In the News

Beginning today, June 11, 2018, this page will provide a list of links to news and some social media posts related to forests and forestry in Nova Scotia, the most recent items at the top, as I access them.

Some will also be listed under Independent Review, and some may also be the subject of a post on the Home Page.

Up to this point I have attempted to provide a post on the home page about every news item; all posts are listed under About this site>All Posts. However, I have found that I am missing more and more as at times I can’t keep up with it all, not-to-mention that outdoor Nova Scotia is just too enticing at times.

The dates cited below are the dates of publication of the news items (not the dates on which I accessed them).

NOTE Sep 19, 2018: due to the Chronicle Herald moving their website to a new platform circa Sep 15, 2018, links that refer to articles in the Chronicle Herald before that date are not currently working. Presumably they will fix that issue.
Nov 14, 2018: There is no sign that the CH will fix and make accessible the old links and now the Chronicle Herald further restricts online access to news and opinions (Post, Nov 10, 2018). In general, from this point on I will not cite Chronicle Herald articles when alternative reports are available. Feb 1, 2019: It seems the Chronicle Herald is again making a lot of material freely available so I am again referencing such items. Thx CH. Too quick, I received this explanation a few hrs later: My Q: “I noticed that the CH is again making a lot of material freely available online (since Jan 23 or earlier). Can you confirm a change in policy? Thx. and Thx CH.” Response: No change in policy: we continue to work on improving the online experience and in doing so, our web developers have made e-paper access available from time to time – this will not be permanent.

NOTE Jan 11, 2019: I will be taking a bit of break..so coverage of what’s in the news will be more intermittent for the next 3 months and even after that if the news items appear as frequently as they have been in the last several weeks. ‘Simply to0 much to try to catalogue them all.

- Apr 17, 2019″
  Southwest Nova bright spot for solar power
  Carla Allen for Yarmouth Co. Vanguard
- Apr 15, 2019:
  – Renewed Species at Risk Recovery Teams
  L&F Press release
- Apr 13, 2019:
  –Forest Confidential
  Linda Pannozzo in the Halifax Examiner (Subscriptton required, $10/mo, for access to full article) “AN INVESTIGATION INTO NOVA SCOTIA’S BIOMASS HARVEST DATA AND HOW THE NUMBERS AREN’T ADDING UP”
- Apr 12, 2019:
  – Nova Scotia shelves act that would have made province the first to regulate biodiversity
  Jean Laroche · CBC News
- Apr 11, 2019:
  Boat Harbour cleanup to be subjected to environmental review
  JENNIFER HENDERSON in the Halifax Examiner
- Apr8, 2019:
  – Explainer: Why so many are criticizing Nova Scotia’s forest harvesting map tool
  CBC
- Apr 5, 2019:
  – Navigating the Province’s forestry map (Audio)
  BCB Info AM “Some people say when it comes to clear cuts on crown land the province isn’t giving the public the whole picture. Information Morning’s Phlis McGregor has more. ‘
- Apr 3, 2019:
  – An association representing travel media in the Atlantic region is calling on the province to institute a moratorium on clearcutting (audio)
  CBC Info AM Interview with Helen Early, Chair of the Travel Media Association of Canada, Atlantic Chapter and journalist Zack Metcalfe
- Apr 2, 2019:
  – Despite warnings that burning biomass does not address climate change, Nova Scotia Power burned more biomass in 2018 than in 2017
  JENNIFER HENDERSON in the Halifax Examiner (Subscription required – $10/month – to access to full article.)
- Apr 1, 2019:
  – Canada’s Changing Climate Report
  Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON. 444 p. (Released Apr 1 or 2, 2019)
  –Canada warming at twice the global rate, leaked report finds
  CBC News
- Mar 29, 2019:
  – Nova Scotia pulp mill owners say environmental assessment requirements put company’s operations in jeopardy
  Jessica Leeder for Globe and Mail. “He [Premier McNeil] encouraged Northern Pulp “to focus on whether or not it can actually meet the environmental standards of the province. At this point, they have not,” he said. “We gave five years. This company needs to do the work.””
  – Nova Scotia Minister of Environment determines that the registration information is insufficient to make a decision on The Pipe, requires focus report
  Posted on novascotia.ca/nse/ea/
- Mar 28, 2019:
  – Burning Forests
  Zack Metcalfe in Halifax Mag Blog
- Mar 27, 2019:
  – Ground Truthing – Group plans to walk the woods; hopes observations, reports will save Crown forests
  Lawrence Powell in Annapolis County Spectator
- Mar 26, 2019:
  – NS Lands and Forestry, Ecological Forestry Implementation – March 26, 2019 update
  NS Lands and Forestry
  – Bill Lahey on clearcutting (audio)
  CBC Info a.m.
  – Report of the Auditor General to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, Follow-up of 2015 and 2016 Recommendations (submitted March 26, 2019):
- Mar 25, 2019:
  – Environmentalists, forestry industry agree biodiversity bill needs changes
  Jean Laroche · CBC News “Liberals use their majority to move Bill 116 back to the legislature floor unamended”
  – ‘I can see the devastation,’ says former forester prepared to protest clearcut
  CBC News
  – Minister of Lands and Forestry stands by Province’s plan (Audio)
  CBC Info AM
- Mar 22, 2019:
  – Burning Forests
  Zack Metcalfe in Pictou Advocate
- Mar 21, 2019:
  B.C’s version of “Variable Retention”?
  
  – On International Day of Forests, conservation groups call on B.C. government to immediately halt logging of last intact old-growth areas
  On Ancient Forest Alliance.
