And a pictorial summary of these last 12 days
Day 12, Dec 13, 2021
Received from NN this a.m., also posted on XR-NS Facebook Page: (Photos are from from this current post and other posts on XR-NS):
“Practicalities ruled in the early part of the day yesterday: refastening tarps and guys after blasting winds and rain overnight.
Day 9, Dec 10, 2021 “Volunteers are sleeping in the cold, and dropping by during the day.”
“Someone had to get out to work their shift in a long term care home. Would their Toyota Yaris make it out after all the rain and snow melt? It waded valiantly through a couple of muddy patches. The rest was easy. The same sandy, gravelly soil that favours the red oak and white pine here makes for well drained dirt roads.
“A couple more people will leave for medical appointments in Halifax tomorrow. Others will come in to take their places.
Day 10 , Dec 11, 2021 at the Last Hope camp. “A moose came to visit from Digby county. He was last sighted near Rocky Point Lake… we had 20cm of snow. Now it is pouring rain with 80km hour winds in the forecast for tonight.”
“This land is alive with stories. A storied landscape is the opposite of a commodity. Commodities are anonymous, interchangeable. They are bought and sold without feeling. Stories connect us to the land and each other.
“Industrial forestry treats forests as a source of fibre. When we Nova Scotians bought back the land in this wildlife corridor— and much, much more land in southwest Nova — from Bowater Mersey when their pulp mill shut down, we did not expect it to be handed over to a consortium of mills who would treat the land as Bowater had. Worse, according to many.
Day 8 Dec 9, 2021 of Save the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor encampment.
Fell asleep last night to the patter of snow on my tent after a day of storm prep and gifts…At the end of the day, gathered around the fire, snow tapping on Kevin’s tarp, we were thinking about all our kin, human and non- human, left without shelter. We will do what we can. If we all do that and work together, real change will come.”
Day 6, Dec 7, 2021. View Video. “Darlene Gilbert and Crystal Greene came to be on this land, to sing and to drum and to speak of this place…”-from Day 8
“Our government could have listened to the many citizens consulted for the Natural Resources’ Strategy. They could have recognized that this land is worth more than the sawlogs and pulp and wood chips that can be extracted from it. Instead they created WestFor and handed management of our public lands in Southwest Nova to them.
“WestFor has given us more of the same ruthless resource extraction for five years. Enough is enough.
Day 2, Dec 3, 2021
“The Mi’kmaw people never believed anyone could own Mi’kma’ki. They entered into Treaties of Peace and Friendship with settlers. They never ceded this land. No Indigenous culture treats land as a commodity. Land is sacred. Land is storied.
“It is time to listen and learn a different way to respect the land and the animals and each other.
“Oh, and by the way, on a less elevated note, for those wondering what a biffy is, the last photo should give you a clue…” 
Nina Newington
December 3 at 9:05 PM ·
“This photograph is a view of the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor from a neighbouring clearcut. In a CBC article this morning about the protest happening at this site against the planned logging of this 24 hectare parcel, the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables spokesperson sang the praises of the proposed 30% Shelterwood cut. It is quite true that leaving 70% of the forest is a retention level that fits with the ecological forestry the Lahey report recommends for the majority of crown land, especially if the usual clearcutting sequel to a Shelterwood cut, Overstory Removal, does not take place.
“The real question is not how should this parcel be cut but should it be cut at all? This article does not mention the fact that Bowater-Mersey left this parcel alone when they were cutting everything else in reach because of its value to wildlife. Has wildlife recovered in the intervening years? Hardly.
“Did the provincial biologists who signed off on this harvest actually go out to the site? Did they talk to the neighbouring landowners, hunters and trappers who are deeply knowledgeable about this land? Did they talk with any Mi’kmaw people with traditional knowledge of the land? Or did they sit at their desks to do the assessment? If they had gone to the site, would they have taken into account the ecological degradation of the surrounding lands or would they only have focused on the parcel to be approved?
“These are real questions. The heart of the issue is how the decision was made that this forest was available for harvesting. The Lahey report and review point to the necessity for landscape level planning. In other words, before you decide if one particular parcel should be approved, there needs to be a planning process to decide which areas must be protected because they are important to the ecological health of the whole.
“Protecting and restoring ecological health is supposed to be the overarching priority. A 30% Shelterwood cut might well be appropriate in an area where harvesting is acceptable (assuming no one plays games by, for example, failing to count the trees cut to create extraction routes as part of the 30%) but that is neither here nor there if the area should not be cut at all. That is the case with the Last Hope Wildlife Corridor. It will be the case with many other areas recently identified as core moose habitat. We need an immediate moratorium on all harvesting on public lands until this long overdue landscape level planning has happened.”
How to Support
From Post on XR-NS Dec 10, 2021 Supporters can donate now by etransfer to xrannaco@gmail.com” Please contact government to voice your concern; Send a letter as an attachment, and phone:
Ask the government to stop all cutting on “Crown Land”/Public Land, until the Lahey Report has been fully implemented on the ground. 8 Environmental groups all across Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia are asking for this. We are not alone.
Please phone and email: (your letter should be an attachment to an email, and please cc XRNS. )
Tory Rushton is Dept Natural Resources and Renewables (our struggling forests!!) mindnr@novascotia.ca, 902-424-5935, and his constituency office Phone: 902-597-4039;
Tim Halman Minister of Environment and Climate Change Minister.Environment@novascotia.ca Ph 902-424-3736 ;Constituency office ph: 902-469-7353
Tim Houston PREMIER@novascotia.ca 902-424-6600 PLEASE: when you send your emails, cc XRNS@riseup.net so that we have a record.
In the News
– 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
– Nova Scotians camp out to save small but mighty patch of forest By Cloe Logan in the National Observer Dec 8, 2021
– Folly or the future? Citizens protest planned Crown land harvest in Annapolis County Michael Gorman · CBC News Dec 3, 2021:
Some Related Posts on NSFN
– Comments on the draft Nova Scotia Old Growth Forest Policy: Nina Newington from tent in storm 7Dec2021 Posted on NSFN December 7, 2021.
– View many posts under search term Nina Newington