Don McNeil, Board member of Atlantic Region (Photo by NCC)
Don McNeil
Atlantic Regional Board Member
For most of his life, the Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) Atlantic Region board member Don McNeil has been involved with forests. As a boy in New Waterford, he built forts in them. As an executive with Bowater Mersey Paper Company, he managed them. And as a long-time volunteer with NCC, he’s helped conserve them.
“I feel the forests have so much of value to offer people,” explains Don. “They provide an economy for rural areas; they absorb carbon to help offset pollution and climate change; they produce medicines for us; and most of all they are places we enjoy.”
Don’s journey to the Nature Conservancy of Canada actually started in the U.S. in the 1990s. After working for Bowater Mersey in Liverpool for 17 years, Don transferred to the Bowater plant in Maine, where his responsibilities included the management of two million acres of woodland. The position landed him in the middle of a dispute between foresters and environmentalists. The dispute was eventually resolved when some of Maine’s forested land was sold to The Nature Conservancy (in the U.S.), which then drafted Don to its board.
Years later, when he moved home to Nova Scotia, Don dropped by the offices of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and was drafted once again, this time by Linda Stephenson and Dr. Bill Freedman, two of the founders of NCC in the Atlantic Region. Since then, Don has served on both the national and regional boards of NCC. Some of the conservation projects he’s been involved with in Nova Scotia that he’s most proud of are in Cape Breton, Musquodoboit Harbour and Port Joli.
“I especially enjoy the coastal seabirds at NCC’s nature reserve in Port Joli,” says Don. “It’s a beautiful place and a part of the province I lived in for 17 years, and I really enjoy getting back to the south shore.”
Along with serving on NCC's Atlantic board, Don lends his considerable expertise to the Nova Scotia Crown Share Land Legacy Trust, a conservation funding organization.