  – Judgement day looms for Nova Scotia’s Boat Harbour
  CBC Radio “On Friday, March 29 — a new deadline looms.Nova Scotia Environment Minister Margaret Miller has to decide whether to hold fast on it. By law, the company must cease using Boat Harbour for the reception and treatment of effluent by January 31, 2020. The company says it can’t have alternative treatment facilities ready by then and has asked for an extension. Northern Pulp’s plan is to put an effluent pipe into the Northumberland Strait. And if that’s not allowed, it’ll shut down the mill.”
- Mar 15, 2019:
  Mi’kmaw communities gain control of forest lands in three-year project
  Jean Laroche · CBC News “Googoo stressed that while trees would be harvested, Mi’kmaw foresters would be guided by Netukulimk, a principal that recognizes the pursuit of economic well-being must be done without jeopardizing the integrity, diversity or productivity of the environment.”We want to be able to do what we feel is a more traditional form of forestry work which involves less mechanized equipment,” said Googoo. Also: L&F Press Release
- Mar 14, 2019:
  BILL NO. 116 (as introduced) Biodiversity Act
  The Honourable Iain Rankin.Minister of Lands and Forestry First Reading: March 14, 2019;
  Minister of Lands and Forestry stands by Province’s plan
  CBC Info
  – Nova Scotia legislation would protect the province’s biodiversity
  THE CANADIAN PRESS on CTV News
  – Nova Scotia to become first province to regulate biodiversity
  Michael Gorman · CBC News
- Mar 13, 2019:
  – Northern Pulp’s environmental assessment “is simply not credible” says EAC
  Tim Bousqet Morning File/Halifax Examiner, citing EAC, Mar 9, 2019 and CPAWS, Mar 9, 2019
- Mar 12, 2019:
  – Lands And Forestry Reverses Some Changes To Harvest Plan Map Viewer
  Brittany Wentzell for www.ckbw.ca “Some also criticized the removal of the term clearcut from the map, saying the move shows a lack of transparency by the department.
  However, Rankin says the terms used on the map legend are more accurate and better align with the Forest Management Guide.”Rather than the debate and the consternation around clearcutting and partial harvest, we are focused on exactly what the prescription is.” He says clearcut is just a layman term, mostly for overstory removal.”
  – Pulp Culture: How Nova Scotia’s Faustian bargain with the pulp industry may leave the sawmills in ruins
  Linda Pannozzo in Halifax Examiner (subscription required for full article; precise in Morning File for Mar 13, 2019. Well worth the $10…
- Mar 10, 2019:
  Friction in Pictou: Community divided on proposed changes to pulp mill operations
  Jill English · CBC News
- Mar 8, 2019:
  – Submissions of the Friends of the Northumberland Strait in Response to the call for Public Comments on the Environmental Assessment of the Replacement Effluent Treatment Facility Project
  1126 pages of concerns which cite facts, sources, science, and experts.
  – John Collins on Northern Pulp and why a federal assessment is paramount
  nsadvocate.org “…approximately 20% of the Canadian Senate, the government of Prince Edward Island, a working group of 3000 fishermen including residents of Pictou Landing First Nation, all the local MLAs, as well as thousands of concerned citizens, including several local physicians, are all requesting a federal assessment”
- Mar 7, 2019:
  – Dalhousie researcher breaks silence over pulp mill’s cancer-causing air emissions
  Linda Pannozzo in the Halifax Examiner
  – Forestry industry can sell more lumber, forget about kraft pulp
  Don Wilson in Pictou Advocate
  – The Canso Chemicals mystery: With the chemical plant long gone, why is the company still alive? And what about all that mercury pollution?
  Joan Baxter in The Halifax Examiner. Requires subscription ($10/mo) to access to full article; well worth it if you want to be well informed about a very dirty little secret. “Canso Chemicals hasn’t produced any chemicals for 29 years, but — contrary to what I wrote in the Halifax Examiner in “Northern Pulp’s environmental documents: missing mercury, a pulp mill that never was, and oodles of contradictions” — the company lives on. Sort of… A Google search for “Canso Chemicals” turns up an address (Granton Abercrombie Road, New Glasgow, NS) and a phone number, which I called. Although the Google result states that it is “permanently closed,” someone did answer the phone…”
- Mar 6, 2019:
  – Letter to N.S. Environmental Assessment Branch Re.: Northern Pulp Effluent Treatment Facility Project
  Lana Payne, Atlantic Director, Unifor
  – Houston introduces legislation aimed at securing a future for forestry
  The News
  – Miawpukek Mi’kamawey Mawi’omi looking to reclaim the land
  Adam Randell on cbncompass.ca
- Mar 5, 2019:
  – The last great tree: a majestic relic of Canada’s vanishing rainforest
  By Harley Rustad in The Guardian
  – Northern Pulp’s environmental documents: missing mercury, a pulp mill that never was, and oodles of contradictions
  Joan Baxter in Halifax Examiner
  –Rethinking old-growth forests using lichens as an indicator of conservation value
  Canadian Museum of Nature on phys.org. “Dr. Troy McMullin, lichenologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, and Dr. Yolanda Wiersma, landscape ecologist at Memorial University of Newfoundland, propose their lichen-focussed system in a paper published today in the Ecological Society of America journal, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.”
- Mar 4, 2019:
  – EU dragged to court for backing forest biomass as ‘renewable energy’
  By Frédéric Simon | EURACTIV.com
  – A damaged planet is normal now
  Zack Metcalfe in Halifax Magazine
- Mar 1, 2019:
  – Shelburne County group requests moratorium on clearutting
  Community Forests, Shelburne Co.
  – A Biodiversity Act for Nova Scotia AN OVERVIEW AND KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
  Ecology Action Centre and East Coast Environmental Law/”Our understanding is that the Biodiversity Act will be put forward in the spring session of the provincial legislature (commenced on February 28, 2019). Unfortunately, there have been no broad stakeholder or public consultations about the Act leading up to its introduction.”
