature Nova Scotia’s mainland moose project, it should be obvious that any loss of on-the-ground staff should be detrimental to the Department’s functioning and purpose. As it stands, we are currently waiting for response on a months-long matter related to piping plover, and have yet to locate an appropriate staff person.
- With the exception of our first question, none of the questions we asked in our February letter are answered. We received no new contacts, we were not given information on who or what groups were consulted as part of the restructuring, and we disagree with the Minister’s assessment that the restructuring has not harmed the Department.
- Minister Rushton attempts to clarify the situation regarding Nature Nova Scotia’s missing grant installments but refers to the incorrect fiscal year. At the time of our February and March letters, the province still owed Nature Nova Scotia for most of the previous fiscal year’s grant, an issue that resulted in Nature Nova Scotia staff calling DNR repeatedly asking to be put in touch with an appropriate staff person so that we might receive that funding as well as the current year’s grant which was being withheld because the previous year had not been paid. Thus, Nature Nova Scotia coordinated nearly two years of a Habitat Conservation Fund project with donation revenue only, because we could not rely on the province. The Minister then directs us to contact the Habitat Conservation Team but does not say who those staff are or provide new contact information. We have since located a staff person for this purpose and they, thankfully, have remedied the issue. Individual staff within DNR have always been helpful and deserve the qualified label the Minister gives them in his June letter. However, the Habitat Conservation Fund supports vital conservation work in this province and must be administered with efficiency and effectiveness and it is clear that this is not the case at present. That the issue existed and persisted for so long, and that the Minister could not locate an appropriate staff member, file, or other information to clarify this situation before responding to us, months late, may well be taken as another sign of this Department’s continued breakdown.
Nature Nova Scotia remains extremely concerned about the effectiveness of the Department of Natural Resources and the harm these administrative or cultural weaknesses are posing to wildlife. We hope the returning Minister will take these concerns as encouragement for implementing improvements and that we have seen the end of cuts to vital government functions.