Petition targets clearcutting and WestFor license
UPDATE March 3: 1509 have signed on to the petition at change.org
Apparently there have been significant sign-on challenges at the change.org site, so HG informed me that she has also posted the petition at avaaz.org, worded slightly differently to suit the format. So sign on to one or the other if you wish to support the petition. Signing on at avaaz.org site is reportedly more straight-forward.
——
Helga Guderley with anti-forest biomass petition at NS Legislature, Nov 1, 2016.
The success of the petition elicited a Bruce McKinnon cartoon, and likely contributed to or at least speeded up the Nova Scotia Government decision to stop the Must-Run provision for the Pt. Tupper Biomass plant. The petition also mobilized a lot of public discontent around clearcutting in Nova Scotia which led to the formation of the Healthy Forest Coalition.
Yesterday (Feb 13, 2017) Guderley launched version 2.0, calling on the Premier to “Ban clear cutting on Crown land, favour selection management and cancel WestFor’s license”.
Guderley lays out her rationale on the Petition website and comments further on the WestFor license in an Op-ed in the CH today (Feb 14, 2017). Writes Guderley:
Behind closed doors, Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources has quietly transferred the management of 1.4 million acres of Crown lands to WestFor, a consortium of 13 privately owned mills…WestFor’s management of our Crown lands may soon be solidified by a 10-year lease…Giving WestFor a 10-year lease to manage 1.4 million acres of Crown lands would give industry unprecedented access to public forests. It would tip the scales towards devastating industrial exploitation, with virtually no consideration for ecological and environmental values.
Read the full Op-ed in the CH: N.S. Crown land forests: who is managing them? (CH, Feb 14, 2017)