Upcoming MCFC webinars should shed some light on L&F responses to Lahey recommendations 14June2020

Posted on June 14, 2020 by admin

Some text added & editing June 15 am, 2020

A lot is expected from application of an Environmental Assessment process to Crown land forestry operations in Nova Scotia

Click on image to go to MCFC page

We are not hearing much from L&F these days, except for the routine announcements of new Crown land logging allocations.

Those announcements continue pretty much on the old model while we wait, seemingly forever, for the detailed L&F response to and the actual on-the-ground application of the Lahey recommendations.

A bit of a sleeper in the various news about the Lahey Recommendations is the concept or plan to apply a “a Class II environmental assessment – or a process akin to that kind of environmental assessment” to forestry operations on Crown lands; also, the concept or plan to apply “the overall responsibility for forest management on some Crown lands… to an incorporated entity that is inclusive of multiple constituencies, including First Nations, forestry companies, landowners, municipalities, park and wilderness area administrators, and those defined as environmentalists.”
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Petition launched to “Protect birds from being destroyed during nesting season” in Canada quickly reaches 1000 signatures 7Jun2020

Posted on June 7, 2020 by admin

Blackburnian Warbler photographed by Angela Granchelli

June 18 am, 2020 : 5,232 have signed on

A petition launched by Bev Wigney of the public Facebook group Annapolis Royal & Area – Environment & Ecology just before noon on June 6, 2020, to “Protect birds from being destroyed during nesting season” had reached 1000 signatures by 4 pm today.

While Bev Wigney writes from Nova Scotia where our forests are amongst the most, if not the most, intensively harvested in Canada, currently and historically, she comments “I am hoping this will go out across Canada to all the other provinces where nesting birds are being threatened by industrial activity. This is a federal matter so this is a Canada-wide campaign.”
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A very appropriate Happy World Environment Day message 5June2020

Posted on June 5, 2020 by admin

Lungwort lichen, an indicator of good air quality, on red maple

Wayne Neily of Tremont, Nova Scotia, posted a very appropriate Happy Environment Day Message on the Nova Scotia Bird News

Happy 50th World Environment Day everyone.

At least, most of us have made it to another one, although the earth is looking rather beaten up. It would be good if we could get back to the level of interest and concern of the 1970s and early 1980s when each province and the federal government had an environmental advisory council, and when ecological concern was widespread and went beyond the concept of climate change.

The idea of Limits to Growth had been advanced by the Club of Rome, international cooperation on the issues had been organized, in large part thanks to the efforts of Canadian Maurice Strong, and the planning and framework for what was called “sustainable development” were developed mainly by Norway’s Prime Minister Brundtland and the Round Tables set up following her plan. Unfortunately, big business came back with a vengeance in the 1990s, many of these gains were lost, EIAs greatly limited and reduced in effectiveness, and funding cut for many programmes.
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Medway Community Forest Co-op offering informative webinar series June 9 to July 1, 29May2020

Posted on May 29, 2020 by admin

Posted May 27, 2020, on Medway Community Forest Co-op Facebook Page:

Click on image for larger version


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Nova Scotia Supreme Court rules in favour of Naturalists/East Coast Environmental Law versus NS Lands & Forestry 29May2020

Posted on May 29, 2020 by admin

Today’s decision confirms that Nova Scotia’s ESA is the law, and not a set of vague or voluntary guidelines. The Minister is required to fulfill the law’s mandatory requirements to protect some of the province’s most vulnerable species. – Sarah McDonald, Ecojustice lawyer

Ram’s Head orchid

From the Background to Supreme Court Decision (May 29, 2020)

The Minister of Lands and Forestry (the Minister) is responsible for implementing the ESA [Endangered Species Act]. The Applicants say the Minister has failed to implement the ESA as it pertains to six representative species: Mainland Moose, Ram’s-head Lady Slipper, Canada Warbler, Black Ash, Wood Turtle, and Eastern Wood Pewee. Each of these species is native to Nova Scotia and is listed as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable under the ESA. The Applicants [Robert Bancroft, Federation of Nova Scotia Naturalists, Blomidon Naturalists Society and The Halifax Field Naturalists with East Coast Environmental Law Association as Intervenor] seek a declaration that the Minister’s failure to implement the ESA, specifically section 15, is unlawful and unreasonable; an order of mandamus; and a supervisory order by which the court would retain jurisdiction and require the Minister to produce status reports on the implementation of section 15.

