‘Guaranteed that once you have viewed it, your eyes will look at NS forests differently, particularly close to the coast. Hint: Bob has even used Google Maps ground views to document occurrence of Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe in NS.
It’s a wonderful story of scientific curiosity and natural history by a critical observer over a lifetime and ongoing.
We learned of the arrival of this really horrible pest, the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (HWA), aka the Hemlock Vampires, in NS (and in all of Atlantic Canada) only in Aug of 2017, which seems like ages ago now.
When first discovered, it had already spread though three counties at the southwest extremity of NS (Digby, Yarmouth and Shelburne) so likely had hopped across the gulf of Maine (or got a ride on some wood) from infected areas in the northeastern USA – see map. It is not known in N.B.
The latest update (Dec 31, 2022, below) shows it spreading progressively though the province, now many confirmed sites in Annapolis and Queens Co. and a few in each of Kings and Lunenburg Co. Continue reading →
Posted inConservation, Pests|Comments Off on Early spring – an opportune time to be on the lookout for Hemlock Wooly Adelgid in Nova Scotia 25Mar2022
Are there links between extensive clearcutting near headwaters and increased flooding downstream? Bev Wigney thinks so. Click on image for larger version
It seems equally obvious that such links would apply to NS. Bob Bancroft has been talking about our “Broken Rivers’ for years but what do we hear about it from DNR/L&F/NRR?
Bev Wigney, looking out her back door at a raging stream fed by waters emanating from the south mountain in Annapolis Co. and at recent Crown land harvest proposals, thinks the link is pretty clear. She wrote yesterday:
ANNAPOLIS PEOPLE:: This morning, I spent some time making these two maps for us to look at. As some will know, yesterday, the Dept. of Natural Resources and Renewables sent out the latest list of proposed (INTENDED) parcels for harvesting.
It’s a cluster of parcels that lie on the west side of Goldsmith Lake — you’ll see them on the map as green and purple patches outlined in black. What I wanted to comment on and discuss — is that ONCE AGAIN, this is MORE CUTTING of forests that are on the headwaters of several of the brooks that come down off the South Mountain, go under the 101 and then under the 201 – and then empty into the Annapolis River. Continue reading →
Posted inclearcuts, Landscape Level Planning|Comments Off on Is extensive clearcutting in Nova Scotia causing excessive flooding 16Mar2022?
“MOOSE PATCHES: Second** in my series of sketches about Forest concerns. Did you know that harvesting of forests on Crown lands in what are referred to as “Significant Mainland Moose Concentration Areas” is permitted so long as small “Moose retention patches” are left standing? Quoting from the NS government’s “Endangered Mainland Moose Special Management Practices” document: Continue reading →
Day 97 at the Last Hope camp
International Women’s Day— a good day to celebrate the incredible array of women who have come to our camp in the last 97 days. All but a handful are from rural Nova Scotia. Nothing against our city sisters but the forestry industry tells the government we are Halifax activists and it simply isn’t true. The PCs count on the rural vote. We vote and we care about the devastation industrial forestry has inflicted on Mi’kma’ki. Enough is enough. We are standing up for the earth. Continue reading →
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An aerial image of Emera’s Brooklyn Power Plant featured in two recent CBC news items highlights the cut log feedstocks off of Wood Hauling Road to the south of the plant; in the distance to the north is a larger area of hog fuel, with a direct feed to the Power Plant. View
It’s not clear if all of the feedstock received by the Brooklyn Power from the five sawmills in western Nova Scotia cited by Marcus Zwicker (CBC Mar 1, 2022) as supplying feedstocks to Brooklyn Power arrives in the form of hog fuel, or some of it is in the cut logs so neatly stacked to the south of the plant; or whether those cut logs are received by Brooklyn Power from other suppliers. Continue reading →
Posted inBiomass, Show Us the Science, Social Values|Comments Off on Image of stashes of cut logs at disabled Brooklyn Power plant in Nova Scotia underscore need for proper accounting to back up green energy claims 1Mar2022
An inconvenient truth: sketch shows prominence of highly acidic, calcium-deficient/high aluminum forest soils in Nova Scotia. Sketch after Keys et al. (2016), Fig 3.
SUMMARY As a result of the inherently poorly buffered soils that cover more than 60% of our landscape and acid rain, exacerbated by intensive logging and climate warming, Nova Scotia has some of the most acidic, high aluminum & low calcium surface waters and some of the poorest soils for forestry in North America.
