Troop Island
a truly incredible and ecologically unique place.
Troop Island was purchased through a joint fundraising campaign by the St. Margaret's Stewardship Association and the Nova Scotia Nature Trust through the unflagging work of Ella McQuinn and Bonnie Sutherland. There were donations from the Halifax Regional Municipality, Mountain Equipment Co-op and numerous generous private donors.
Wandering inland from the charming sand beach, you enter a new and unexpected world. Lush mossy ground gives way to a cathedral of towering centuries old American Beech, Yellow Birch, Sugar Maple and White and Red Spruce trees. The island is one of only a few remaining places in the entire province providing refuge for Acadian hardwood forest.
Further along the shore, you discover an ecologically rich saltmarsh and pond, rocky intertidal habitats rich in marine life, and coastal forests where you’ll likely hear a lively chorus of songbirds or catch a glimpse of the resident ospreys.
Unlike so many of our coastal islands, nature has been mostly left unimpeded on Troop Island, offering a unique outdoor classroom and opportunity to understand and to study coastal dynamics and climate change. It is a place well-known and treasured by the local community.
A Trip to Troop Island
Join naturalist Bob Guscott and the legendary environmentalist Rudy Haase of Friends of the Earth as they visit the old growth Acadian Forest on Troop Island and explain its significance.
Kayaking to Troop Island
Guide Eben Fry of Sea Sun Coast Island Adventures takes us kayaking to Troop Island and explains its place in his family's history and why this unique island is such a treasure in St. Margarets Bay.