Subpages:
– Recent Posts – 2025 Lichen Camp
– Recent Posts – 2024 Lichen Camp
– Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area proposal
– Comment deadline for Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area harvest plan
– What is Lichen Camp 2025? Nina Newington Apr 23, 2025
– What is Lichen Camp? Lisa Proux Mar 5, 2024
What is Lichen Camp 2025?
by Nina Newington Apr 23, 2025
Lichen Camp is a research camp dedicated to educating the public and the government about biodiversity and the importance of protecting it. The camp is run by a loose collection of people working to protect the proposed Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area in Annapolis County.
- In 2021 the Nova Scotia government put into law a commitment to protect 20% of our lands and waters by 2030.
- In 2022, the Citizen Scientists of Southwest Nova Scotia proposed this 3900 hectare area of forests, wetlands and lakes to the Minister of Environment for protection as the Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area. They have been exploring the area ever since, discovering old growth forests and species at risk.
The first Lichen Camp was set up on March 2nd, 2024, a little to the west of Goldsmith Lake. It ran until September 28th, 2024. Having a base camp proved to be very helpful for both research and education. One highlight of that camp was the opportunity to work with shalan joudry of L’sitkuk (Bear River First Nation), guiding Mi’kmaw youth on a hike into the oldest old-growth forest we have found to date in the area.
- In May 2024, the Citizen Scientists submitted An Updated Proposal to Protect the Goldsmith Lake Area, having identified 62 species at risk occurrences.
- By March 2025, the total number of species at risk occurrences reported was over 100. These include Frosted Glass Whiskers, Blue Felt and Black Foam lichen plus Black Ash, five species of birds and American Marten.
- As of February 2025, Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area has 21 stands of recognized old-growth forest. These surround Goldsmith Lake. More stands have been identified and reported near Corbett Lake.
For 2025, Lichen Camp is located in the eastern part of the proposed Wilderness Area, on the peninsula between Corbett and Dalhousie Lakes.
Goldsmith Lake Old Growth Forest, and a new cutblock. (April 2025)
We continue to call for a pause on all logging, road building and industrial activities in the area until the Department of the Environment has had a chance to assess it for permanent protection. The government’s own Collaborative Protected Areas Strategy calls for the Department of Natural Resource to work with Environment and citizens to meet the targets of protecting 15% by 2026 and 20% by 2030. Instead DNR supports logging in the area. It is past time for all of us to work together to protect the best of what is left. Research and education matter. So does public pressure.
What is Lichen Camp? Lisa Proux Mar 5, 2024
Copied from a post by Lisa Proux on Friends of Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area, (Public Facebook Group) on Mar 5, 2024:
Lichen Camp is a forest protection and education camp dedicated to educating the public and the government about biodiversity and the importance of protecting it. The specific focus is protecting the proposed Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area. The camp came together when it became clear that the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables had removed the holds on extensive harvest plans in the area and that logging was imminent.
In 2022, Citizen Scientists of Southwest Nova proposed this 3900 hectare area of forests, wetlands and lakes to the Minister of Environment for protection as the Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area. They have been exploring the area ever since, discovering old growth forests and species at risk. By March 2023 they had identified 17 species at risk occurrences, almost all lichens and almost all in cutblocks previously approved for harvesting. To their credit, DNRR put holds on all the cutblocks touched by species at risk occurrences. By the beginning of March 2024, the citizen scientists had doubled the number of species at risk occurrences they had identified within the proposed wilderness area. They also discovered that the holds had been lifted and that DNRR was allowing logging to proceed in all but “portions” of the cutblocks.
Lichen Camp is asking the government to extend immediate interim protection to the proposed Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area while final decisions are made as to which 300,000 hectares will be conserved in order to meet the target of protecting 20% of Nova Scotia by 2030.
In the meantime, Lichen Camp will serve as a base for workshops and guided hikes, teaching people about lichens, species at risk and the importance of old forests. With a pristine lake and old growth forest nearby, Lichen Camp is a great starting point for people to see for themselves why the Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area needs to be protected in perpetuity, for humans and for all our non-human kin.
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Also view:
– Recent Posts – 2025 Lichen Camp
Participants in Lichen camp report on life, events at Lichen Camp on the Friends of Goldsmith lake Facebook page, copied here for convenience of access. ‘Sometimes a few days behind the latest FB posts.
– The proposal to protect the Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area
“The original proposal to protect the Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area was submitted to the Protected Areas Branch (Department of Environment and Climate Change) in November 2022. Since that time there have been many more amazing discoveries of Species at Risk and Old Growth so the Citizen Scientists of Southwest Nova Scotia submitted an update to the proposal. This update was submitted to the Protected Areas Branch, and Minister Halman on May 22, 2024.” – Laura Bright on Friends of Goldsmith lake Wilderness Area May 27, 2024
View: Updated Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area Proposal 2024-05-22
Stats on July 14, 2024.
Click on image for larger version.
– Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area (iNaturalist Project)
Created by Laura Bright, Nov 3, 2022; Project admins:ninanewington laura_bright lproulx
“Documenting the rich biodiversity of the (proposed) Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area located on the South Mountain of Annapolis County.”
– Bursting the stubble bubble: citizen scientists measure ecological continuity near Goldsmith Lake, Nova Scotia using calicioid lichens and fungi
by Ashlea Viola, Nina Newington, Jonathan Riley, Steven Selva and Lisa Proulx, 2024. In Evansia, vol. 41, issue 1, pages 9-18.
Abstract: In an effort to protect a forest on provincial land near Goldsmith Lake in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, from timber harvest operations, a group of citizen scientists began documenting the biodiversity of the area. In December 2022, the group invited Dr. Steven Selva, a lichenologist specializing in calicioid lichens and fungi, to visit and teach them how to locate and collect calicioid specimens. We found 27 calicioid species, one of which was new to the Maritimes, providing additional evidence that the forest is rich in biodiversity and that the areas recognized as old-growth were larger than the provincial government had previously realized.