- Feb 28, 2019:
  – A business aimed at people seeking serenity
  Carla Allen in the Chronicle Herald (subscription required) “YARMOUTH — Nicola Roberts-Fenton wants people to experience the serenity of laying on their back on a mossy bed in the Tobeatic forest, listening to leaves rustling and birds singing overhead. The entrepreneur has a plan for a business devoted to wilderness tourism, and it is well underway thanks to $1,000 awarded after her entrepreneurial pitch…” View also Entrepreneur developing nature-based tours for Tobeatic region on igniteatlantic.com Feb 19, 2019
- Feb 25, 2019
  – Canada ordered to pay U.S. concrete company $7M in NAFTA case
  Paul Withers · CBC News “The award falls far short of the $443 million in compensation the concrete company, Bilcon, was seeking.”
  – New details about Northern Pulp effluent (audio)
  CBC Info am Halifax “An environmental lawyer shares new information about Northern Pulp’s proposal to send treated effluent into the Northumberland Strait. Jamie Simpson is an environmental lawyer in Halifax.”
- Feb 24, 2019:
  – Port Hawkesbury Paper importing pulpwood
  Aaron Beswick in Chronicle Herald, accessed without subscription
- Feb 23, 2019:
  – Feds to conduct environmental assessment of Boat Harbour cleanup
  Mairin Prentiss · CBC News
- Feb 21, 2019:
  – Northern Pulp says it “cares” — but for whom and for what?
  Joan Baxter in the Halifax Examiner JB explores “the facts” about employment generated by NP.
  – CBC’s Information Morning visits Pictou to talk Northern Pulp’s future
  “CBC Radio’s Information Morning was in Pictou, N.S., on Thursday for a live show dedicated to the future of Northern Pulp.” Archived 1 hr 17 min Audio available, interviews with many people on all sides of the debate about the mill.
- Feb 20, 2019:
  – The Issue with Tissue: How Americans Are Flushing Forests Down the Toilet
  NRDC report by Jennifer Skene & Shelley Vinyard. “…This report provides an overview of the major tissue brands and reveals the worst corporate offenders driving boreal degradation. It describes the impact of virgin pulp sourced from the old growth forests like Canada’s boreal forest and the United States’ strong reliance on tissue products.
- Feb 17, 2019:
  –Climate change protesters in Halifax highlight species extinction
  John McPhee in the Chronicle Herald, this item seems to be available without a subscription
  – Green Party Leader Elizabeth May: ‘For my point of view, close the mill’
  Adam MacInnis in NG News
- Feb 16, 2019:
  – By Any Other Name: Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry just made “Clearcuts” disappear
  Linda Pannozzo in The Halifax Examiner (subscription required to access full article) “Nova Scotians who signed up to receive proposed harvest plans on Crown land might have noticed some disturbing changes recently. As of a few days ago the maps no longer specify whether a proposed cut is a “clearcut” or not. The word was removed from the legend and the list of harvest prescription types. This…”
  – Feedback on Federal Environmental Assessment on The Pipe
  “The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) is in receipt of Northern Pulp’s proposal to construct a new effluent treatment facility at its Abercrombie Point location. CEAA is currently reviewing feedback it has received from Pictou Landing First Nation, local stakeholders, and the public in respect of whether it should recommend a federal environmental assessment be conducted regarding this project proposal.
  “CEAA will be accepting feedback until February 25, 2019. If you have previously submitted feedback, there is no need to re-submit in order to have your comments considered.
  “If you wish to make a submission, please send any comments to:
  Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
  200-1801 Hollis Street
  Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3N4
  “Email: CEAA.BoatHarbour.ACEE@canada.ca”
  Info courtesy of Sean Fraser, MP
- Feb 13, 2019:
  The Local Climate to block a clearcut
  Zak Metcalfe in Halifax Magazine
- Feb 12, 2019:
  – Ottawa pledges $1.45M to protect 7 ecological sites in Nova Scotia
  Paul Withers · CBC News “Nova Scotia Nature Trust must hit its own fundraising target of $750K by end of March”
- Global News: Pictou Landing First Nation kicks off Boat Harbour closure countdown Jan 31, 2019
  
  Jan 31, 2019:
  – The 13 Per Cent: NGOs Call For Fulfillment of Nova Scotian Protected Areas
  Zak Metcalfe
  – COUNTERPOINT: Nova Scotia sawmills very efficient at producing lumber
  Billy Freeman in the CH (may require subscription) “Northern Pulp provides the wood chip market that keeps essentially all Nova Scotia sawmills in business. Without Northern Pulp, most Nova Scotia sawmills would close. Many dubious alternatives published in social media would purportedly see those sawmills survive. However, in reality, there is no viable Plan B. Our locally-owned sawmills, and the families and communities they support, cannot rely on some hypothetical solution that does not pay the bills.”
  – Pictou Landing chief says no to Boat Harbour extension, 2020 deadline ‘so sacred’
  By HALEY RYANStarMetro Halifax
- Jan 30, 2019:
  – OPINION: NDP’s forestry-crisis response misrepresented
  DAN O’CONNOR in the Chronicle Herald (item available without subscription)
  – ‘Everything I knew just didn’t exist anymore’: Boat Harbour before and after
  Brendan Ahern in NG News. “Mary Nicholas’ early memories of Boat Harbour involve a smelt run and a plastic bag. “Like your storage room, or your root cellar or something. But it was the whole lake,” says Nicholas. “Everything was there; salmon, smelts, eels, clams. Everything.” Everything changed in 1966…”
- Jan 29, 2019:
  THE LOCAL CLIMATE: A REBELLION IN THE MAKING
  By Zak Metcalfe for Port Hawkesbury Reporter
- Jan 25, 2019:
  – N.S. naturalists taking province to court
  CBC News “‘We’re simply asking the government to do what is already required to do legally'”
  – COUNTERPOINT: Money doesn’t grow on trees for woodlot owners
  Tom Miller, Green Hill “To suggest that woodlot owners and other rural residents will not survive a mill closure is to not understand that no one out here is making any money now. Contrary to the few contractors who have spoken in favour of the mill not closing, most are quiet, as they fear repercussions from a very vindictive industry.”
