We now have another “FSC” in Nova Scotia forestry 1July2021

Posted on July 1, 2021 by admin

Logos for the two FSCs now associated with forestry in Nova Scotia. “FSC#1”, the Forest Stewardship Council was founded in 1993 and has operated in NS since the early 2000s. “FSC#2”, the Forestry Sector Council arose from “rebranding” of the Nova Scotia Forestry Human Resources Sector Council in April of 2021

Most of us associate the acronym “FSC” with Forest Stewardship Council certification. Recently, the Nova Scotia Forestry Human Resources Sector Council for which “interim management was provided by the executive of Forest Nova Scotia” rebranded itself the Forestry Sector Council and is using the acronym FSC in its literature. It seems an unnecessary muddying of the waters.

FSC#1

The FSC acronym used in relation to forestry is widely recognized as the Forest Stewardship Council.  Of the two major forest certification organizations, FSC and SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative), FSC has the more stringent requirements.

At one time, the Nova Scotia Government held  FSC certification for the entire Medway District. It had been certified under Bowater in 2010; the certificate was passed on to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) when the Bowater lands were purchased in 2012, and DNR successfully renewed the certificate in 2014. Continue reading →

Posted in Forest Certification, Ind Rev Post-Report, Social Values | Comments Off on We now have another “FSC” in Nova Scotia forestry 1July2021

Achieving Net Zero for Nova Scotia: can we take a lead from Dr. Strang? 26Jun2021

Posted on June 26, 2021 by admin

“Achieving net-zero emissions means our economy either emits no greenhouse gas emissions or offsets its emissions, for example, through actions such as tree planting or employing technologies that can capture carbon before it is released into the air.” From canada/ca: Net-Zero Emissions by 2050

 The pandemic & Dr. Strang have taught us a lot about how to use ‘the science’ to deal with complex issues, and to date, at least, we have  done it better than most other jurisdictions; why not apply the same approach to achieve Net Zero for Nova Scotia?

“Nova Scotia will be the first province in Canada to achieve carbon neutrality,” said Lieutenant Governor Arthur LeBlanc in the first throne speech after Iain Rankin became premier, echoing Rankin’s campaign promises (quoted on huddle.today Mar 9, 2021)

Iain Rankin promoted his environmental agenda as a major plank in his successful campaign to  replace Premier McNeil as premier of Nova Scotia.

Now with the feds widely expected to call an election in the fall, there is speculation that Rankin could call a provincial election earlier. (The second McNeil government was elected on May 30, 2017; an election must be called within 5 years, i.e. by May 30, 2022)
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All in the name of Ecological Forestry in Nova Scotia… continued 25Jun2021

Posted on June 25, 2021 by admin

On Stop Clearcutting Unama’ki (Cape Breton) today:
Continue reading →

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All in the name of Ecological Forestry in Nova Scotia 17Jun2021

Posted on June 17, 2021 by admin

UPDATE: Comment on Stop Spraying & Clear-Cutting Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) June 18, 2021: “Our wilderness is disappearing forever with our forestry practices. I am finding when visiting Crown blocks up for “harvest” that even the relatively harmless sounding shelterwood “treatments” are 3 steps to complete destruction. Step one remove any lumber-marketable old growth. Step 2 Ground spray herbicide on the remaining understory and forest floor. Step 3 Cut down the remaining overstory usually birch and poplar. Voila: an eruption of balsam fir. Nothing left of the original ecology. Not only plants gone but most of the beetles and ants in the forest also; so destroying habitat for Keystone Species like Pileated Woodpecker. And research now shows the chemicals remain active in the soil for at least a decade. If any other industrial process did this they’d have to undergo an environmental assessment beforehand and then they’d have to remediate the site afterwards; for decades!!”

UPDATE: On Stop Clearcutting Unama’ki (Cape Breton) later on June 17, 2021:

And this comment by the Annapolis Ecology folks on making comments via the Harvest Plan Map Viewer:

On Annapolis Royal & Area – Environment & Ecology Jun 17, 2021

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ORIGINAL POST
On People for Ecological Forestry in Southwest Nova Scotia June 14, 2021:

The Corporate Capture of Crown Land continues…mostly clearcuts leaving a handful of trees standing…all in the name of ecological forestry of course. Lahey who? What a hoax that all was. Continue reading →

Posted in Acadian Forest, clearcuts, Ind Rev Post-Report, Landscape Level Planning | Comments Off on All in the name of Ecological Forestry in Nova Scotia 17Jun2021

Nova Scotia Forestry Maps issues directive on submitting comments on harvests 4Jun2021

Posted on June 4, 2021 by admin

& Annapolis County’s Crown lands continue to be heavily logged & L&F seems to have been blind to issues with internet connections in rural areas which can prevent comments being submitted via the Map Viewer

Received today:

Forestry Maps <forestrymaps@novascotia.ca>
To: Forestry Maps. Fri., Jun. 4 at 1:25 p.m.

Starting June 2, 2021, only emails submitted using the comment function on the Harvest Plans Map Viewer will be considered during the harvest plan review process. For additional help on how to make a comment please see the “HELP” link at the top of the Harvest Plans Map Viewer. The intent of the Harvest Plans Map Viewer is to seek information currently not known to the department at a site level that is being proposed for harvest. If your comment provides information about the proposed harvest plan that is specific to the site, the department may contact you for further detail.

The Harvest Plans Map Viewer has been updated as of June 4, 2021. Please refer to the following location: https://nsgi.novascotia.ca/hpmv/ . The next update is scheduled for June 14, 2021. Please see attached document* for additional details on all NEW submissions for this update.

