Tobeatic Wilderness Area
The Tobeatic Wilderness Area is the largest protected area in the Canadian Maritimes, located in southwestern Nova Scotia. It contains nearly 120,000 hectares of land and spans parts of five counties, Annapolis, Digby, Queens, Shelburne and Yarmouth. Located adjacent to Kejimkujik National Park, it was formerly known as the Tobeatic Wildlife Management Area, and the Tobeatic Game Reserve.
History
The name Tobeatic is derived from "Place of the Alder" in the Mi'kmaq language. Archaeological research shows that the Mi’kmaq people were present in the Tobeatic at least 4500 years ago.In 1927, a portion of the area was designated as a game sanctuary. In 1968, it was designated as a Wildlife Management Area. In 1998 it was designated as one of 31 Wilderness Areas in the province. It is managed by the Department of Environment and Climate Change for the province in partnership with the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables. In 2015, nearly 16,000 hectares were added to the wilderness area.
Geography
It contains large areas of Acadian forest. The geography is varied, consisting of wetlands, woodlands, scrublands and barrens. The landscape was shaped by the last glaciation, which left glacial barrens, erratics, drumlins, eskers, moraines, hummocks, outwash plains and kettle lakes. It is composed of several geological units including the Goldenville Formation, the Halifax Formation, and Middle to Late Devonian biotite monzogranite and leucomonzogranite.Wildlife includes eastern moose and white-tailed deer.
The region has many lakes and rivers including the Shelburne, Clyde, and Tusket rivers.