EAC sponsors screenings of “Burned – Are Trees the New Coal?” across Nova Scotia

Posted on November 4, 2018 by admin

UPDATES (Nov 7, 2018):
The Dark Side of the Bioeconomy: Climate Catastrophe, Forest Destruction, and Human Rights Abuses
Over 115 Organisations from 40 countries hold day of action on Nov 7, 2018 to reject the “BioFuture Platform” .
“The exponential growth of the bioeconomy is a global threat. Instead of contributing to climate mitigation, bioenergy and ‘bio’ products keep energy generation locked-in to the carbon cycle, decrease the amount of land available for food crops, drive land-grabs, and decimate forests – our most efficient carbon sinks.

MIT expert: Carbon-neutral biomass ‘accounting fraud’
Aaron Beswick in the Chronicle Herald NOV 5, 2018

Missing Pathways to 1.5°C
Climate Land Ambition and Rights Alliance – “CLARA pursues climate solutions that work for people—at community, landscape, and national levels. Our work is rooted in the latest science, in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the UN Convention on Biodiversity. We work with scientists, farmers and indigenous leaders to show the crucial role of local solutions for building community and ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change.”
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From EAC>Wilderness>Projects:

Burned Documentary Screenings

We’re proud to present screenings of Burned at locations across Nova Scotia this fall. Burned examines the rise of biomass in the Eastern United States. These are the same issues Nova Scotia is facing today. Following each film, we’ll have a Q&A to discuss what is happening with our forests.
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Permethrin-treated clothing to protect one against ticks/lyme now available in Canada

Posted on November 3, 2018 by admin

Kudos to Marks for developing their No Fly Zone products just for Canadians!

tickA few years back (2014) I set up a website and started an Online Petition “to help put pressure on our health officials and politicians to allow & promote safe and sensible use of permethrin treatment of clothing & other fabrics (e.g. tents) in Canada.”

It didn’t get very far, nor did my appeals to Dr. Strang (NS Chief Medical Officer of Health ) to push Health Canada on this front.

So I was pleased to learn recently that Marks Warehouse is now carrying a line of tick- (and mosquito-) repellant clothing:
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Biodiverse Southwest Nova Scotia at Risk

Posted on October 29, 2018 by admin

Given the Lahey Report & Recommendations, why are we still making harvest decisions on Crown lands based on a narrow spectrum of highly specialized information that few can critique and on a process that has essentially been discredited?

UPDATE Jan 8, 2019: No response to comments submitted from ForestryMaps. View COMMENTS SUBMITTED below

Screen shot of Harvest Plan Map Viewer, Sep 20, 2018. Titles added for Keji and Dunraven Nature Reserve

A bit of a rant so here’s a table of contents:
– Introduction
– Why is Biodiverse Southwest Nova Scotia is at Risk?
– Two major issues from a biodiversity perspective
– (i) Connectivity of habitat
– (ii) Soil nutrient depletion/severe acidification of surface waters
– A few links
– Some related comments on WWNS and HFC Facebook Pages

Introduction
The proverbial 40 days and 40 nights have passed for comments on forest harvest plans on Crown lands in SW Nova Scotia/Queens Co. announced Sep 19, 2018.

And little has changed one year plus since the Independent Review was initiated and two months and running since Prof Lahey delivered his report.
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PC Leadership candidates comment on Boat Harbour/Northern Pulp

Posted on October 25, 2018 by admin

Only Tim Houston has stated clear concerns about the EA process

UPDATE Oct 26, 2018: Houston got the nod
UPDATE Nov 2, 2018: SURETTE: After meandering in woods, Nova Scotia Tories finally find a clearing

Map with features on a map posted on a Northern Pulp website. “Our proposal is to construct an Effluent Treatment Facility on land at the mill property, and lay a pipeline on the bottom of Pictou Harbour…

In Interviews conducted by the Chronicle Herald on Oct 24, 2018, candidates for the leadership of the Nova Scotia PC Party were asked, ‘What is your position on replacing the Boat Harbour effluent treatment facility for Northern Pulp?’

The responses:

Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin:
We need a solution that will achieve the environmental objectives set out by the current government, without unreasonably compromising the ability of Northern Pulp to operate. Many people who work in the forestry sector across Nova Scotia depend on Northern Pulp. Over the decades, however, Northern Pulp has enjoyed significant concessions from the provincial government, especially from Nova Scotia taxpayers. We must work together to find a path to keep Northern Pulp functioning in an environmentally sustainable way, but not at any and all costs.
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Climate Warming Warnings: time to be objective about forest bioenergy in Nova Scotia

Posted on October 9, 2018 by admin

warming GHGs For a few days, warnings of why we need to act quickly to reduce GHG emissions hold the headlines following the latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Oct 8, 2018:

Global Warming of 1.5 °C
“An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty” Also available as separate documents: Headline Statements | Summary for Policymakers | FAQs | Press Release

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Thanks for sensitive management of an old forest in Nova Scotia

Posted on October 8, 2018 by admin

A few photos from the  Conform Limited/NSWOOA field day (Oct 6) on “Harvesting the Old-Fashioned Way: Smaller Machines and Bigger Trees” say a lot  about Conform’s and the woodlot owner’s efforts to harvest selectively in a mixed, multi-aged “overmature” stand with as little disruption of the ecological integrity as is probably possible today, short of horse-logging in winter:

The site in Central NS hosts many 2ft+ dbh red spruce, hemlock and yellow birch, some red maple and occasional sugar maple and ash.
Click on photos for larger versions

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While we wait for the government to respond to the Independent Review, what agreement is in place with WestFor?

