Long Lake Provincial Park (Nova Scotia)

Park in Halifax, Canada

Long Lake Provincial Park is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was initiated in 1981 by then Premier John Buchanan after Halifax's water supply had been shifted from the Spruce Hill/Long Lake/Chain Lakes watershed to the Pockwock Lake watershed near Hammonds Plains. The park, formally established in 1984, constitutes the bulk of these former watershed lands. Other portions were deeded to the municipality of Halifax, and the area around the Chain Lakes is still administered by the Halifax Regional Water Commission, since the Chain Lakes remain the city's emergency water supply.

The lands included within the present park boundaries have had a long history of human use, including logging, several farms and many small granite quarries which provided the stones for many of the 19th century buildings in downtown Halifax. As part of its development as Halifax's watershed lands, in the early part of the 20th century an earthen dam was erected on Pine Hill Lake, greatly enlarging it. A long concrete and earth dam was constructed on Long Lake, again significantly expanding its area. A pipeline was built connecting the two lakes, and to the adjacent Chain Lakes. The entire area has been logged extensively in the early part of the 20th century, but a few scattered old growth trees remain. The north eastern side of Long lake featured world war I barracks location, extensive trenches and machine gun battle emplacement which protected movement from the St. Margaret's Bay and Prospect bay roads into Halifax. This fortification is known as Chain Lake Position Locality 2

The lands were part of Halifax's old water supply system. In order to protect the water quality, about of land was left "virtually untouched" into the 1970s. In the years leading up to the 1977 commissioning of the new Pockwock water supply system, concern began to mount over the fate of the old watershed lands, which were considered to have high ecological and recreational value. Residents feared that the area would be spoiled by suburban development. A regional plan adopted in July 1975 proposed that the watershed lands would form one of seven new regional parks in the Halifax Dartmouth area. The watershed lands were acquired by the province in 1981 and put under the management of the Department of Natural Resources for use as a provincial park.

Long Lake is a provincial park controlled by the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables of the Government of Nova Scotia (formerly called the Department of Lands and Forestry). This northern hardwood dominated portion of Long Lake Provincial Park receives most of the park's visitors.

Long Lake Provincial Park is home to a number of lakes and ponds. The eponymous Long Lake, with an area of , is the largest. It was created in the 19th century when a wooden dam was built on McIntosh Run, causing rising water levels to connect two pre existing lakes, Cocked Hat Lake and Beaver Lake. The resultant Long Lake has a maximum depth of 30 metres.

Habitats within the park are extremely varied, and include various kinds of wetlands, old growth vegetative successions from areas previously farmed, an area planted with pine trees by the Boy Scouts in the 1960s, extensive barrens in the southwestern portion of the park, some mixed hardwood/softwood and predominantly hardwood (oak, beech, witch hazel, birch, red maple) areas in the small northern part of the park discussed above, and extensive areas of boreal forest in the SE region largely red and black spruce, balsam fir and red maple. As with most parts of Nova Scotia, large, old white pines dot the park, being left over from the logging which most areas underwent before their designation as watershed lands. It is worth noting that healthy populations of orchids can be found in some of the marshy portions in the park. The park's fauna is healthy and varied and includes many deer, the occasional moose, multitudes of squirrels, snowshoe hares, foxes, bobcats, chipmunks, three or four species of frogs and salamanders, many fish and bird species, beavers (who have extensively altered portions of the park), muskrats, snakes and others. Unverified reports of lynx tracks and spoor also exist Bears have not been reported within the park in recent years.