Nova Scotia Forest Notes

And we continue to harvest intensively on landscapes with some of the poorest soils in North America, and NSDNR continues to be mum on the whole topic.

NSDNR’s soil scientist Kevin Keys continues to publish the results of his research on NS forest soils in recognized, peer reviewed scientific journals but otherwise the results of his highly relevant research have not yet been announced or otherwise translated into take-home messages on the NSDNR (soon to be NSLF) website.

In the fall of 2016, Keys published A Simple Geospatial Nutrient Budget Model for Assessing Forest Harvest Sustainability across Nova Scotia, Canada with a number of co-authors including 2nd author Joshua Noseworthy whose 2011 NSDNR supported thesis  on that topic was never highlighted or made available on the NSDNR website. Of particular note in the 2016 paper are data showing large declines in %BS (% Base Saturation) compared to earlier soil surveys (for 25 sites, the declines ranged from −37% to −82%)*. Very low %BS values (5-10%) are seen over a large part of the landscape, notably over most of SW Nova Scotia where new harvesting operations are focussed. They tested their model with site specific data for 25 plantations and found that “Based on comparisons with NBM-NS output, approximately 1/4 to 1/2 of the assessed plantation sites have non-sustainable MMAI yield expectations…”
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*The low values reflect unusually low amounts of base cations Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺ K⁺, important nutrients for the vegetation.
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