The Margaree Environmental Association is “Keepin’ on”
UPDATE, Mar 3, 2018: Environmental group calls for end to clearcutting, billboards focus on bird nest destruction
Stuart peddle in the Chronicle Herald, Apr 2, 2018.
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UPDATE Mar 13, 2018: On Rick Howe Show, this a.m. (9-10 segment): ” If you’re driving around the HRM you may notice three new billboards have been put up to draw attention to the loss of bird nests due to industrial forestry practice. Co-Chair of the Margaree Environmental Association Neal Livingston is behind the new billboards and will tell us more about his efforts to wrap up the first hour”.
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For many, the Anti-Clearcut billboards that have gone up recently in Halifax will recall an earlier (2012) billboard of the same ilk, put up by forester and then law student Jamie Simpson (he is now a practicing lawyer specializing in environmental law).*
Now the Margaree Environmental Association has placed billboards at three locations: two of the billboards are on Barrington St. north of North St. – one incoming to downtown Halifax, and one outgoing; the third (3 sided) is at the Windsor St./ Kempt Rd/ Bedford Highway intersection as you are come into the city.
From the Margaree Environmental Association:
MEA Co-Chair Neal Livingston stated:
“The presentation of these billboards on major arteries in Halifax makes the public aware of the massive destruction of birds and their nests, and other wildlife and their habitats due to the widespread practice of clear cutting in Nova Scotia. It is simply unacceptable that Nova Scotia is refusing to reform forestry practices, as Quebec and Ontario have done. We want to make the public aware that in Nova Scotia the destruction of forest habitat continues unabated, and is supported by government policies, Department of Natural Resources officials, and public funds. “
MEA Co-Chair Brian Peters, asked:
“What will it take to reform forestry practices in Nova Scotia? In most of Quebec and Ontario clearcutting is now highly restricted and the result is new jobs, and more jobs. In Quebec small woodlot owners get $1,000.00 more per truckload of wood delivered to the mill gate, than woodlot owners in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia’s forest policies are antiquated, and make it impossible for private woodlot owners to do good forestry, and to make a living. The Nova Scotia government’s refusal to implement policies to end clear cutting leaves Nova Scotians stuck in a 400 year old colonial remnant of treating rural forest owners like slaves. “
Late last year a 2015 national study came to MEA’s attention that is an essential call for action to stop Nova Scotia’s clear cutting and the destruction of birds and their nests. The study details the unacceptable level of destruction of birds in Nova Scotia and Canada.
In the MEA’s opinion, this destruction likely contravenes agreements on the protection of migratory birds.
View also a MEA Media Advisory in which the “The Margaree Environmental Association releases plan for Nova Scotia to transition from clearcutting to a selection cutting forest economy. The MEA calls on all political parties to embrace this transition with set time lines for action, similar to how Nova Scotia adopted recycling.”
View also: Neal Livingston: We need good public policy to drive the transition to better forestry in Nova Scotia
Post, May 22, 2017
*Addendum, March 7, 2018: Those with longer involvement in forestry issues than I will recall an even earlier anti-clearcutting billboard put up by the Margaree Environmental Association, Ecology Action Centre, and Sierra Club Atlantic in August 2000, at two locations in Halifax (Robie St. and Barrington St.)
Thanks for the update NL and your persistence. Eighteen years and now DNR calls forest that is 40 years old, “mature”. What will be the age of DNR’s mature forest 18 years from now? Let’s hope… and “Keep on keepin’ on”.
View also: Birds nests versus industrial forestry in Nova Scotia & what the Independent Review can do for us (Post, Jan 10m 2018)
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In the news:
Billboards warn of nest loss due to Nova Scotia’s forestry practices
Erin Pottie in Cape Breton Post Mar 12, 2018