A BW classic, Dec 25, 2021
Thank you, Extinction Rebellion Mi’kma’ki / Nova Scotia and all of the folks at the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor Encampment and helping to maintain it for giving many of us in Mi’kma’ki hope on this Christmas Eve that we can indeed “change the way we treat nature and all our kin, human and non-human”.
Posted on Extinction Rebellion Mi’kma’ki / Nova Scotia, Dec 24, 2020:
Day 23 at the Last Hope camp
It is Christmas Eve and bitterly cold. This photo [below] of an endangered Mainland moose, taken in one of the wetlands connected by these remaining 24 hectares of forest, tells you why we have been camped out here for over three weeks.
We are protecting this 80 year old forest as a vital wildlife corridor. Here on the South Mountain in Annapolis County, forest cover has been decimated by clearcutting. This forest stands out as an island in a sea of clearcuts.
Flagging went up marking the boundaries of the proposed cut over a month ago. WestFor told a concerned local resident it was too late to object, cutting was due to start in the next two weeks. Four days after learning about this, we set up our protest camp.
It turns out we are camped at the exact location of the Last Hope Hunting Camp, established in the 1920s in an area known to be well-populated by moose. At a time when agriculture and other settler activities meant game was getting scarce, people trying to get their winter’s meat would come to this camp to hunt. Now the moose are almost gone. They need our help.
We can’t afford to stand by and watch more habitat for endangered species destroyed. In addition to moose, tracks of pine marten have been seen here. So have Wood turtles. While the proposed cut for this forest is not a clearcut, the extraction roads alone will devastate the wildlife value of this fragment of standing forest.
We know we are not alone in caring. From Mi’kmaw Elders to the local hunter and trapper who spoke up on Facebook about the plan to cut this forest, to a master guide who once worked for Bowater Mersey, to Community College students and young children, we have received an out-pouring of support.
2021 has shown us that governments can take action in an emergency. After a year of devastating wildfires, floods, tornadoes in December, even the deniers have switched tactics. Now they say, it’s too late. Party on. Yes, the climate and biodiversity crises are bearing down on us all. But it’s not too late to make a difference. It’s not too late to change the way we treat nature and all our kin, human and non-human.
Business as usual is over. Start somewhere. Get in the way of what is damaging the Earth. Camp with us if you can, but if you can’t, don’t worry. There’s a lot to be done.
In the coming days, we’ll be asking you to contact politicians again, but in the meantime enjoy whatever shortest-days-of-the-year festivities you prefer.
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
— Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”
Thank you, Extinction Rebellion Mi’kma’ki / Nova Scotia and all of the folks at the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor Encampment and helping to maintain it for giving many of us in Mi’kma’ki hope on this Christmas Eve that we can indeed “change the way we treat nature and all our kin, human and non-human”.
Some related News Items and posts on Social Media
– Logging blockade in Mi’kma’ki for climate justice and conservation
Crystal Greene on IncaNews Dec 14, 2021 “Darlene Gilbert is a Mi’kmaw grandmother who has no problem confronting industry and government who are the major polluters. “As a Mi’kmaw I’m here to talk to you about what you’re doing, the moose, our medicines, the land, the mess that you’re going to leave afterwards because you’re just tearing trees up and cutting them down,” said Gilbert in a video, speaking to representatives of WestFor Management Inc., an industrial forestry consortium with 13 mills operating in Nova Scotia, which generate $2 billion a year. “We don’t take without leaving something behind, that’s our Mi’kmaw way,” adds Gilbert, referring to ‘Netukulimk’ the traditional Mi’kmaq law of sustainable harvesting.”
– Nina Newington/XR Mi’kmaki/NS: It takes a while 22Dec2021
Post on NSFN Dec 22, 2021 “In a few words and images, a short video made by Nina Newington for Extinction Rebellion Mi’kma’ki / Nova Scotia at the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor Encampment Dec 18, 2021 conveys a deep sense of ‘what it’s all about”.
– An Update on the Mainland Moose: Progress for Species At Risk in NS
NatureNS Dec 10, 2021. “Last month, the province released the 9 years-overdue updated Recovery Plan for the Mainland Moose in Nova Scotia. We’ve reviewed the plan and outlined some actions you can take now to keep the momentum going.”
– Nova Scotians camp out to save small but mighty patch of forest
By Cloe Logan in the National Observer, Dec 8, 2021. ” “The 80-year-old parcel is relatively small, explained Newington — 60 acres, or around 45 football fields. However, it’s some of the last standing forest in the area, which has seen ample clear-cuts. The trees are important habitat for species in the area, such as the wood turtle and the pine marten. The endangered mainland moose has been spotted in the area by resident Randy Neily. He notes the same cutblock was actually spared around 20 years ago by Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited, which owned a pulp mill in Liverpool, a couple of hours away from the site. “Twenty-two years ago, I talked Bowater Mersey into leaving this patch of forest alone when they were cutting everything around. They left it because of its value to wildlife. Now WestFor wants to take it,” he said.”
– Protestors camped out at planned harvest site in Annapolis County say cutting “can’t just go on”
ETHAN LYCAN-LANG in the Halifax Examiner, Dec 8, 2021 “Since Friday, a small, rotating group of protestors have been camped out on a small parcel of land in Annapolis County, trying to convince the province to stop a planned cut near Beals Brook. The protestors, who call themselves Forest Protectors, say the land is a wildlife corridor where locals have seen evidence of endangered species. They believe the planned cut is a threat to the habitat of these species and the area’s biodiversity.”
– Day 13 at the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor Encampment: Perry Munro on how Bowater valued this land 14Dec2021
Post on NSFN Dec 14, 2021. “A short video of Perry Munro talking at the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor Encampment earlier today and posted by XR-NS on their Facebook page, says a lot about the place in a few words.”
