The future of Nova Scotia's dykelands : understanding the landowners’ perspective

Abstract

In the 1600s, French Acadian settlers built dykes to drain tidal wetlands for agriculture. Much of these dyked lands or dykelands exist today but are vulnerable to sea level rise and flooding. Managed dyke realignment is one approach that supports a new tidal marsh buffer. Little is known about how landowners view managed realignment as an adaptation strategy in Nova Scotia. Communicating with groups of landowners known as marsh bodies about managed realignment has shown promise in implementing it on dykelands. Property owners (n=12) within a marsh body were randomly selected and interviewed over the phone. Positive views of managed realignment were supported by knowledge of its implementation and an inevitable view of climate impacts. Support for managed realignment conflicted with aesthetic, environmental, and agricultural values. Future work should incorporate the views of stakeholders and Mi’kmaq communities to capture the full range of trade-offs inherent with managed realignment on dykelands.