Burgess Comments 27Feb2021

Clearcutting on wane despite critics’ constant barrage
Todd Burgess, forestry outreach coordinator, Forest Nova Scotia in Chronicle Herald, Feb 27, 2021

Some extracts from CH letter:

Ralph Surette’s Feb. 20 column made me especially angry. Did Mr. Surette check any facts before he decided to write?…

Surrette writes about Tusket River resident Sandra Phinney being frustrated about the level of harvesting in her area and nobody responding to her concerns – fair enough. Did Ms. Phinney ever contact WestFor…

Ms. Phinney apparently chose to break the law by blocking hard-working rural Nova Scotians from performing a job they are legally permitted to do. Imagine if every citizen could just stop a legal activity from happening because they don’t like something. Our world would be chaos. We have processes and rules for a reason.

Mr. Surette labels clearcutting as a devastating scourge that is expanding all over Nova Scotia. The truth is exactly the opposite. Clearcutting has been substantially reduced in the last five years, and even more so in the last two years, with the government introducing interim guidelines while waiting for the Lahey report’s implementation. For the record, clearculting is appropriate in certain circumstances and can be a form of regeneration and renewal.

…But to be clear, the area that was illegally blockaded was a partial harvest that was only removing a small percentage of the trees; it was not a clearcut. The irony is, this blockade in southwest Nova Scotia was not stopping a clearcut. Sadly, our critics are trying to stop all forestry in Nova Scotia.