Posted on October 4, 2018 by admin
Western Crown lands, modified from CPAWS map (2012)

Western Crown lands, modified from CPAWS map (2012)

With the announcement on Apr 27, 2017 that there would be an Independent Review of Forest Practices, the government declared that there would be no more long-term commitments to the 13 mills operating on the Western Crown Lands under the WestFor umbrella until after the review is completed.

In the meantime, temporary extensions were apparently  granted, but with restrictions: a reduction in allocation, and elimination of unused allocation. This is said to have posed “shock and concern …to mills that employ thousands of Nova Scotians in rural Nova Scotia.” View Six month extension given to WestFor to operate in SW Nova Scotia but with a reduction in allocation (post on this website, Nov 3, 2017).
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Elmsdale Lumber employee John Casey in CFI’s Top 10 Under 40

Posted on October 4, 2018 by admin

View Introducing CFI’s sixth annual Top 10 Under 40
By Canadian Forestry Staff, on www.woodbusiness.ca, oct 3, 2018.

Some extracts:

 Canadian Forest Industries is proud to be running its sixth consecutive annual issue showcasing the Top 10 forestry leaders under 40 years old… These forestry stars work in every aspect of the forest industry from coast to coast and they love what they do.

What their co-workers have to say is a testament to their contributions to forestry.

JASON CASEY
Forest inventory manager, Elmsdale Lumber Company, Elmsdale, N.S.

If you are looking for Maritime College of Forest Technicians graduate Jason Casey, you might try looking in the field, in the boardroom, in the community or in the classroom.
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Frustration in registering concerns about cuts into a deer wintering area on Crown land in Upper Vaughan

Posted on September 30, 2018 by admin

Small additions made Oct 1, 2018
New comment added Oct 2, 2018
Comments on WWNS added Oct 2, 2018

Shades of issues surrounding the Loon Lake area cuts of Old Growth earlier this year

A gentleman who wishes to be named only as “Mr. Concerned” has forwarded via Woods and Water Nova Scotia a set of e-mails between himself and Marcus Zwicker, General Manager of Westfor, related to the cutting into a deer wintering area on Crown land in Upper Vaughan as highlighted in a CBC article (Sep 16, 2018) and radio interview (Sep 13, 2018 ) with hunter/trapper Mark Kehoe. (View also Concerns expressed about cutting into a deer wintering area on Crown land in Upper Vaughan (Post, Sep 8, 2018); and  Minister Iain Rankin on proposed clearcut (audio) CBC Info AM, Sep 14, 2018.

Here is what WWNS received in a covering message from ‘Mr. Concerned’:

Hi there, your post about the wood harvesting in the Vaughn DWA prompted me to submit comments to NSDLF in opposition. I received a response from Westfor indicating that my concerns aren’t really valid because A) Proper protocol for harvesting in deer wintering areas was followed and B) Mainland Moose and American Martin are not present. I have responded with the CBC article you posted which references the Department of Lands and Forestry having confirmed sightings of both those species.

Below are copies of the e-mail exchanges as forwarded by Mr. Concerned.

In brief, the CBC article & interview cited comments by Mark Kehoe “who lives on nearby Zwicker Lake in Upper Vaughan and has been hunting and trapping in the area for about 30 years…Kehoe said he has seen endangered mainland moose in the area and found evidence of the American marten, a species once thought to have disappeared from the mainland, according to the province’s species at risk list.” The CBC article said that “The Department of Lands and Forestry has records of two mainland moose sightings and a record of one American marten sighting on the parcel of land.”
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Worry about exotic forest pests and climate warming prompts talk about fertilizing deficient soils, reducing clearcuts and Assisted Range Expansion

Posted on September 28, 2018 by admin
Bur Oak

Bur Oak grown horticulturally at Grand Oaks on Grand Lake, Halifax Co., Nova Scotia does just fine. It occurs naturally in N.B. and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard, why not in N.S? There are a dozen species of oak in Massachussetts. Should we be introducing bur oak and other species to the south and west of us to NS to speed up adaptation to climate warming and make our forests more resilient to pests?

Could we add a dozen or so species to our hardwoods to better adapt to climate warming and increase resilience to pests?

A recent post on the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners Facebook page on how we might reduce impacts of exotic pests, led to some interesting followup discussion on the Healthy Forest Coalition Facebook page about reducing clearcuts  and on Assisted Range Expansion*:
*“the human-assisted movement of species to areas just outside their established range, facilitating or mimicking natural range expansion [associated with climate warming].(Source: NRC: Assisted migration)

1. Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners Sep. 21, 2018, citing  Federal agency confirms presence of tree-destroying beetle in Nova Scotia (Canadian Press, Sep 21, 2018):
“It would be interesting to see the results of putting nutrients back into our forested land and also increasing pH… it works to add resilience to vegetable crops to prevent pest infestation; when a plant has what it needs nutritionally, it remains pest resistant. Let’s do our part in our woodlands… together we can! #ForestsProvide”

Following are responses posted on the The Healthy Forest Coalition Facebook page
Updated Sep 30 a.m.

2. ML shared post #1 above and commented: Emerald ash borer and hemlock wolly adelgid now have a confirmed presence in Nova Scotia in just over a year. Our forests need all of the help and proper stewardship they can get to ensure they remain healthy. Thousands of acres of clearcuts not included….

3. NH: Definitely, our disturbance footprint provides the conditions that abet the “invasive” species. I like very much all the trees in NS but we will lose the character…if we think we can garden thru sanitary means (tree removals) or herbicide or exotic bioontrols our way out of it. We need to reduce clearcutting which is letting glossy buckthorn* flourish, and maintain good forest process (shade age gaps dead wood, area, fire in cases). Now we’ve done that, go to southern Maine and get seed of species that are ready for our climate and are not able to get here…
*View More about glossy buckthorn
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