A skeptical view of NSDNR’s Forest Management Planning Process

In an earlier post, I mused whether NSDNR has any forest management plans beyond the 10 years covered by recent fibre allocations for SW Nova Scotia.

There is, apparently, a coordinated Forest Management Planning Process at NSDNR that extends even to 100 years in the future, but it is difficult to find who and what are involved. We can view components of it such as the NS Forest Ecosystem Classification but the overall process, particularly the modelling process and its assumptions, seem to be out of bounds for the public.

After reviewing all of the documents I was able to find on the NSDNR website about this topic, I concluded that

Regardless of the sophistication of the NSDNR Forest Management Modelling, it is clear that the harvesting plans rely heavily on NSDNR’s interpretation of the Natural Disturbance Regimes which is highly questionable scientifically (re: NSDNR’s Nature-based Forestry). Also, very little or no consideration is given to the acid rain stress/low fertility over much of the forested landscape and related issues in aquatic systems (re: Calcium Depletion). The lack of clarity around definitions of “clearcuts” and “partial cuts” (re: Clearcutting ) further detracts from the scientific rigour of the planning process.

Some science, indeed some rigorous science, has been conducted, but there there has been an admixture of unfounded assumptions, biased interpretations and conveniently ignored good science that seriously undermines the credibility of NSDNR’s Forest Management Planning and the published plans overall.

As always, I remain (and wish) to be better informed!

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