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Nesting season in full swing and still no “Silent Season” for forestry in Nova Scotia 26May2020

Posted on May 26, 2020 by admin

Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of the Maritimes Provinces “This Atlas is the single most comprehensive, up-to-date information source on the status of Maritimes breeding birds. More than 260,000 records of 222 species are included in the database, including more than 8,700 records of 17 species at risk. Produced as a beautifully-illustrated hard-cover book, the Atlas is complemented by a comprehensive website where maps, results and much else are accessible online.”

UPDATE May 31, 2020:
Healthy Forest Coalition launches initiative calling for the upholding of the international laws of the Migratory Birds Convention Act.
Healthy Forest Coalition. Also view For the Birds (on HFC Facebook Page)

UPDATE May 29, 2020:
IT’S HIGH TIME FOR A SILENT SEASON IN NOVA SCOTIA
Bev Wigney on Annapolis Royal & Area – Environment & Ecology (Public Facebook Page) May 29, 2020. Bev Wigney asks people to write MLAs. View her post here if you do not have access to Facebook
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It’s one more year since naturalists raised alarms about logging during nesting season in Nova Scotia, one more year since the Lahey Report was submitted (Aug 2018), one more year since Lands & Forestry posted their initial response to the Lahey report (Dec 3, 2018; not counting their false start earlier), one more year while we await the full response and one more year of harvesting on Crown land going on as usual, even with closure of The Mill and with the economic downturn associated with Covid-19; and it’s 10 years since the Natural Resources Strategy was tabled and the government promised fundamantal change in forestry practices in NS.

Bev Wigney of the Annapolis Royal & Area – Environment & Ecology (Public Facebook Group), one of those raising those raising the alarms in 2019, again brings the topic up on Annapolis Royal & Area – Environment & Ecology in relation to the current rash of forest fires, some of them started by logging activities.
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Experiencing serenity and sadness in the intervale forests of Nova Scotia 16May2020

Posted on May 16, 2020 by admin

I went with a friend for for a walk yesterday in some intervale (floodplain) forests in Hant’s Co. not too far  away. We found what we wanted to see:  the first wave of forest herbs that flower before the hardwoods leaf out.

Bellwort

Most special was a patch of Sessile-leaf Bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia), about which Henry David Thoreau wrote in 1852*
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*As cited by Martha on wildflowergardener.wordpress.com April 26, 2014

The sessile-leaved bellwort, with three or four delicate pale-green leaves with reflexed edges, on a tender-looking stalk, the single modest-colored flower gracefully drooping, neat, with a fugacious, richly spiced fragrance, facing the ground, the dry leaves, as if unworthy to face the heavens. It is a beautiful sight, a pleasing discovery, the first of the season, — growing in a little straggling company, in damp woods or swamps. When you turn up the drooping flower, its petals make a perfect geometrical figure, a six-pointed star

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Shelly Hipson: Concerns about how Crown lands will be designated for High Production Forestry in Nova Scotia 11May 2020

Posted on May 11, 2020 by admin

UPDATE May 16, 2020: On Friday, May 15, 2020, Lands & Forestry Minister Iain Rankin was interviewed on CBC’s Information Morning (Halifax) regarding the comments of Shelly Hipson on May 11 (below) about the HPF (High Production Forestry) proposals for Crown lands. For the record and to encourage ongoing public discussion on this topic, I have posted an ‘abbreviated transcript’ of the interview with Minister Rankin as recorded by CBC, and a  response of Shelly Hipson on May 16,2020 to Minister Rankin’s comments below this post.

