HALIFAX/FALL RIVER: The Halifax Regional Municipality is advising residents that, due to the Fire Proclamation – Travel Ban issued by the Province of Nova Scotia on Aug. 5 restrictions will be placed on access to the woods in municipal park spaces, effective 4 p.m. Aug. 5.
These restrictions will remain in place until 2 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2025, unless the province’s proclamation is revoked or amended by further notice.
Woods, as defined in the provincial Forests Act, include forested land, rock barren, brush land, dry marsh, bog or muskeg.
Parks that are all woods will be fully closed.
Parks with non-woods areas – such as green spaces, playgrounds, sports fields and ball diamonds – will remain open for use.
At McDonald Sports Park in Waverley, all trails in the park are closed to all users in compliance with the province-wide ban.
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For parks which have both woods and non-woods areas, the woods are closed and the non-wooded areas remain open.
An example of this would be Fort Needham Memorial Park where the monument, playground and sports field remain open but the woods are closed.
Supervised beaches in municipal parks will remain open.
If these restrictions affect any recreation programming, impacted users will be advised.
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The municipality is in the process of installing signage at impacted park spaces.
This is expected to take several days.
Regardless of the presence of signage, residents are required to adhere to these restrictions.
More information on the provincial notice of restricting travel and activities in the woods is available in the Province of Nova Scotia’s news release.
