The global Communion Forest initiative seeks to increase Anglican tree growing and ecosystem conservation, protection and restoration activities around the world. But it is about more than practical environmental action alone. It also aims to weave care for creation into the spiritual life of the Church and its members – a living expression of the Anglican Communion’s call to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. In the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, that vision is taking root in creative and deeply local ways. Through the Diocesan Environmental Network (DEN), parishes and communities are discovering that “growing” the Communion Forest can take many forms: planting trees, restoring habitats, supporting food-growing projects, learning from local ecosystems, and standing in solidarity with the earth and with one another.
As Rev. Marian Lucas-Jefferies puts it:
“DEN has engaged in the Communion Forest, not by planting tons of trees, but by standing with Indigenous people in their call to protect the forest from clear cutting, being visible at a demonstration with my friend the tree that was on its way to be blessed the next day during Season of Creation, and marching proudly annually in a waterfront parade.”
In Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the Communion Forest is not simply about the number of trees in the ground. It is also about witness, restoration, remembrance and relationship — and about discovering how creation care can be woven into parish life in ways that are practical, public and deeply rooted in place.
Rooted in witness and solidarity
That wider vision can be seen in DEN’s public witness for forests. As Marian suggests, caring for creation here has meant not only planting trees, but also standing alongside Indigenous people calling for protection of forests threatened by clear-cutting, and making that concern visible in public life during the Season of Creation and at annual waterfront parades. These acts of witness sit alongside the quieter work of planting, tending and restoring land.
The long life of a seedling
One of the most tangible stories begins well over a decade ago, when one parish centred its season around a dead tree found in the woods on DEN member Carole Aylard’s property. Over the weeks of Lent, the tree was gradually transformed, until Good Friday it had been trimmed into a cross. Afterwards, it was mulched and used to nourish a new generation of seedlings – a living sign of renewal emerging from what had seemed lifeless. Those seedlings included Eastern White Pine, Black Pine, Red Pine and two different kinds of fir, and 1,000 seedlings were given away at Easter 2012. Some of the leftovers were planted in Carole’s yard as a small tree nursery. Their early years were far from easy. After a devastating Christmas Day storm brought down two 40-foot spruce trees, the crews who came to remove them trampled over the young seedlings.
The following spring, they were potted up, then re-potted over the years as Carole continued to care for them. Plans for their permanent home changed over time, and it was only after she semi-retired that she was able to devote the time needed to bring the project to fruition. The following spring, the surviving seedlings were potted up, then re-potted over the years as Carole patiently cared for them – until at last the trees found permanent homes. Six were planted at the Church of Saint Andrew in Cole Harbour, along with a spruce, and three more were planted in the local Kinsmen Park in memory of a parishioner. The long timeline became part of the story. What began as a Lenten act of imagination and faith turned into years of patient tending. This is a story not just of planting, but of persistence, care and continuity — and of how the spiritual rhythms of parish life can shape the life of the land as well. That momentum continues today. Native species including Serviceberry, Northern Bayberry, Eastern Button Bushes and Butternut are being planted on church property, helping to increase biodiversity and deepen the local roots of the Communion Forest.
As Rev. Marian Lucas-Jefferies puts it, “we are doing our best to increase the Communion of forests.”
Planting, growing and restoring
DEN’s work also includes more formal regional contributions. An official tree planting at St Luke’s Church in Dartmouth marked one such contribution to the Communion Forest, while other projects are expanding what creation care can look like in parish life. In French Village, for example, the parish is developing a green burial and conservation area with a trail — a sacred space where remembrance, ecological stewardship and care for the land come together. In another context, Marian notes that in her most recent appointment, her parish and the diocese supported the City Kidds Escape Society, a group in a large public housing community that has created an urban farm and a “food forest” of apple, pear and plum trees, berry bushes and a blueberry field. Here, care for creation and care for community go hand in hand.
Learning, sharing and practical climate action
The reach of this work extends well beyond church grounds. On the Eastern Shore, church members are acting as citizen scientists, working to protect Nova Scotia’s coastline and deepen local understanding of the environment. At the same time, the diocese is also celebrating a record-breaking distribution of pollinator seed packets to church and community groups — a reminder that care for creation is not only about trees, but about nurturing the wider web of life on which healthy ecosystems depend. This work is also strengthened by relationships and shared learning beyond the diocese. Local organisers have exchanged ideas with partners involved in creation care in other parts of the Anglican Communion, including Melanesia, while support and technical insight from the Church of England have helped DEN advance efforts to install EV charging stations in local parishes. Together, these connections show how practical climate action can be encouraged and sustained through collaboration as well as local initiative.
A forest of many small acts
Taken together, these stories show that the Communion Forest in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island is not a single project or one fixed model of action. It is a growing network of commitments: planting seedlings and native species, protecting forests, supporting urban food-growing, restoring habitats, creating spaces of remembrance, sharing knowledge, and building practical climate solutions for the future. Whether through public witness, local conservation, church-land planting, food forests, pollinator projects, citizen science or international collaboration, the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island is showing that every action counts. And as local organisers continue to plant, protect, learn and advocate, the Communion Forest in this part of Canada keeps growing – one sapling, one trail, one seed packet and one act of solidarity at a time.