Concludes Hipson: There are 356,000 ha of working forest in the Ecological Matrix, compared to 333,000 ha assigned to the High Production Forestry units, a roughly 50:50 split… “We are concerned about clearcutting. We are not concerned about clearcutting land where you can’t clearcut.” [In the HPF Discussion Paper, the total land area assigned to the Ecological Matrix is 47.2% of Crown Land consisting of working forest and other land use designations; the total land area assigned to HPF is 18.2%, all of it working forest or potential working forest.]

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Tree Canopy Gain (blue)-most of it in recovering clearcuts, and Tree Canopy Loss (red) in NS 2001-2018; green is in forest not harvested in the last approx 50+ years. Where will the HPF sites be located?
Click on image for larger version

On CBC’s Information Morning (Halifax) this am., Shelly Hipson raised some significant concerns about the designation of Crown lands for High Production Forestry, and how those are presented to the public.

An Abbreviated Transcript* of the Interview (I have inserted the links):

CBC (Portia Clark): … The Independent Review recommended Ecological Forestry… the new plan would see some forest set aside for conservation plus an ecological area logged without clearcutting and a third area for high production plantation type forestry (HPF). In the HPF fast growing species would be grown using herbicides and fertilizers and clearcut every 30 to 45 years. Just before Covid19 hit, the province released a Discussion Paper on HPF. Shelly Hipson has had a close look at it. She manages the [public] Facebook group, People for Ecological Forestry in SW Nova Scotia.

What are the main concerns that you have is how the province has broken down the land that is available for each of the categories. Can you explain that?
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Nervousness about forestry practices in Nova Scotia continues 10May2020

Posted on May 10, 2020 by admin

There’s not a lot happening on the forests and forestry front these days with The Mill down and Covid19 lockdowns.

However, L&F continues to put out plans for harvesting on the HPMV and, presumably, some related activity is happening on the ground. The various activities for advancing the Lahey Recommendations continue at a snail’s pace as we approach 2 years since the report was submitted (Aug 2018).

Nervousness about where all of this is going continues on some Social Media fronts, e.g. with the arrival of migratory birds to forest nesting areas. That was a major (and still unresolved) issue raised on Social Media in the spring/early summer of last year, e.g. see posts of May 12, 2019, June 5, 2019, June 12, 2019, June 15, 2019, June 28, 2019.

The graphic at top left appeared yesterday on People for Ecological Forestry in Southwest Nova Scotia. It  cites an interview on CBC InfoAM Monday May 11 at 8:15 a.m.  about the HPF Discussion paper, commenting as follows: Continue reading →

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How to find those old Chronicle Herald articles related to forestry in Nova Scotia and a lot more on the Internet Archive 12Apr2020

Posted on April 12, 2020 by admin

Perhaps all of this is well known to journalists. But it wasn’t to me. As well as static documents, whole functional websites are archived on the Internet Archive and within those archived websites, links to pre-Sept 2018 CH articles (no longer  available via the CH website), go to perfect replicas of the original articles.

Followers of this blog will likely know that I have had a bit of a bug about the Chronicle Herald not providing access to articles that appeared in the public domain before they made a major change in their platform in September of 2018

Just removed (Apr 12, 2020) from the In the News 2020 page:

NOTE Sep 19, 2018: due to the Chronicle Herald moving their website to a new platform circa Sep 15, 2018, links that refer to articles in the Chronicle Herald before that date are not currently working. Presumably they will fix that issue.
Nov 14, 2018: There is no sign that the CH will fix and make accessible the old links and now the Chronicle Herald further restricts online access to news and opinions (Post, Nov 10, 2018). In general, from this point on I will not cite Chronicle Herald articles when alternative reports are available.
Feb 1, 2019: It seems the Chronicle Herald is again making a lot of material freely available so I am again referencing such items. Thx CH. Too quick, I received this explanation a few hrs later: My Q: “I noticed that the CH is again making a lot of material freely available online (since Jan 23 or earlier). Can you confirm a change in policy? Thx. and Thx CH.” Response: No change in policy: “we continue to work on improving the online experience and in doing so, our web developers have made e-paper access available from time to time – this will not be permanent.”

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