“Finding the Mother Tree” – can it change the way we manage our forests in Nova Scotia? 9May2021?

Posted on May 9, 2021 by admin

A remarkable story was published this past week:

Finding The Mother Tree: Discovering The Wisdom Of The Forest by Suzanne Simard, 368 pages, Published:May 4, 2021, by Penguin Random House. Listed at $Can $34.95

It’s remarkable in many respects: as a scientific story that is effecting  a “paradigm change” in how we think about forest  ecosystems; as a very personal story that intersects with the author’s own health challenges; as a story that revealed/confirmed indigenous perspectives on forest communities; and very much more. For a quick review, read Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard review – a journey of passion and introspection
Tiffany Francis-Baker in The Guardian, May 8, 2021. Also view A pioneering forest researcher’s memoir describes ‘Finding the Mother Tree’, a CBC April 30, 2021 article and interview.
Continue reading →

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Is Nova Scotia Lands & Forestry recycling proposed Crown land harvests that were previously rejected? 4May2021

Posted on May 4, 2021 by admin

UPDATE, May 13, 2021, from Bev Wigney:

LETTER JUST RECEIVED REGARDING THE ROUND HILL RIVER FOREST PARCELS::
Annapolis County Parcels (#AP068726 and #AP099816)
——————-
Dear Ms. Bev Wigney,
Thank you for using the Harvest Plans Map Viewer to comment on crown land proposed harvest plans and for your interest in the management of our natural resources.
These blocks have been removed from the HPMV and the current harvest plan.
Forestry Maps, DLF

[The response begs the question of why they were posted in the first place.]
———————-
Original Post:

From Bev Wigney To Forestry Maps, May 4, 2021:

Why are these parcels (#AP068726 and #AP0998) up for approval again?

These parcels were removed in 2014 after the community of Annapolis Royal spent several months having them removed – although apparently someone did go in and chop down a shelterwood cut on the south parcel after people were told it wouldn’t be harvested.
Continue reading →

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Nova Scotia Government seeks “Corporate Strategist” to join Clean Growth Division of Energy & Mines for one year 1May2021

Posted on May 1, 2021 by admin

From the posting on https://jobs.novascotia.ca/

Competition # : 30112
Department: Energy and Mines
Location: HALIFAX
Type of Employment: Term
Union Status: Exclusion – Non Union – NSPG

Closing Date: 5/12/2021
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Posted in Climate Change | Comments Off on Nova Scotia Government seeks “Corporate Strategist” to join Clean Growth Division of Energy & Mines for one year 1May2021

Nova Scotia Premier Rankin off-base on Protected Area stats 25Apr2021

Posted on April 25, 2021 by admin

Said Rankin “Nova Scotia has protected more provincial Crown land than other jurisdictions in Canada”. According to federal 2020 stats, we trail Alberta, British Columbia, NWT and Quebec.

Screen capture from the News Release

According to Premier Rankin,

Nova Scotia has protected more provincial Crown land than other jurisdictions in Canada
– NS Government News Release announcing the government’s intention to “designate 61 more wilderness areas, nature reserves and provincial parks”, Apr 22, 2021.

Here is a screen capture of latest numbers from the Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database:
Continue reading →

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Thoughts on Earth Day 22Apr2021

Posted on April 22, 2021 by admin

For a while, this scene has been in my mind, but especially today.

I like to spend some time at this site at Nova Scotia’s Five Islands Provincial Park at least once a year. It is surely one of the most spectacular sites in Nova Scotia. It is also humbling.

The exposure records the Triassic/Jurassic boundary  (whitish layer) of 201 million years ago. It coincides with the 4th Mass Extinction Event of 5 major extinction events that occurred after the the Cambrian Radiation. The Triassic/Jurassic extinctions were associated with environmental impacts of a massive lava flow, recorded in the dark basalts above the whitish layer. Continue reading →
Posted in Climate Change, Conservation, Social Values | Comments Off on Thoughts on Earth Day 22Apr2021

Finally, word of a Progress Report from Prof. Lahey on Nova Scotia’s effort to shift to ecological forestry 14Apr2021

Posted on April 14, 2021 by admin

The report was scheduled initially for spring of 2020; one might say ‘Better Late than Never’, but in this case that will depend very much on the content of Prof. Lahey’s Progress Report and on whether Forest NS and allies are able to thwart any action on what they don’t like about it.

