Eisner Cove Wetland alteration

Development of the swamp continues

A sketch map of Eisnor Cove Wetland by a local amateur cartographer, by Antonia Zwissler

By Antonia Zwissler

If you zoom in on the “Nova Scotia Topographic DataBase – Water Features Map,” on the south of Dartmouth within the Circumferential Highway, Eisner Cove Wetland is the only blue shape rendered as a swamp within the Circ. If you zoom in on it further, so Eisner Cove Wetland is the length of your index finger, you can scroll down to Barrington Street and find the distance from Inglis Street to Spring Garden Road is about the same length. It’s an outdated map though, the closest Northeastern development is Maple Ridge Estates, when really, Clayton Developments Limited has broken ground and built housing between Maple Ridge and Eisner Cove Wetland. The president of Clayton is Jason Brunt. Google Maps does dutifully show Clayton’s development; a Bike Rack, Kassi Lane, and Noah Avenue are all granted cartographic validity. The wetland isn’t, though. Google Maps does not show the wetland at all. The area doesn’t even get green or blue shading—it’s the same shade of pale yellow as the Halifax waterfront or the Zatzman Sportsplex.

On a real world level, while the environmental assessment done for the development didn’t find any endangered species at the wetland, the Ecology Action Centre writes that wetlands “are home to countless plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.”

When the biggest wetland within the Circ. was disturbed, it didn’t happen without a fight. But, since the development of the area was facilitated by the provincial government it had some momentum behind it. The area was designated a Special Planning Area (SPA) in March 2022. It is one of at least five SPA developments taken on by Clayton.

In June 2022, the province approved the disfigurement of Eisner Cove Wetland. Three months later, minister of Environment and Climate Change Timothy Halman rejected appeals against this sanctioned environmental despoilation. The appeals came from the president of Protect Eisner Cove Wetland, Bill Zebedee, and the Ecology Action Centre.