Demise of the garden of Acadia

Abstract

In the late 1970s, plans were being developed for construction of a tidal power barrage at the mouth of the Annapolis River. Much of the land by the river in that area was dyked and was used by farmers for grazing and growing hay. Farmer Rob Warren had mole drained a portion of his dyked land at Belle Isle marsh to improve the drainage so that he could produce cereals and pulses for his dairy cattle. A consultants report had concluded that that the agricultural lands would not be impacted by the tidal power operation. The article outlines reasons why the mole drained land would be negatively impacted by the higher river levels and higher salinities associated with the tidal power operation.