View:

Progress report on N.S.’s effort to shift to ecological forestry expected in June
Michael Gorman · CBC News,  Apr 14, 2021 “Lands and Forestry Minister Chuck Porter said during budget debate on Tuesday at the legislature that University of King’s College president Bill Lahey will provide an update to his department this month and have a finalized review complete for public release about two months later.”

As originally scheduled, there was to be “A one-year assessment of the Province’s progress” in early 2020, and “A longer-term framework to guide the preparation of on-going evaluations to assess progress towards achieving the ecological model of forestry management in Nova Scotia as envisioned in the Review” by the spring of 2020. View Evaluation of the Implementation of the Ecological Forestry Model (document dated 2019-12-12, accessed today on L&F’s Ecological Forestry page). Continue reading →

Posted in Ind Rev Post-Report | Comments Off on Finally, word of a Progress Report from Prof. Lahey on Nova Scotia’s effort to shift to ecological forestry 14Apr2021

What’s the earliest flowering native plant in Nova Scotia? The quest continues 6Apr2021

Posted on April 6, 2021 by admin

In an effort to answer the question, Bob Guscott went to the one place where he could find the two candidates – Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe and Skunk Cabbage – close together

Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe (left) and Skunk cabbage (right)  were both in flower on the Balancing Rock trail on March 30, 2021. Photos by Bob Guscott
Click on image for larger version

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Posted in Natural History | Comments Off on What’s the earliest flowering native plant in Nova Scotia? The quest continues 6Apr2021

Highlighting: “Migrant Songs Of Spring” 5Apr2021

Posted on April 5, 2021 by admin

Migrant Songs Of Spring
Article by Scott Leslie in the current issue (April/May 2021) of Saltscapes Magazine, available as a sample.

He describes with photos and text the “beautiful vagabonds” singing their songs as they rejoice in another Atlantic Spring, but are in turn challenged by logging operations during breeding season – up to 160,000 nests now being destroyed each season in Nova Scotia.

Thx to Bev Wigney for highlighting this article in a post on Annapolis Royal & Area – Environment & Ecology, shared from a post on facebook by DC Continue reading →

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Nova Scotia Forest Notes taking a break 25 Mar 2021

Posted on March 25, 2021 by admin

Spring and remnants of the Natural World in Nova Scotia  beckon; we need to learn from those remnants while they are still with us.

‘I expect NSFN to re-emerge with a different focus.

‘Dunno when.

For the time being, the current content (June 21, 2016 to Mar 25, 2021)  will remain posted; it  is also  archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Mar 29, 2021: I am providing some ‘In the News’ Updates in these two posts:

– David P 
Mar. 29, 2021 – Law Amendments Committee Proceedings

Lindsay Lee talks to Law Amendments Committee

 


shopify analytics ecommerce

 

Posted in Acadian Forest | Comments Off on Nova Scotia Forest Notes taking a break 25 Mar 2021

Five Big Victories of Big Forestry versus the ‘Biodiversity Lobby’ in Nova Scotia, one pending 25Mar2021

Posted on March 25, 2021 by admin

NSDNR Minister MacDonell at rally in 2010: “There’s gonna be a reduction in clearcutting in Nova Scotia.” View video

Big Forestry has managed to get a taboo on regulating just about anything on private lands in Nova Scotia and to continue to get what it wants from our Crown (public) lands while degrading their ecological and social value. It illustrates Big Forestry’s remarkable clout, given that Forest Products-related GDP amounted to only 0.9% of Nova Scotia GDP in 2018. The rest of us, and the natural world in Nova Scotia, are paying for it.

Victory #1 A taboo on any regulation of clearcutting on private land
2010: Natural Resources Strategy Recommends 50% reduction in clearcutting on Crown and Private lands; DNR Minister Macdonell promises to follow through.
2011: Big Forestry’s first Big Win of the decade with NDP Premier Dexter’s transfer of Minister MacDonell out of DNR (to Agriculture) in early 2011.
2018: Taboo reasserted by Lahey 2018
(Credit Dexter & McNeil Governments). Continue reading →

Posted in clearcuts, Conservation, Social Values | Comments Off on Five Big Victories of Big Forestry versus the ‘Biodiversity Lobby’ in Nova Scotia, one pending 25Mar2021