German buyer of Irving land planning retreat: property manager

The new owner of about 4,000 hectares of woodland in Nova Scotia's Digby County has no plans to clear cut or sell cottage lots, a property manager says.

Farhad Vladi purchased the land near Cedarwood Lake for a German businessman who graduated from Dalhousie University with a degree in oceanography.

Vladi said the new owner plans to build a retreat.

Cedarwood is one of the properties a coalition of groups rallied to protect a few months ago, after J.D. Irving Ltd. announced it was selling around 80,000 hectares of land in southwest Nova Scotia.

Bids closed more than two months ago, but negotiations continue on many parcels. Irving is refusing to comment on how much land has been sold.

Vladi also said environmentalists don't have to worry about another client, a German family who paid several million dollars for 4,000 hectares near Lake Edward in Yarmouth County.

"I'm a Canadian citizen since 1978, and I wouldn't do anything which I think would cause Nova Scotia to be harmed in any way," said Vladi, whose company, Vladi Private Islands Ltd., has offices in Halifax and Homburg, Germany.

"Ruthless clear cutting, selling, and then gone with the wind — I would definitely not have touched it."

The Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Nova Scotia government are still waiting to hear about their offers to buy several other large tracts of land.

The province put forward a proposal to buy 8,000 hectares near New France, Digby County, just before the election was called in early May.  

"We haven't had any response back," said Natural Resources Minister John MacDonnell.