Variety of summer student/seasonal field jobs available via L&F, other gov agencies 20Mar2019

Posted on March 20, 2019 by admin

UPDATE Mar 27, 2019, another position:
Summer Student (Land Survey Resource Worker)
Apply By: 4/10/2019
Lands and Forestry
“As a Land Survey Resource Worker with Lands and Forestry, you will assist us with our ongoing program to coordinate existing Crown survey corners. You will be responsible for searching title to land being investigated, interpreting occupation and ownership evidence on aerial photography, satellite imagery and existing Crown Land Grant mapping.” (3 positions)

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Original Post:

Some recent listings on jobs.novascotia.ca:

–Forestry Technician 1(A)-(B), Seasonal, TRUROTruro, NS
Apply By: 4/1/2019
Lands and Forestry

– Summer Student (Natural Resource Education & Outreach)
Apply By: 3/27/2019
Lands and Forestry
Summer Student (Natural Resource Education & Outreach), Student, MIDDLE MUSQUODOBOIT

– Nature Interpreter (Clerk 2)
Apply By: 3/28/2019
Lands and Forestry
Nature Interpreter (Clerk 2), Temporary, SHUBENACADIE
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Posted in Fire, L&F, Wildlife | Comments Off on Variety of summer student/seasonal field jobs available via L&F, other gov agencies 20Mar2019

Time for Nova Scotia Government to come clean on forest bioenergy feedstocks 19Mar2019

Posted on March 19, 2019 by admin

The film Burned that is making the rounds in NS and elsewhere is NOT about forest bioenergy facilities for which most of the feedstocks are genuine wood processing wastes. It’s about forest bioenergy facilities for which most of the feedstocks are from clearcuts and are wreaking havoc upon forest biodiversity and forests’ storage of carbon. What’s the case in Nova Scotia?

UPDATE Apr 18, 2019: more reasons for a proper accounting:
– 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 13, 2019

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warming GHGsIn a response to a recent letter from a Nova Scotian expressing concern about trees being cut to feed forest bioenergy facilities, L&F Minister Rankin borrowed a line from the Feds (“Most forest biomass being used for bioenergy in Canada is produced from waste or residues from manufacturing processes”).

From the letter (to the Premier):

The biomass industry claims that biomass is sourced from waste wood, that is not commercially valuable, but the evidence on the ground has proven otherwise. As a long time rural resident, I see and hear what has been happening, 24/7 for years. As rural residents, we are on the front lines of this industry.

From  Minister Rankin’s reply (bolding mine):

Most of the material used in the province in cogeneration facilities such as the Nova Scotia Power plant in Port Hawkesbury and the Emera plant in Brooklyn is waste product from sawmills and paper mills in the form of bark, sawdust, etc., with only a small amount coming directly from forestry operations.

Read the extended correspondence below.
Continue reading →

Posted in Biomass, clearcuts, Show Us the Science | Comments Off on Time for Nova Scotia Government to come clean on forest bioenergy feedstocks 19Mar2019

Pannozzo on why big Nova Scotia sawmills’ are so supportive of pulp&paper/clearcutting 17Mar2019

Posted on March 17, 2019 by admin

It’s no accident the Big Mills (WestFor) are focussed on SW Nova Scotia. Map shows the distribution of forest in 5 development stages across Nova Scotia, compiled from NS Landscape Map Viewer. Purple = Multi-aged/Old Forest. View Larger version

In a superb piece of investigative journalism, Linda Pannozzo has answered a question I have long wondered about: why are the larger sawmills in NS so supportive of Industrial Forestry/clearcutting when it seems clear that in the longer run those practices undermine the supply of larger diameter logs for sawmills?

The conclusion I had come to was that given there are still some sizeable chunks of forest stands significantly older than 40-60 years, notably in SW Nova Scotia, clearcutting can still provide larger diameter logs to sawmills and do it at lower expense than selective cutting (at least as long as there is a market for  the smaller stuff) and it is the current bottom line that reigns supreme in our industrialized society; technology will take care of the future, e.g. by manufacture of synthetic woods not dependent on large diameter logs.

