UPDATE Mar 12, 2020: The deadline has been extended to Mar 31, 2020 according to ML, who was sent an e-mail today (Mar 12) informing “key stakeholders” of the new deadline.
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L&F issued its latest “Ecological Forestry Update / Lahey Implementation Update” on Feb 19, 2020. In it, the statement: “A discussion paper that provides the description and rationale for this proposal will be available on our website… for public comment today.”
It wasn’t there on the 19th, I didn’t check yesterday, but anyway it’s out today: View link to High production forestry criteria on the Ecological Forestry page.
The specific 26 page document is listed under Review Material: High Production Forestry Phase 1 – Discussion Paper (February, 2020)
The “Consultation Timeline”:
The public can submit to ecologicalforestry@novascotia.ca. Please include “High Production Forestry” in the subject line. The consultation closes 13 March.
After the consultation closes, the next steps will be to refine the draft criteria based on feedback received in this consultation. The draft criteria will then be presented to a targeted stakeholder group for further feedback. We anticipate the criteria will be finalized in Spring 2020, with the process to identify sites to follow.
There is a lot of detail in this document which reveals much about priorities and planning at L&F; and there is a lot that is NOT amongst the criteria that one might expect for high production forestry zones.
In summary, the High Production Forestry zones are currently conceived by L&F as “ideally”:
- on land that has the fertile soil, climate and drainage to support rapid tree growth
- conveniently located near mills to help with efficient transportation of forest products
- situated with consideration given the existing land, for example abandoned agriculture fields or existing tree plantations could be good candidates.
The document deserves close scrutiny over the next 3 weeks; evidently that will be the last opportunity for pubic feedback before the criteria are finalized in the spring.