Nova Scotia Lifts Hiking Ban as Wildfire Season Returns
“STAY OUT OF THE WOODS,” the signs that went up at trailheads across Nova Scotia on August 5, 2025 declared in big, bold letters.
It became known as the “woods ban” with restrictions placed on hiking, biking and other activities in Nova Scotia forests, a story that Explore covered in detail. For the government, it was a sweeping, last-ditch effort to manage wildfire risk in a province turned into a tinderbox by persistent drought and a hot, dry summer. It was controversial, so much so that some locals flouted it outright, including one man, Jeff Evely, who was fined $28,872.50 for hiking in the woods near Sydney.
Evely’s goal was to get fined so that he could challenge the ban in court. He got his chance earlier this year, and on April 17, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia struck down the ban, determining that it had unduly limited the public’s Charter right to “move freely around the province.”
“The travel ban, in preventing people from going into the woods, limited the mobility rights of Nova Scotians,” Supreme Court Justice’s Jamie S. Campbell said in his 17-page decision.
For now, the government says it’s still reviewing the decision and weighing its implications. But fire season won’t wait, with Nova Scotia having entered what it calls its “wildfire risk season” in March.
“This is the time of year in Nova Scotia, April and May, when we typically have our highest number of fires,” said Scott Tingey, Nova Scotia’s manager of forest protection. “It’s the pre-green-up period.”
Tingey noted that, despite Nova Scotia having a strong winter with a higher-than-usual snowpack—the Cape Smokey ski area in Cape Breton recently extended its operating season—this period can still be dangerous for fires.
“It only takes an afternoon for [grass and small trees] to dry and be available to burn,” he said. “As we move through the spring, and as the forest starts to dry out, those fires will start to move into those forested areas.”
According to Agriculture Canada’s drought monitor, “Nova Scotia [has] received near to above normal precipitation” through the winter. That’s good news, but winter moisture only lasts so long. And, as Tingley explained, last year started with similar conditions.
“Conditions-wise, it’s a fairly similar start to 2025,” he said. “We had a similar kind of spring in terms of fairly good moisture and cycles of rain. This year was similar to last April.”
With warmer-than-average temperature forecasts for the summer, that could mean another summer of dangerous fire conditions, but Tingley is cautious to project too far in advance.
“It is very difficult to forecast long-term,” he said. “But we certainly use those forecasts in our planning.”
Could Another “Woods Ban” Be on the Table?
While Judge Campbell’s decision did strike down the 2025 ban, he did leave the door open to future restrictions on access to Nova Scotia’s forests and trails.
“It is easy to armchair quarterback the situation almost a year later,” he wrote. “Those responsible for safeguarding the forests knew full well that waiting it out and doing nothing was not an option. They had to do something. They had to do it quickly, and their options were limited.”
Campbell even added that “a travel ban in the woods may have been an entirely justifiable limitation on mobility rights given the extraordinary circumstances.” The problem, he explained, was in the details.
Had the government considered the ban’s impact on mobility rights or had the ban been “drafted in a way to minimize the limitations on mobility rights,” it likely would not have been struck down. He also raised questions about how the government applied the ban, arguing that “designating all woods in Nova Scotia as a restricted travel zone caused an interpretation problem.”
Lee Fraser, the owner of Life in Tents, an outdoor guiding company located in Cape Breton, said this created confusion for both the public and businesses like his.
“Depending on which department [you talked to] you got different information about what was allowed during a ban,” he said.
And even though his company was able to run some tours, he said the ban still had a huge impact on their business.
“Although we still were able to operate all of our water-based tours, a lot of folks just weren’t travelling at the end of August,” he said.
Lee wants to see a change in how the province approaches these hiking bans, but even with the court case, he’s skeptical about any real changes.
“They had since [the first ban in] 2023 to be proactive in a plan; however, it was obvious that nothing was done,” he said. “Considering last year’s ban, any plan whatsoever might be a better option moving forward.”
Tingley explained that decisions on any future restrictions would have to wait until the government reviews Campbell’s decision. In the meantime, people can take their own precautions to reduce their risk of starting a wildfire.
“The vast majority of fires, more than 90 percent, in Nova Scotia are started by human activity,” he explained. That’s why he encourages campers to use stoves and propane fire pits instead of campfires, and to check the province’s daily fire restrictions. Tingley stressed the unique challenges Nova Scotia faces with fires.
“We are more densely populated…even in remote areas, if fires do start, it won’t take them as long to impact communities,” he explained. “And generally, almost every fire we have is going to have the potential to impact a community.”