That may be true as a first approximation, but Linda Pannozzo has provided a much more nuanced explanation to do with improvement in the efficiency of sawmills concurrent with falling diameters of logs, and a shift in the production of chips from the pulp mills to the sawmills.

View 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; precis in Morning File for Mar 13, 2019.).  For anyone who like myself is struggling to understand forestry in NS, it’s well worth the $10 monthly subscription for access to the full article.


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Posted in clearcuts, Pulp & Paper, WestFor | Comments Off on Pannozzo on why big Nova Scotia sawmills’ are so supportive of pulp&paper/clearcutting 17Mar2019

Nova Scotia L&F Minister Rankin: “clearcut is just a layman term” 14Mar2019

Posted on March 14, 2019 by admin

And Mr. Rankin, what exactly is wrong with language for the laypeople?

Any answer will do

From Lands And Forestry Reverses Some Changes To Harvest Plan Map Viewer
Brittany Wentzell for www.ckbw.ca, Mar 12, 2019:

…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.”

Continue reading →

Posted in clearcuts | Comments Off on Nova Scotia L&F Minister Rankin: “clearcut is just a layman term” 14Mar2019

Upper level bureaucrat sought by Nova Scotia L&F 10Mar2019

Posted on March 10, 2019 by admin

From jobs.novascotia.ca:

Director, Resource Management

Date: Mar 5, 2019
Apply By: 3/21/2019
Lands and Forestry
Director, Resource Management, Permanent, HALIFAX
Competition # 18219

As the Director of Resource Management, you will be responsible for all aspects of forest resource management on Crown lands across the Province. You will accomplish this either directly through staff or indirectly through arrangements with forest industry. You will also be responsible for the implementation of Forest Sustainability Agreements on private lands and will provide direction for all provincial programming aimed at forest management on private lands.
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Posted in L&F | Comments Off on Upper level bureaucrat sought by Nova Scotia L&F 10Mar2019

“An event that saddened and angered me”, Minister Rankin/Nova Scotia L&F please follow up 10Mar2019

Posted on March 10, 2019 by admin

No records of the [apparently] approved harvests (below) remain on the HPMV (above; viewed Mar 10, 2019). The table below is from a notification sent out to subscribers of “map-update notifications”, and might allow one to locate the pieces in question but I could not find any other maps showing locations of the DNR IDs cited in the table.

Posted on Healthy Forest Coalition late last night:

HD: I am not one to write on this site but today I have to describe an event that saddened and angered me. On a trip north through the Margaree Valley this evening we met a logging truck. It was right around 5pm, a time when most people would not have seen it as they would be home with their families having supper.

To my utter disbelief the truck was loaded with some of the last Nova Scotia Giant trees. Freshly cut the diameters of these trees appeared no less than 24 inches with many appearing up to 30 inches. The truck was full to the top and could not hold more than 10- 15 logs.
Continue reading →

Posted in clearcuts, Conservation, Rankin, Social Media, Social Values | Comments Off on “An event that saddened and angered me”, Minister Rankin/Nova Scotia L&F please follow up 10Mar2019

Nova Scotia Forestry Maps decides not to remove “harvest plans that are no longer open to comments” 5Mar2019

Posted on March 5, 2019 by admin

UPDATE: MAR 14, 2019. From Forestry Maps: “…the department has included historic harvest plan submissions again on the HPMV. You will notice that the ability to view the archived harvest plan approval submissions are now a selectable layer in the layer list, labelled as “Archive”. You will find the HPMV has been updated as of today, March 14, 2019.” View HPMV. So it seems all historic harvest plan submissions back to 2016 are included in the new layer.