  – SURETTE: Can we manage a forestry crisis properly this time?
  Ralph Surette in Chronicle Herald, I accessed it without a subscription// perhaps the CH is changing its access requriements…”
  
  Last fall, I drove through those eastern lands, from south of New Glasgow through to Sherbrooke on the Atlantic shore on Highway 348, over some 70 kilometres. I saw only one patch of big trees — on a slope coming down to water where big machines presumably couldn’t go. The rest had all been clearcut over the past decades.
  
  The “highway” was itself more of a logging road that had been given a thin layer of paving, now all broken up and potholed, presumably during the giveaway Buchanan government era of the 1980s. The only logical reason for paving it would have been to make it easier for the Pictou mill to harvest. Another hidden subsidy. There are more roads like it.
  
  Has government in Nova Scotia evolved at last to the point where it accepts that enough is enough — whether in subsidies, pollution or forest destruction — and can the woods industries accept sustainable forestry? And can the two talk about it? That was my question driving through as the glorious autumn leaves of the St. Mary’s River valley finally gave me relief from the desolation I’d left behind.”
- Jan 23, 2019:
  – Turning Protesters into Pets
  Linda Pannozzo in the Halifax Examiner
  Published Dec 14, 2019. Full text made available (without subscription) Jan 23, 2019. “HOW NOVA SCOTIA’S FORESTRY REGULATORS ARE ALREADY UNDERMINING THE LAHEY REPORT, AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.”
  – Woodlot owners look to Lahey report as ‘road, not roadblock’ to prosperity
  Michael Gorman · CBC News
- Jan 22, 2019:
  – Nova Scotia’s forest industry faces unknown future without Northern Pulp
  Michael Gorman · CBC News

Jan 31, 2019:

Jan 17, 2019:
–Northern Pulp, Part 1: Successive governments signed away Nova Scotia taxpayers
Aaron Beswick in the News. “What’s next and Who’s left Holding the Bag. “…For his part, McNeil won’t consider extending the deadline unless the Pictou Landing First Nation and other local stakeholders request it…Over the next four days, we will examine what a permanent closure of the Northern Pulp mill would mean for government and taxpayers, Pictou County’s business community, the Northumberland Strait’s ecosystem and the province’s forest industry.”
Jan 15, 2019:
– Stellarton Council passes motion to send letter showing support for Boat Harbour extension
Brendan Ahern , In the News
Jan 10, 2019
– Pictou County, NS: Northern Pulp reneges on commitment to hold public open houses before filing new plan for environmental assessment
Terry Mosh Dunbrack,‎ Press Release on Facebook page for Clean up the Pictou County Pulp Mill
Jan 9, 2018:
– How a pulp mill killed commercial fisheries in New Brunswick’s St. Croix Estuary, and its lessons for the Northumberland Strait
By Robert Devet in the Nova Scotia Advocate
–Houston on Boat Harbour cleanup: ‘People just want to know it’s going to get done right’
Adam MacInnis in The News
Jan 8, 2019:
– Northern Pulp, Scotsburn Lumber, and U.S. tariffs
Halifax Examiner Morning File, Tuesday, January 8, 2019
– Citizen scientists needed to detect hemlock woolly adelgid in South West Nova Scotia
Carla Allen in Digby County Courier
– Forestry faux pas – Corbett Lake proposed harvest posting a mistake; concerned citizens skeptical, hope to save what’s left
Lawrence Powell in the Annapolis County Spectator “When residents concerned about possible harvest of crown forest at Corbett Lake found out on New Year’s Eve that it was all a big mistake, they could have packed up their maps, GPS units, and social media ecological sites and went home. They didn’t.”
– Northern Pulp, Scotsburn Lumber, and U.S. tariffs
Halifax Examiner Morning File, Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Jan 7, 2019:
Boat Harbour Remediation Project — Public Comments Invited
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Written comments in either official language must be submitted by January 27, 2019
Jan 6, 2019:
– Weekend video: An interview with Ralph Wheadon, long time Provincial Forest Ranger
Post by By Robert Devet on the NS Advocate. Video by Kent Martin. “KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – This weekend we feature an interview with Ralph Wheadon, who became a Provincial Forest Ranger for the area above St. Margaret’s Bay in the early fifties. He talks about fighting forest fires, log drives down the Ingram River, and the changes (not for the better) he has witnessed over his long career.”
Jan 4, 2019:
– Northern Pulp to register plans for replacing treatment facility by end of January
Adam MacInnis in The News
Jan 3, 2019:
– Jan 3, 2019: GUEST COLUMN: Forestry and Plan B for Nova Scotia
By Don Wilson in The New Glascow News
– Halifax giving new meaning to a ‘Murder of Crows’
HalifaxTrails.ca Blog
Jan 2, 2019:
– Province reduces regulatory burden for truck and forestry industries
Danielle McCreadie in www.halifaxtoday.ca
Jan 1, 2019:
– John Collins: A letter on Northern Pulp, science, and the clock that’s ticking
John Colins in the NS Advocate
– Longtime crow roost threatened by development, residents say
Frances Willick · CBC News “Clear cutting has begun at the site of a large housing development near Mount Saint Vincent University” Also view Facebook Video
Dec 31, 2018:
– Help wanted: Why a rehab centre for wild animals is busier than ever
Emma Smith · CBC News . View also: Nova Scotia’s Clearcut Refugees (Post Mar 12, 2017)
– UPDATED: Voice in the wilderness – Citizens discover some proposed Annapolis County harvests may already be complete
Lawrence Powell In the Annapolis County Spectator
Dec 28, 2018:
– Woodlot owner creates calendar to promote the protection of Nova Scotia forests
Kaitlyn Swan · CBC News
–If you go into the woods (in Lunenburg) you’ll find a big surprise
Michael Gorman · CBC News “Wooden sculptures intended to draw more people to walking trail, increase activity”
Dec 27, 2018:
– Scientists scour Keji seaside park — and they’re lichen what they’ve found
Jon Tattrie · CBC News
– Premier Year-End Interview, Part 1: Stephen McNeil on Northern Pulp, clearcutting, and more
CBC Info AM. “In our series of year-end interviews, it’s time to catch up on the year that was — and maybe look ahead at the year that’s coming — with the top dog in provincial politics, the Premier of Nova Scotia, Stephen McNeil.”
