Post on Stop Spraying and Clear-Cutting Nova Scotia Nov 17, 2020
Map making as a subversive activity… I’m hooked.
I know I’m amidst my own tribe here (❤), so I’m sure that many of you already know we are living in the middle of a mass extinction so severe that it is on par with that the cataclysmic events which killed the dinosaurs. Scientists predict that a full 50% of the biodiversity with which we share this planet is likely to be gone by 2050, and a million of those within just a few years. Ecologists are in strong agreement that the single biggest driver of this catastrophic, human-caused extinction event is habitat fragmentation & loss.
In this province, big silviculture, aided & abetted by NS Lands & Forestry, have pillaged the natural landscape and devastated connectivity in our parks & protected areas system. Indeed, most of the silviculture activity that has taken place over the past five years (much longer?) has been between or adjacent to protected areas. I want people to care about this stuff. I want our elected leaders to wake up. I want the people’s movement to swell to the point that political and business elites have no choice but to listen to us.
Over the next few weeks, I hope to highlight some of the big silviculture devastation through a series of maps (and sometimes additional data) which focus on different wilderness areas around the province. This first set I’m sharing illustrates silviculture activity around Cape Breton Highlands National Park and the wilderness areas to the south. The Cape Breton Highlands are very close to my heart for a number of reasons, and this area has also been found (by multiple studies, including one of my own) to be the most climate-resilient part of our province, so the importance of conserving habitat and maintaining what connectivity remains there cannot be over-stated. (…Hopefully, eventually, some of the degraded areas can be targeted for ecological restoration… Hey, a girl can dream, right?)
In these maps, you will see how clear-cutting has decimated the landscape of the Cape Breton Highlands. You will also see that NS Mines & Energy saw fit to approve an exploratory mining operation right in the middle of four wilderness areas. (Good grief.) I would say more, but you know… a picture is worth 1000 words.
Peace, Love, Solidarity…
–Shanni