We thank you for your interest.

Continue reading →

Posted in L&F | Comments Off on Nova Scotia Forestry Maps issues directive on submitting comments on harvests 4Jun2021

Plourde: Apply the triad to all of Nova Scotia, make Crown lands the Protected Leg 29May2021

Posted on May 29, 2021 by admin

“Now that it has been made abundantly clear that the forestry industry lobby will never allow any new biodiversity regulations on private lands, it is equally clear that our Crown lands are the only option we have, as a province, to meet our obligation to protect and restore biodiversity.”

Clearcut on Crown land, Halifax Co. (NSFN Photo)

Text received from Raymond Plourde, Senior Wilderness Coordinator at Ecology Action Centre, published on Saltwire, May 26, 2021 (RAYMOND PLOURDE: Time for industrial forestry to vacate Crown lands):

In the aftermath of the great Biodiversity Act debacle, one thing has been made exceedingly clear: the forestry industry lobby group, Forest Nova Scotia, will never allow any kind of new government regulations to protect biodiversity on private lands in Nova Scotia. In fact, it will go to extraordinary lengths to prevent it.

This includes spending a small fortune (as much as a quarter million dollars by some estimates) to viciously attack the government’s Biodiversity Act. Forest Nova Scotia’s massive advertising campaign, run in newspapers and on radio stations across the province, was a well-orchestrated smear campaign of both the act and nefarious “Halifax activists” bent on “harassing landowners and stopping all agriculture, recreational activity, forestry, home building, hunting and fishing on private lands.”
Continue reading →

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Draft Nova Scotia Forestry EA Process surfaces 21May2021

Posted on May 22, 2021 by admin

Can EAs for forestry on Crown lands in NS ensure that planning for biodiversity conservation takes place on a landscape level  scale and put to rest public concern about Crown land forestry practices? Retired Dal Prof Peter Duinker, the major proponent of this EA process (Ind Review Addendum, p 99) and a consultant on its implementation says it will. But it could take 4 more years to get there (see below). The reward: “If done properly, with openness and transparency and based on strong science, it will reduce the pressure for intense scrutiny by DNR or the public of individualized harvesting decisions.” Image from NSFN post of Jan 8, 2019

It appears Talk and Log will continue for another four years after the Lahey Recommendations are implemented

Full implementation of the Lahey Recommendations, promised by Iain Rankin before the next election, involves several major components, some of which the public has been given some introduction to and opportunity for feedback – notably the Draft  HPF (High Production Forestry) document (released Feb 19, 2020), and the Silvicultural Guide for the Ecological Matrix/Forest Management Guide (draft released for comment Jan 21, 2021). For both it was clear there was a lot of public interest and comment, some of it copied onto NSFN (e.g., for SGEM, view Post Feb 16, 2021; for HPF, view Post Aug 27, 2020).

A major issue in regard to the HPF was/is the proportion of working forest on Crown lands that would be assigned to HPF, also the ongoing clearcutting/even aged forestry in the meantime. Rankin has made it clear that there will be no moratorium while L&F takes whatever time it needs to figure out how to implement the recommendations, the pleas of half of the Advisory Committee and young and old Nova Scotians notwithstanding; they won’t even restrict harvesting during nesting season.

But at least the public knows something about those two components of L&F’s response to the Lahey recommendations, even if what we know is not reassuring.
Continue reading →

Posted in Acadian Forest, Conservation, Ind Rev Post-Report, L&F | Comments Off on Draft Nova Scotia Forestry EA Process surfaces 21May2021

“Somewhere in Nova Scotia” some less-than-exemplary logging practices 13May2021

Posted on May 13, 2021 by admin

At least from an ecological perspective they are… ‘Comment from Forest Nova Scotia and Nova Scotia Lands and Forestry invited.


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Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs announces the incorporation of a Mi’kmaw-led land trust 12May2021

Posted on May 12, 2021 by admin

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ANNOUNCEMENT Thurs May 13, 2021 at 7 pm: Book Launch for WHAT REALLY COUNTS: The Case for a Sustainable and Equitable Economy by Ron Coleman

Posted on May 10, 2021 by admin

UPDATE May, 17, 2021: Bookmark has posted a YouTube Video of the Book Launch.  If you ever wondered “what’s wrong with economics”, how it could be fixed and why it hasn’t been so far and where the future lies….watch or just listen to this interview; it has a lot to say about Maritimers too.
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Click on image for Facebook Announcement

By Bookmark (Charlottetown & Halifax). “Ronald Colman is the founder and former executive director of GPI Atlantic, a non-profit research group that built an index of well-being and sustainable development in Nova Scotia.”

The Nova Scotia GPI Forest Accounts (2001) and Update in 2008 by Ron Coleman with co-authors Linda Pannozzo, Sara Wilson and Minga O’Brien provided the first comprehensive  documentation of  the state of our harvested forests in NS  and were an important backdrop for the review of forestry under the Natural Resources Strategy process (2008-2011).

Join the virtual launch by contacting Bookmark at 902-423-0419 or halifax@bookmarkreads.ca or directly via Facebook (click on image above)

The book was published Mar 9, 2021 by Columbia University Press, available locally via Bookmark.
Continue reading →

Posted in events | Comments Off on ANNOUNCEMENT Thurs May 13, 2021 at 7 pm: Book Launch for WHAT REALLY COUNTS: The Case for a Sustainable and Equitable Economy by Ron Coleman