Dec 26, 2018:
– N.S. prepares for worst on controversial pulp mill: ‘No easy solution here’
Keith Doucette / The Canadian Press in The Prince George Citizen “Northern Pulp officials have said that no pipe would mean no mill, and McNeil knows its closure will have a significant impact on the forestry sector province-wide. “There is no easy solution here and we are going to continue to look for options,” McNeil told The Canadian Press in a year end interview.Last week, mill officials won an injunction in Nova Scotia Supreme Court against protesters trying to prevent seismic work in the Strait. The company laid out the impact the mill’s closure would have on the province’s economy in an affidavit submitted in the case. It said closure would mean the layoff of 277 employees, while 40 nursery and woodlands employees with affiliated companies would lose their jobs. Work would also disappear for about 600 employees of contractors who harvest wood for the mill, it said. The document also said the mill supplies about 40 per cent of the logs used by major sawmills in central and eastern Nova Scotia and purchases almost all of the wood chips produced by sawmills in the province. Northern Pulp is also the largest shipper at the Port of Halifax, and pays about $78.3 million for wood chips, hogfuel and pulpwood, while providing $44 million to private woodland contractors.”
Dec 23, 2018:
– First Nations & Fishermen vs. The Mill (YouTube Video)
Posted by AJ+ (Al Jazeera News) Published on Dec 23, 2018; 8 minutes 3,185 views by 22:16 Dec 24, 2018
– Ellen Page takes aim at Alton’s controversial underground gas storage plan
The Canadian Press in The Star Halifax
– Council Concerned – Province puts two more parcels of Annapolis County Crown forest on harvest plans map
Lawrence Powell in the Annapolis County Spectator
Dec 20, 2018:
– The Environment Needs its Own Local and Independent Journalism
by One Not So Bored Housewife. “As I have come to know, there is too great a limit on the ability or the willingness for the local media to tell the stories here in full. And our environment is the most talked about in my circle, but the least covered and most inaccurately reported sector.”
Dec 19, 2018:
– Old-growth forest with 400-year-old tree proposed for clearcut in error by Francis Willick for CBC
Dec 18, 2018:
– The year in conservation in Nova Scotia
Chris Miller on CPAWS blog
– Dalhousie University biomass plant providing power to the grid
Written by Dalhousie University for Canadian Biomass. “The opening of the Biomass-Fueled Energy Plant at the Agricultural Campus is one of many exciting transformations underway on the path to reaching carbon neutrality.” View also, NSFN post, Nov 22, 2018
– Northern Pulp wins injunction against fishermen’s blockade
Canadian Press on CBC
– St. Mary’s hears updated presentation on SMRA’s opposition to Cochrane Hill Gold Mine
Helen Murphy in Guysborough Journal. Related: Atlantic Gold presses for environmental permit in CH by Aaron Beswick (subscription required). Also View: Fools Gold, Part 1 (May 16, 2018) and Part 2 (May 23, 2018) by Joan Baxter in the Halifax Examiner/Cape Breton Spectator
Dec 14, 2018:
– TURNING PROTESTERS INTO PETS
HOW NOVA SCOTIA’S FORESTRY REGULATORS ARE ALREADY UNDERMINING THE LAHEY REPORT, AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.
LINDA PANNOZZO in the Halifax Examiner
– Port Hawkesbury Paper says order book full six years after reopening
Nancy King for Cape Breton Post
Dec 13, 2018:
– Northern Pulp appeals for support on 95.7 (audio)
I heard the same ad several times today. It talks about the 2.1 billion dollar forest industry in NS and how 11,500 jobs rely on on Northern Pulp’s continued operation; it asks people to extend their support.
– No ‘Plan B’ for potential shutdown of Northern Pulp mill, minister says
The Canadian Press in The Star
– Forestry minister not ready to contemplate closure of Northern Pulp just yet
Michael Gorman · CBC News
Dec 12, 2018:
– Ellen Page says Nova Scotia government needs to ‘step up right now’ over pulp mill controversy
By HALEY RYANStarMetro Halifax
Dec 10, 2018:
– Opposition calls on government to ‘get more serious’ about online lobbyist info
Michael Gorman · CBC News. “The latest example of the website’s flaws came Monday. AllNovaScotia.com reported McNeil’s former chief of staff, Kirby McVicar, and Health Minister Randy Delorey’s former executive assistant, Trevor Floyd, recently registered as lobbyists on behalf of Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation.”
–Ellen Page doubling down on criticism of Nova Scotia pulp mill’s effluent pipeline
By Alex Cooke for The Canadian Press on Global News
Dec 8, 2018:
– Keep An Open Mind
Ross Tugwell Abercrombie, Letter to the ed, The Advocate/”Northern Pulp is under new ownership, and our new owner has our back, wants to invest in our mill, our future and provide jobs. So now I’m asking my friends and my community to put faith in us as residents of Pictou County, and as workers of Northern Pulp, to allow us to go through the process of meeting government regulations and direction, hold public information meetings, and to go through this process with an open mind.”
– Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners throws support behind Northern Pulp
The News
Dec 7, 2018:
– Want to reduce clearcutting? Clear out Natural Resources
Jacob Boon in The Coast
Dec 6, 2018:
–Northern Pulp alleges death threats in legal action against fishermen
Carolyn Ray · CBC News
Dec 5, 2018:
– PICTOU LANDING FILM – BOAT HARBOUR & THE MILL (Youtube video)
By Australian Folksinger Mark Lang
– VIBERT: A thin response on clearcutting
Jim Vibert, Truro News. ” Minister Rankin contended the province could further the ecological objective of Lahey’s report, while “growing the forestry sector.” That comment is a telling insight into the government’s view of the environment. They are all for protecting it, as long as that doesn’t stand in the way of someone making money.”
– Minister of Lands and Forestry outlines clear cutting Policy
CBC Info AM. 14 mins. “The province says it will move towards more ecological forestry. Minister of Lands and Forestry Iain Rankin takes our questions.” Mike Lancaster is interviewed in the beginning about cutting in the Ingram River watershed. Transcript
Dec 4, 2018:
– Sound Off: Does the government’s response to the forestry review satisfy critics? (video)
CBC
– N.S. considering appeal of ruling on duty to consult Mi’kmaq in mill case
Canadian Press/CTV News
– SUPREME COURT OF NOVA SCOTIA Citation: Pictou Landing First Nation v. Nova Scotia (Aboriginal Affairs), 2018 NSSC 306
Supreme Court ruling. News story: Pictou Landing First Nation must be consulted on new Northern Pulp treatment plant: judge by Aaron Beswick in The News
– We’re about to learn just how subservient Nova Scotia is to the forest industry
Tim Bosquet in Halifax Examiner with links to Government takes tentative first steps to reduce clearcutting and Burned: Are Trees the New Coal? A review of the new film that illuminates Nova Scotia’s failed biomass policies by investigative reporters Jennifer Henderson and Lina Pannozzo respectively (subscription required; $10/mo)
– Tupperville-area residents worried about future of bio-diverse land on the South Mountain
Lawrence Powell in Annapolis Co. Spectator
– About Hardwood Hill – Warden Habinski asks province to hold off on harvest plans for 20-hectare Acadian forest
Lawrence Powell in The News
Dec 3, 2018:
– Nova Scotia vows to reduce clear cutting, move toward ‘ecological forestry’
Michael Gorman · CBC News
Dec 1, 2018:
– Closure of pulp mill last rational option
Ralph Surette in the Chronicle Herald (behind a paywall)“Boat Harbour, the notoriously polluted outfall for the pulp mill in Pictou County, is to close in January 2020 — the provincial government having finally given in to 50 years of anguished citizen protest. The alternative, however, is to pipe the effluent miles out into Northumberland Strait…On economics alone, the arguments for the mill were always weak. Its government-given control over the forest starved and killed off local mills. Had it never existed, the jobs it provides would have been created anyway, and a stable local industry would likely be going today with vastly less destruction of the forest — a destruction foreseen by provincial government forestry experts who were dead against this mill when it was built in 1967, but were overruled by the government of Robert Stanfield.
Closing, of course, will be painful — roughly 1,000 jobs, some 300 in the mill, the rest as various woods contractors. However, Sydney has moved on after Sydney Steel, and so has Liverpool since the Mersey mill closed. Also, closing could be costly — possibly hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs and liabilities the province has unwisely signed up for over time to protect the mill, which will also likely sue for losses.
But not facing the music now means facing it later when it’s likely to be far more grating.”
Nov 29, 2019:
– Still no response on recommendations three months after N.S. forestry review released“The author of a review on forestry practices in the province says he is anxious to hear what the government thinks”
Alicia Draus for Global News
– More senators join call for federal Northern Pulp review
Paul Withers · CBC News “Letter from 19 senators comes as company and union launch campaign”
Nov 27, 2018:
– McNeil firm that Boat Harbour will close by January 2020
Michael Gorman · CBC News
– Independent senators tell Trudeau to act on ‘dangerous’ Northern Pulp plan
Paul Withers · CBC News · Posted: Nov 27, 2018
Nov 26, 2018:
– Nova Scotia protects 2,000 hectares of ‘incredible landscape’
Michael Gorman · CBC News “The Wentworth Valley wilderness area includes old-growth hardwood forests, ravines, wildlife habitat and waterfalls…Monday’s announcement means just shy of 12.5 per cent of the province’s land is now protected”
Nov 23, 2018:
– Species at Risk in Nova Scotia # 9 – One woman in charge of biodiversity in province with 71 at-risk species (print story & audio)
CBC Info AM
– Both sides struggle to control tensions as Northern Pulp closure looms
Aaron Beswick in CH (Behind a paywall)
Nov 22, 2018:
– Species at Risk in Nova Scotia # 8 – Getting Involved
CBC Info AM. Interview with Amanda Lavers at MTRI, and Katie Mclean of CARP
Nov 21, 2018
– Bill Lahey presentation in NB (Nov 19, 2018) on the Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia available online
Post on NSFN
– Three months after forestry report, nothing but silence and worrisome signals
Opinion by Dale Smith published online in the Chronicle Herald (behind a paywall); posted on NSFN with permission of author.
– A (BIO)MASSIVE ACHIEVEMENT: NEW AG CAMPUS ENERGY PLANT A NORTH AMERICAN FIRST
Ryan McNutt in Dal News “Dal’s Agricultural Campus has its sights set on being completely carbon neutral — and the new Biomass Energy Plant, which celebrated its grand opening Tuesday morning (Nov. 20) is a huge step towards that goal.”