UPDATE MAR 7, 2019: Some clarification (or possibly not) from L&F

In a reversal of its decision announced on Jan 30, 2019 to remove “harvest plans that are no longer open to comments… from the map and the legend in order to simplify the mapping, speed up the application’s response time and adhere to the intention of the HPMV” (Post Jan 31, 2019), Forestry Maps sent out this message today (Mar 5, 2019) to subscribers to Harvest Operation Maps notifications:
Continue reading →

Posted in HPMV | Comments Off on Nova Scotia Forestry Maps decides not to remove “harvest plans that are no longer open to comments” 5Mar2019

Why can’t Nova Scotians be told what Crown land is slated to be cut and precisely when? 3Mar2019

Posted on March 3, 2019 by admin

From DNR › Crown Land › Crown Land in Nova Scotia:

Crown lands are all or any part of the land under the administration and control of the Minister of Natural Resources. Of the 5.3 million hectares of land in Nova Scotia, about 1.53 million hectares (3.8 million acres or about 29% of the province) is designated as Crown land.

The Province owns other land across Nova Scotia, including wilderness areas, protected areas, highways, roads, and provincial buildings. These parcels and structures are managed and administered by other departments and are not considered Crown land.
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Posted in HPMV, L&F, Social Values | Comments Off on Why can’t Nova Scotians be told what Crown land is slated to be cut and precisely when? 3Mar2019

EAC/ECELAW critique Nova Scotia L&F administered Biodiversity Act process 2Mar2019

Posted on March 2, 2019 by admin

The Liberals rolled out their plan to create  a Nova Scotia Biodiversity Act along with a promise to “initiate a thorough and independent review of our current forestry practices” as part of their platform for the 2017 provincial election.

Unlike the Independent Review, there has been very little consultation on the Biodiversity Act.

As in the case with Independent Review, however, with the election over (and the Report of the Independent Review in), NSDNR/L&F revert to their traditional ways, the Company Men take control of the process, do what they damn well please and tell the public nothing until they are ready to do so. (Re: Independent Review: The public is still waiting to hear what’s going on 6+ months after the Report of the Independent Review and 3 months after the Government’s minimal initial response).

View A Biodiversity Act for Nova Scotia AN OVERVIEW AND KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
Ecology Action Centre & East Coast Environmental Law, Released March 1, 2019
Continue reading →

Posted in Conservation, Ind Rev Post-Report, L&F | Comments Off on EAC/ECELAW critique Nova Scotia L&F administered Biodiversity Act process 2Mar2019

“When is a Clearcut still a Clearcut?” in Nova Scotia 26Feb2019

Posted on February 26, 2019 by admin

Posted Feb 26, 2019
Modified Feb 27, 2019

It appears that L&F selected parameters for its Variable Retention Harvests to emphasize harvesting over ecological values.

The Interim Retention Guidelines document that L&F released as a key component of its initial response to the Lahey Report is thin on scientific justification* of its use of “Variable Retention”, which they evidently see as an alternative to “clearcutting” (Post Feb 25, 2019).
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*The document doesn’t offer any scientific justification or any reference to related literature. Feb 28, 2019: Reading The Interim Retention Guidelines over again, I realize the document uses the word “retention” but not “Variable Retention”, but clearly there is an equivalence, as expressed by CrownInquiries@northernpulp.com (see post of Feb 25, 2019); that is confirmed in L&F’s responses to specific questions I posed on Feb 20 which I received today. It would surely help if L&F would post a clear explanation or a link to a clear explanation of the new terminology on the HPMV Home Page.

There is a large scientific literature on the topic, with both positive and negative (or no) effects of Variable Retention (VR) compared to clearcutting, and one could probably select literature to support a pro VR stance or a con VR stance.
Continue reading →

Posted in clearcuts, Ind Rev Post-Report, Show Us the Science, Variable Retention | Comments Off on “When is a Clearcut still a Clearcut?” in Nova Scotia 26Feb2019