A recent media report on NSDNR Minister Lloyd Hines rounds of the province noted that Halifax County (i.e. Halifax Regional Municipality) ranks #2 after Cumberland Co. in forest harvesting in Nova Scotia. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who pokes around outside of the core population areas (view Nov 11, 2016 Post).
Now Linda Pannozzo, who documented the travails of the legally protected boreal felt lichen in the Halifax Examiner (Muzzling the Forest Keepers, Nov 4, 2016) writes about a direct threat to boreal felt lichen from clearcutting in Halifax Co. From the HE:
“Last week, several new forest blocks totalling 171 hectares (422 acres) appeared on the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources’ Harvest Plans Map Viewer,” reports Linda Pannozzo:
The blocks, posted by the Abercrombie pulp giant Northern Pulp, are located in the Twin Lakes area of Halifax County, roughly 2.5 hours from Halifax, an hour inland from Sheet Harbour.
According to Brad Toms, the wildlife biologist at the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute (MTRI), an organization that leads a government- and industry-funded research and monitoring program for the endangered boreal felt lichen, the planned cuts could sound the death knell for a number of these lichen.
View Testing the Limits: Critical Boreal Felt Lichen Habitat in Halifax County Slated to be Wiped Out (It’s behind a paywall).
Thanks, again, to Linda P for her thorough investigative reporting.
View also:
Globally endangered Boreal Felt Lichen set to decline 50% in 25 years despite conservation efforts (Post on this website, June 27, 2016)
What lichens and lichenologists can and sometimes cannot tell us (Post on this website, Nov 4, 2016)