– Species at Risk in Nova Scotia # 7 – Plants and Lichens
CBC Inf AM. “Today on our series about species at risk we talk about plants and lichens and the dangers they face. And why that is bad news for humans.” Interview with Sean Blaney and Frances Anderson. Related: The ‘very serious threat’ that’s coming for Nova Scotia’s plants CBC news. Nov 21, 2018 “The arrival of the emerald ash borer is bad news for the black ash, a threatened species.”
Nov 20, 2018:
– Healthy Forest Coalition reached the milestone of 1,000 members!
Announcement of HFC Facebook Page “It’s great to see so many of us recognize the need to utilize true ecologically-based forestry and strike the balance that is needed to support both industry while maintaining ecological integrity. Although their are flaws within the Lahey report it has many good recommendations as to how we achieve that this goal.”
Species at Risk in Nova Scotia #6 – Fresh Water species
CBC Information Morning “Of all the creatures we’ve discussed in our species at risk series, none may be more vulnerable than the Atlantic Whitefish. Today we’re looking at that critically endangered species.” View also: Wild Atlantic whitefish struggle to survive in Nova Scotia CBC Post)
Nov 19, 2018:
– Species at Risk in Nova Scotia # 5 – Reptiles (audio)
CBC Information Morning – NS “Acadia University Professor Steve Mockford talks about turtles and snakes at risk of extinction in Nova Scotia”
View also: 3 of 4 turtle species in Nova Scotia at risk of extinction (CBC Post)
– Sa’qawey Nipukt: Old Forests (audio)
“Listen in as Mi’kmaw ecologist, shalan joudry tours Mi’kma’ki for stories about Old Forests. Here are four conversations with Mi’kmaw Elders as they tell us about their relationships with the land and old forests.” Posted on soundcloud.com Nov 19, 2018 by Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute
–Residents concerned about forestry in Annapolis County
by Ian Fairclough in the CH (behind a paywall). View also: Prof Lahey’s concerns about the Nova Scotia government’s delay in responding to the Independent Review are reflected in frustrations expressed about cuts proposed for Hardwood Hill, Annapolis Co.(Post on NSFN, Nov 19, 2018)
Nov 18, 2018:
– Residents worried about proposed gold mine near Sherbrooke
Frances Willick · CBC News
Nov 17, 2018:
– P.E.I. Opposition renews call for further Northern Pulp environmental assessment
Dave Stewart in The Guardian
Nov 16, 2018:
– Parrsboro driver to bring Boston Tree to Amherst
Fram Dinshaw, Amherst News “For the sixth year in a row he [Dave MacFarlane] is driving the city’s Christmas tree from Nova Scotia to Boston, along highways often lined with cheering bystanders and motorists honking their horns in support.” View Boston Christmas Tree on Wikipedia.
– N.S. paper mill asks for public help as protests mount, Ellen Page criticizes
Michael Tutton , The Canadian Press on CTV News
– Many are wondering why the province hasn’t yet responded to an independent forestry review, released in August (audio)
CBC Information Morning, interview with Prof Lahey
– Species at Risk NS # 4 – Birds
CBC Information Morning, Interview with Sue Abbott, Bird Studies Canada
Nov 15, 2018:
– Species at Risk in Nova Scotia #3 – Insects
CBC Information Morning, Interview with John Klymko of ACCDC, 3rd in series on Nova Scotia’s species at risk
Nov 14, 2018:
– Transition Begins Drilling to Test Promising Gold Targets in Nova Scotia on the Highland Gold …
Stockhouse. (Requires cookies to access page). “Transition Begins Drilling to Test Promising Gold Targets in Nova Scotia on the Highland Gold … It consists of staked mining licenses on crown land that covers approximately 5,408 hectares in an area of active forestry operations.”
– Species at Risk in Nova Scotia #2 :Mainland moose battle ticks, ATVs and clear cuts
CBC News “This is the second in a series of stories from CBC’s Information Morning about species that are struggling to survive in Nova Scotia, and the people who have vowed to save them.” Audio (Information Morning interview with Clifford Paul)
– Minister vows Northern Pulp won’t get reprieve on mill effluent deadline
Paul Withers · CBC News
Nov 13, 2018:
– Sharing the planet: Nova Scotia’s species at risk #1
CBC News “This is the first in a series of stories from CBC’s Information Morning about species that are struggling to survive in Nova Scotia, and the people who have vowed to save them.” Info AM Audio (Interview with Karen Beazley, 9 min)
– Northern Pulp admits it is likely to miss 2020 effluent deadline
Paul Withers · CBC News
Nov 10, 2018:
–Fishermen not happy with N.S. premier (video)
CTV News
– LETHBRIDGE: Green shift cannot come soon enough
Gail Lethbridge in Chronicle Herald, on the dilemma of dealing with NP/Abercrombie Mill “Our economy and way of life are structured on the burning of fossil fuels and extraction of resources. We can only look the other way for so long. Environmental destruction is the common enemy to people and the economy. There are people out there working on innovations that will help us change the way we live and prosper. I am inspired by these activities and they make me hopeful. The sooner we can face up to the urgent need to change the way we live, the more clarity we will have on how to find a cleaner, greener future.”
