If we run into some good woods, we must be off of Crown land

Posted on September 8, 2017 by admin
    So writes Zack Metcalfe, citing a not-so-funny joke told to him by a guide taking him through a slice of Halifax County.

    Practicing forestry as if there were a tomorrow. This old logging road is on land now owned by Halifax Regional Municipality land. As private land it was logged up until about 20 years ago, but there are still lots of trees over 2 ft diameter, and snags and coarse woody debris.

    A Quiet Word on Forestry, published in the September issue of Rural Delivery, begins with “There are no names in this story”, a line by Ernest Hemingway. Writes ZM:

    I’ve followed this topic [NS forestry] in earnest for several months now, and everywhere it’s the same, from people in government, industry and even conservation; no one wants to talk openly about it – some for political reasons, some citing job security, and some because they don’t want to burn important bridges. So while visiting a slice of Crown land in Halifax County with yet another person in-the-know, I decided to indulge my source in anonymity. Otherwise, this story wouldn’t exist.

    Continue reading →

Posted in Biophilia, clearcuts, Conservation, Economics, Letters&Editorials | Leave a comment

Softwood lumber update: sales to U.S. still high

Posted on September 6, 2017 by admin

In the business section of the Chronicle Herald, James Risdon looks at the market for N.S. softwood lumber south of the border. “Booming softwood lumber prices are letting Canadian producers carry on business as usual…South of the border, lumber prices have gone up by almost exactly the same amount this year as the countervailing duties, says Joel MacLaggan, sales manager at Waverley-based lumber broker Eacan Timber.”

There are still concerns about a possible downturn in the U.S. housing and the exclusion of N.S., P.E.I. and N&L from the countervailing duties still has to be finalized.

View Business as usual for lumber producers (CH, Sep 5, 2017).

Posted in Economics, softwood lumber | Leave a comment

Northern Pulp to build a replacement for Boat Harbour treatment facility

Posted on September 5, 2017 by admin

“While the province moves forward with their promise to clean up Boat Harbour and to shut down the controversial Boat Harbour treatment facility by January 2020, Northern Pulp is taking steps to replace it…There are still many aspects of the project that have to be determined including who pays for it and owns it once it is complete.” Read more in ngnews.ca, Sep 1, 2017

UPDATE (Sep 7, 2017): View also Details of Boat Harbour waste water plant murky (Francis Campbell in the Chronicle Herald, Sep 6. 2017)

Continue reading →

Posted in Mi'kmaq, Pulp & Paper, Social Values | Leave a comment

NSDNR Minister: Help conservation by being better informed & treading carefully

Posted on September 2, 2017 by admin

In a Canadian Press item about the addition of eleven species to Nova Scotia’s list of species at risk, Natural Resources Minister Margaret Miller is cited as saying that Nova Scotians can help with conservation by becoming better informed and taking care when venturing into the wilderness. (View Chronicle Herald, Sep 1, 2017).

A lot of Annapolis Co. looked like this in late May, 2017 and there’s more on the way.

In the same Saturday print edition of the CH in which the CP item appeared, a letter to the editor bemoans “major cutting of forest going on here [West Dalhousie area, Annapolis Co]..just behind this is a block of what is now considered protected land, but they are cutting it all in between my land and the protected area…West Dalhousie is dealing with tree destruction, spraying, road issues, environmental concerns about which nothing is done. Furthermore, there is wild animal displacement due to habitat loss, although officials deny it.”

I hope all Nova Scotians take Minister Miller’s message to heart.

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Posted in clearcuts, Conservation, Letters&Editorials, NSDNR | Leave a comment

NSDNR responds to Halifax Field Naturalists’ Concerns and Questions about impacts of forestry in Nova Scotia on conservation of biodiversity

Posted on September 1, 2017 by admin

Ovenbird nest with chicks
By Fredlyfish4 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
The density of ovenbird territories declines as intensity of forest harvesting increases (BBMP2)

A few days prior to the last Budget Address of the Liberal Government’s first term on April 27, 2017, the Conservation Committee of the Halifax Field Naturalists submitted a 30 page document to the Nova Scotia government in which they asked specific questions about the science of sustainable forestry in Nova Scotia.

A response to the comments and questions was received from NSDNR Minister Margaret Miller on Aug 24, 2017. View Post on HFN website; it includes a link to the NSDNR response.

For reference, an extract from the summary for the Concerns and Questions document is given below:
Continue reading →

Posted in Acadian Forest, Conservation, NSDNR | Leave a comment

Moose in the News in Nova Scotia

Posted on September 1, 2017 by admin

Thx to CC for photo

Leaving aside the Halifax Mooseheads, moose are a pretty regular item in Nova Scotia news. There are two items running currently.

One is about the 51st North American Moose Conference which is being held over 5 days (Aug 28 – Sept. 1) at the Celtic Lodge in Ingonish, Cape Breton. The theme is “Hyper-Abundant Moose Populations – Ecological Consequences and Management Strategies.

