Nina Newington at Last Hope Camp
Jan 11, 2022 Extinction Rebellion Mi’kma’ki / Nova Scotia photo
Click on image for larger version
The Nova Scotia government announced recently that a key component in the implementation of Ecological Forestry on Crown lands – the use of the SGEM, a manual that prescribes how forestry is to be conducted on the ‘Ecological Matrix – will be soon be full functional.
We have waited a while – it’s almost 4 years since the Independent Review of Forest Practices (aka The Lahey Report) was completed. Meanwhile, clearcut logging continued pretty much as it has for the last 60 years. The protests also continued, often with chants of “Implement the Lahey Report” or something along those lines.
So seeing the SGEM finally implemented should be good news. It is and it isn’t. In rural Annapolis County, there has been an encampment since Dec 2, 2021 on a logging road to protest the proposed harvest of one of the first sites – AP068499 Beals Meadow – where the SGEM has been used to prescribe how harvesting is to be conducted. And the government has drawn a line in the sand, saying the ‘pending cut adheres to Lahey Report recommendations’ and insists it will go ahead, It’s not a clearcut, which has been the target of so much protest. So what’s wrong with it?
In an extended, 28 minute interview with Scott Neigh on Talking Radical Radio, Nina Newington explains what it’s all about. Nina, who has emerged as a leading spokesperson for advocates of forest caring in NS, is incredibly well spoken and a pleasure to listen to, and her words need to be heard.
To help that process along, also as part of the ongoing record of what’s happening on the forest and forestry front in NS that I began in June of 2016, I asked Scott Neigh and Nina if I could transcribe the interview and post it on NSFN. They graciously agreed. Go to this link to view it.
Beals Meadow Eastern End, Close to planned harvest area. Mar 20, 2022
Extinction Rebellion Mi’kma’ki / Nova Scotia photo
& Happy Mothers’ Day, Mother Earth!