Steve MacLellan

A government assessment says the 684 hectares in Guysborough County near the St. Marys River includes woodlands, lakes and several small wetlands in the watershed of Archibald Brook.

There are old hardwood forests and the watershed “provides quality habitat for brook trout and other aquatic species,” according to the assessment.

“Nearly the entire site consists of ecosystem elements that are poorly represented in Nova Scotia’s protected areas network, including the well drained hardwood drumlins. It also overlaps with a mainland moose concentration zone delineated by the Department of Lands and Forestry.”

Part of the area also happens to have been identified by Atlantic Gold as part of its proposed Cochrane Hill gold mine project. The company’s proposed use of Archibald Lake, according to the government, “cannot be permitted within a wilderness area.”