unit attached to CFS Debert was the 720 Communications Squadron, which maintained the REGHQ and provided communications support to Canadian Armed Forces units throughout Atlantic Canada and around the world. Substantial radio transmitter and receiver stations were constructed close to the nearby villages of Masstown and Great Village to support the military operations at CFS Debert, providing worldwide radio communications. In 1971 the aerodrome and training facilities were declared surplus and were purchased by the provincial government to create the "Debert Air Industrial Park" as well as a municipal airfield. CFS Debert was closed in the mid-1990s and decommissioned in 1998 with remaining military facilities being transferred to a local development authority named "Colchester Park". The ongoing residual military communications role of Debert was transferred to the transmitter/receiver facilities near Great Village and Masstown. The Debert Airport is now also the location of Royal Canadian Air Cadets Summer Glider Scholarship program for the Atlantic region. More than 50 cadets earn their Transport Canada Glider Pilot License during a 6-week course each summer. The Debert Airport also offers the Advanced Aviation Course through Royal Canadian Air Cadets as of summer 2011. Paleo-Indian discovery A significant Paleo-Indian site was discovered on the grounds of the old military camp by a private contractor who was preparing a plot of land to be used as a tree farm. Researchers from Saint Mary's University were requested to conduct a thorough archeological excavation on the site. Preliminary reports suggested that the site held evidence of human activity that pre-dated any other sites found within the northern part of Nova Scotia. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada on 19 October 1972. Climate Debert has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with warm, wet summers with cool nights and long, cold, and very snowy winters. Debert's inland position gives it some of the warmest summer days in all of Nova Scotia, but also gives it some of the chilliest winter nights. References Debert on Destination Nova Scotia External links Debert Military History Society Communities in Colchester County General Service Areas in Nova Scotia