Infrared moose tracking will be just one of the topics up for discussion at the 51st North American Moose Conference this week in Nova Scotia. An expert from the northeastern U.S. will discuss how infrared aerial tracking can be used to detect moose, even under a dense forest canopy. The setting for the conference is the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, a place where the burgeoning moose population has taken a toll on the area’s forests…Moose in Cape Breton have destroyed about 11 per cent of the forest due to the species’ vigorous feeding on young coniferous trees. – CBC, Aug 28, 2017

The second concerns illegal hunting of moose on Hunter’s Mountain in Cape Breton under the guise of non-licensed but permitted hunting by Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq.
Continue reading →

Posted in Acadian Forest, Conservation, Mi'kmaq, Parks & Protected Areas | Leave a comment

Independent Review of forestry in Nova Scotia finally announced

Posted on August 31, 2017 by admin

The Liberal government’s choice of William Lahey to head up the review is evidence they want it to be credible.

In its pre-election budget address on April 27, 2017, the Liberal government announced that it would “appoint an independent expert to review our forestry practices to ensure we strike the right balance for our forests. This review will get underway as soon as possible, starting first in the western region. No future long-term timber harvesting licences will be awarded on crown land until the work is complete”. That promise became part of their election platform.

The Liberals regained a majority in the ensuing election (May 30) and on June 30, Deputy Minister Julie Towers said she expected the review would get underway within weeks.

Yesterday (Aug 30) the government announced the review is beginning, that it would be headed up by University of King’s College President William Lahey and that it would take place in three phases with a final report on February 28, 2018.
Continue reading →

Posted in Acadian Forest, clearcuts, Independent Review, NSDNR, Show Us the Science, WestFor | Leave a comment

A reminder of Nova Scotia forests’ real potential

Posted on August 30, 2017 by admin

Troop Island, Aug 29, 2017
Click on image for larger version

According to the Chronicle Herald “Nova Scotia’s Liberal government is expected to announce Wednesday [today, Aug 30, 2017] a promised independent review of forestry practices in a province where clear cutting remains highly controversial.”

The article by Keith Doucette cites EAC’s Raymond Plourde:

Plourde maintains the review isn’t needed because of the exhaustive work done as part of the province’s 10-year natural resources strategy, released in 2011.

Still, Plourde sees the review as an opportunity to restore a balance that was abandoned when the government announced last year that it was moving away from a goal of reducing clear cutting on Crown land by 50 per cent.

Coincidentally yesterday, I paddled to Troop Island in St. Margaret’s Bay with a couple of teenagers to show them the forest that the first Europeans would have seen when they landed on our shores, the forest that our Mi’kmak peoples stewarded over the previous 5000+ years.

A few meters into the forest, the teenage chatter faded. The young visitors were immersed in their surroundings.
Continue reading →

Posted in Acadian Forest, Biophilia, Conservation | Leave a comment

CN Rail won’t spray but Nova Scotia industrial forest cos & chief public health officer defend it otherwise

Posted on August 24, 2017 by admin

Free helicopter Clipart - Free Clipart Graphics, Images and Photos ...A recent article in the Chronicle Herald provides a number of details about the status of herbicide permits for woodlands and rail right-of-ways in Nova Scotia, as well as the weighty comments of experts.

The principle agent is Visionmax, containing 49% glyphosate. Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum, systemic herbicide that acts on enzymes involved in synthesis of organic compounds in higher plants (also in algae, fungi and bacteria) and in general acts only on growing organisms. Its effect on bacteria is generally ignored but there is growing evidence for negative effects on our gut microflora.* It is widely used in agriculture, especially on crops such as GMO corn, soybean and canola genetically modified to be resistant to glyphosate.
*See for example: Detection of Glyphosate Residues in Animals and Humans (2014)

Use of glyphosate in forestry is somewhat akin to chemotherapy for treating cancers; it is applied in late summer/early fall when research conducted by by NS Lands and Forests in the 1980s showed it is least damaging to the conifers, but is still effective on broadleaved plants.

The CH article by Francis Campbell reports that CN Rail “decided not to spray the brush and vegetation that is encroaching on the nearly 120 kilometres of track from Bedford to Brookfield…”, likely in response to negative publicity around use of glyphosate locally. Instead they will use manual methods to set back unwanted vegetation. Thanks CN.

Continue reading →

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Thoughts on a day of a solar eclipse

Posted on August 23, 2017 by admin

Solar eclipses seem to elicit deep feelings and connections to our larger being, momentarily taking us away from our obsession with the here and now.

I had decided to spend the morning of August 21 exploring an area where I thought I might find some old growth forest. In the afternoon, I would paddle down the nearby lake to explore some lakeside wetland under the changing sky of the eclipse.

I wasn’t disappointed with the forest. From the point I landed on the stony beach up to the crest of the hill behind it, I walked in the deep shade of hemlocks, many over 2 feet DBH (diameter at breast height; the largest: 34.1 inches based on circumference), with occasional red maple, sugar maple, yellow birch but only the odd red spruce. There were some large snags, mostly of yellow birch, and of some old, cankerous beech. Continue reading →

Posted in Acadian Forest, Biophilia, Mi'kmaq, Natural History | Leave a comment