Recovery of surface waters and soils following reductions in the acidifying components in fossil fuel emissions has been much slower than expected, but we are beginning to understand the mechanisms, thanks largely to aquatic scientists.
Impacts on aquatic life, particularly salmon, are well recognized and efforts are being made to address them, e.g. by raising salmon fry separately and releasing them into the acidified waters, and by liming.
We have been slower to recognize the impacts on our forest ecosystems, and have not taken the precautionary measures we could have 11 years ago or even earlier. However, some really good science has been conducted in the interim and finally the Forest Nutrient Budget Model published in 2016 has been incorporated into manuals guiding forestry practices on Crown lands and should be come functional in 2023.
Some significant concerns remain, in particular that we will still push the forests too hard, especially in the Ecological Matrix of Crown lands and on many private lands. Read more
Day 79 “Another wild storm, warm and windy this time…In the afternoon a herd of deer – two adult does and five youngsters – came over the bridge then headed off into the remnant of old forest left along Beal’s Brook. They need mature evergreens for shelter and there are precious few left around here…How dare the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables take so little care of wildlife? …The company of like-minded people makes this struggle a joyful one.”
Today is Day 82 at the Last Hope for Wildlife Encampment on the Crown land block AP068499 Beals Meadow in Annapolis Co.
So far, the neighbours haven’t complained!
There’s much that the more timid or less-able-to-travel of us can learn about the site, the encampment and the issues – not just about that site but about forests and forestry more broadly in NS – by following posts on the FB page for Extinction Rebellion Mi’kma’ki / Nova Scotia.
It comes and goes in the press. I try to keep abreast of it all on a page on Nova Scotia Forest Notes:
Current Issues/AP068499 Beals Meadow.
And I am working on a series exploring some of the issues raised by the folks at the Last Hope Camp, so far I have made two posts: Continue reading →
Prof.Lahey’s Independent Evaluation of the FPR was released Nov 30, 2021. Click on image to go to view it. He urged the department to appoint a person committed to ecological forestry to the vacant statutory position of the province’s Chief Forester.
In the past week, there have been ads posted for 3 upper level positions at NRR, so far no reference to Ecological Forestry vis a vis key Lahey recommendation. Now a 4th, focussed directly on forestry and wildlife – and still no specific mention of Ecological Forestry so it’s not clear if there might yet been an advert for “a person committed to ecological forestry to [be appointed to] the vacant statutory position of the province’s Chief Forester” as recommended by Prof Lahey.
Recently, there have been ads posted for 4 upper level strategists at NRR, (plus an Executive Director of Forestry and Wildlife), so far no reference to Ecological Forestry vis a vis key Lahey recommendation
Prof.Lahey’s Independent Evaluation of the FPR was released Nov 30, 2021. Click on image to go to view it. He urged the department to appoint a person committed to ecological forestry to the vacant statutory position of the province’s Chief Forester.
UPDATE Feb 21, 2022: And another, apparently. Director Strategic Policy and Planning
Competition # : 34429
Department: Natural Resources & Renewables
Location: Blank
Type of Employment: Permanent
Union Status: Exclusion – Non Union – NSPG
Closing Date: 3/2/2022
UPDATE Feb 11, 2022: And another for the The Strategic Policy and Planning Division : Senior Policy Analyst(Program Admin Officer 4)
Competition # : 34368
Department: Natural Resources & Renewables
Closing Date: 2/25/2022. View Job Advert on jobs.novacotia.ca
UPDATE Feb 10, 2022: Another Strategic Priorities Division position in NRR advertised:Project Manager (Program Admin Officer 4) Competition # : 34346 Natural Resources & Renewables “As a member of the Strategic Priorities Division, the Project Manager will have an important role in advancing projects and supporting policy formation across a variety of subject-areas. As Project Manager, you will provide key project management support on key and emerging issues relating to clean energy, responsible natural resource development and achieving the Province’s sustainability goals” Closing 2/23/2022
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I keep an eye out on job advertisements for positions at DNR/L&F/nowNRR as some clue to the direction the department is going. We generally have little indication otherwise. While they may be required to advertise publicly new or replacement positions, we never hear who is hired or anything about the person once hired or what they do…Continue reading →
Retired DNR pest and GIS specialist Bob Guscott has had an “obsession” with Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe for many years.