Nov 9, 2018
– Raymond Plourde from the Ecology Action Centre says the province is better at protecting the forestry industry than the forests (audio)
CBC Information Morning
– McNeil plea for peace triggers protest in Pictou County
Paul Withers · CBC News
Nov 8, 2018:
– Ecologist says forests in crisis (audio)
CBC Information Morning
Nov 7, 2018:
– Shelburne County residents pan ‘disrespectful’ clearcut plans
Moira Donovan, Phlis McGregor · CBC News
– An independent forestry review calls for a decrease in clear cutting. Yet the province has just approved new clear cuts. We’ll speak with the minister of Lands and forestry. (audio)
CBC Information Morning
Nov 6, 2018:
– Forest massacre
Shelly Hipson, Shelburne County in Voice of the People (Chronicle Herald)
– ‘Stop it at all costs’: The blockade of Northern Pulp Mill continues
– Alexander Quon for Global News
Westfor says it’s just following the provincial guidelines when it clear cuts a forest (audio)
Information Morning Nov 6, 2018. Interview with Marcus Zwicker, General manager of WestFor
Nov 5, 2018
– A Nova Scotia woman is upset to learn that a clear cut she fought to stop has been given the green light (audio)
CBC Info AM “Some people in Shelburne County are upset that the province has approved a clear cut on 260 hectares of forested crown land. The area is made up of eight parcels of land, near Wagner’s Lake in Middle Clyde, Shelburne County. Last week the province gave the Westfor consortium the go ahead to cut on that land. More than 300 people from the local area signed a petition earlier this year opposing the clear cut. Shelly Hipson wrote that petition.”
– Pictou officials learned of Northern Pulp pipe route from media reports
Michael Gorman · CBC News
– N.S. fishermen to block mill’s survey vessel from entering Northumberland Strait
THE CANADIAN PRESS on CTV News
– MIT expert: Carbon-neutral biomass ‘accounting fraud’
Aaron Beswick in the Chronicle Herald
Nov 4, 2018:
– Fire losses down in N.S. forests
Ian Fairclough in the Chronicle Herald
Nov 2, 2018:
– Free-for-all in the forest
Stephen Joudrey, Bridgewater, president, South Shore Wildlife Association in Readers Corner (Chronicle Herald) “Wood-harvesting has gone from a very controlled, sustainable industry that respected our ecosystems to massive assaults on our landscape — leaving barren wastelands subject to adverse erosion, silt runoffs and contamination of adjacent watercourses, causing displacement of thousands of birds, reptiles and other wildlife, and resulting in the destruction and loss of fragile flora, old-growth forests and pristine scenic beauty. The pending threat to over one million acres here in Southwest Nova, abetted by the stalled implementation of the Lahey forestry review, and the fact that equipment is already being positioned to proceed with clearcutting on several “approved” plots near Keji Park and beyond, suggests departments such as Lands and Forestry and Environment have lost their purpose.”
Nov 1, 2018:
– Cleanup continues after effluent pipe leak at Nova Scotia pulp mill:minister
The Canadian Press In the Chronicle Herald
Oct 31, 2018:
– Cap and trade and LNG don’t mix
Aaron Beswick in the Chronicle Herald; related: OPINION: Let’s take Trudeau’s carbon initiative to the next level, Allan Paquet in CH (Oct 30)
– Wisqoq – A story of Mi’kmaq conservation
Quentin Kerr in the Nova Scotia Advocate
– Cape Breton moose hunt marred by dispute
David Jala in Cape Breton Post
– READER’S CORNER: McNeil silent on forestry review as clearcutters rev engines
Brad Armstrong, Chester, conservation director/Friends of Nature in The Chronicle Herald
Oct 29, 2018:
– Glyphosate a political football in New Brunswick
“Contributed” in the Chronicle Herald
– Tensions around Northern Pulp have local MP ‘deeply concerned’
Michael Gorman for CBC News. “Central Nova MP Sean Fraser says he’s “deeply concerned” about what could happen in his riding as tensions continue to escalate around the Northern Pulp mill in Pictou County, N.S.”
– Rising tensions outside of Pictou, N.S. as local fishermen square off against the Northern Pulp Mill over effluent (audio)
On Full Episode of CBC The Current for October 29, 2018 – Segment starts at 22:00 goes to 46:16 minutes
Oct 28, 2018:
– Letter: Killing Nova Scotia by a thousand cuts
Ray Bates in The Nova Scotia Advocate
Oct 27, 2018:
– We story the land
Documentary Video by Martha Stiegman and Sherry Pictou available on Nova Scotia Advocate “The documentary follows seven paddlers from L’sɨtkuk (Bear River First Nation) as they travel inland following almost forgotten traditional Mi’kmaq canoe routes.” 26 min. Rippling Current Media 2016
Oct 26, 2018:
– Nova Scotia nature at its best
Sandra Phinney in the Chronicle Herald
Oct 25, 2018:
– Nova Scotia Nature Trust receives 93 hectares along St. Mary’s River from Sobey family
Ian Fairclough in the Chronicle Herald
– In Nova Scotia, a dispute between fishermen and a pulp mill escalates with a stand-off at sea
by ANTONIA NOORI FARZAN for The Washington Post. In The Star (Halifax)
Oct 24, 2018:
– Record 82,400 campsites booked in NS Provincial Parks in 2018
L&F Press Release
– Moose hunters threatened in Cape Breton Highlands
Holly Conners · CBC News. Related: Moose outfitters boycotting hunt in northern Cape Breton (CBC Info AM Audio)
– Ripple effect: Forestry industry anxiously watching Northern Pulp developments, fear potential impacts on sector
Adam MacInnis in The News (New Glascow). The CH article below is an abridged version of this one which provides more background.
– Forestry industry watches Northern Pulp situation
Adam MacInnis in the Chronicle Herald
Oct 23, 2018:
– ‘I’m terrified nothing’s going to survive’: Pictou County man worried effluent has spread to his wetland property
Jennifer Vardy in The News (New Glascow)
– ‘Everyone is not going to be as friendly as me’: Survey boat mapping Northern Pulp effluent pipe forced back to shore
Sueann Musick in The News (New Glascow)
Oct 22, 2018:
Fishermen, First Nation still oppose pipe plan
Aaron Beswick in the Chronicle herald