Sable Island, NS is Canada’s newest national park.

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Canada’s newest national park will be the 40-km (25-mi) narrow crescent of grassland, mud flats and sandy beaches nicknamed the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Sable Island, 300 km (186 mi) southeast of Halifax, NS, is the site of some 223 known shipwrecks since the mid-1700s. It’s also home to a famed herd of about 400 wild horses, descendants of horses a Bostonian clergyman sent over to graze on the island.

In late May, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia announced the island will be designated a national park, affording its sensitive habitat the highest level of protection. In addition to the horses, wind-swept Sable Island harbours the world’s largest congregation of breeding grey seals and several at-risk species and sub-species. One, the Ipswich Savannah sparrow, breeds nowhere else on earth.

Between 100 and 200 people visit the island each year, most of them researchers or federal employees, but about 50 are visitors. As a national park, Sable Island will be open to travellers, though the number will likely be limited. Federal Minister of the Environment, the Honourable Jim Prentice, said, “Canadians deserve to witness the beauty and the significance of this historic island.” And so do travellers.

www.novascotia.com

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