LITTLE HARBOUR, N.S. -- A 129 hectare coastal wilderness at Hemeon's Head will be protected by the Nova Scotia Nature Trust.

The trust says the ecologically rich site in Shelburne County includes a coastal ecosystem that is a significant habitat for birds.

The newly designated Hemeon's Head Conservation Lands include three kilometers of uninterrupted sand and cobble beach, sand dunes, coastal headland, tidal marshes, sandflats and mudflats, an extensive lagoon, freshwater wetland, bogs, barrens and coastal forest.

The trust says only five per cent of Nova Scotia's coast is protected.

Chris Curry of Bird Studies Canada says volunteers with her organization have monitored birds and protected Piping Plovers at Hemeon's Head since 2009.

Hemeon's Head is a conservation partnership between Acadia University and the Nature Trust, the second time the school and the trust have joined together on such a project.

The land at Hemeon's Head includes property at Black Point Beach owned by Acadia and an adjacent plot on Matthews Lake.

A year ago, the two organizations signed the first conservation easement in Canada protecting university lands, an agreement preserving the 121 hectare Bon Portage Island.