Mimicing natural disturbances and sustaining natural ecosystem structure and function in Nova Scotia

Posted on November 11, 2016 by admin

[Post updated Nov 13, 2016: Global Forest Watch images added.]

Landscape approx. 5 km northeast of Halifax Airport. Yellow enclosures are approximate boundaries of Block ID HX060122 for which a clearcut is planned.

Crown landscape approx. 5 km northeast of Halifax Airport. Yellow lines are approximate boundaries of Block ID HX060122 for which a clearcut is planned. A, B and C refer to the landscape views below. The landscape has been intensively cut to the north and northeast.

Have a look at the much touted vehicle of transparency around cutting on crown land in Nova Scotia: the Harvest Map Viewer (or go to the cover page for the viewer). Pick one of the those dark blotches, zero in and have a look. I did.

Then I looked on Global Forest Watch and Google Earth to see what else had been clearcut on the same landscape in recent years. (You can also go directly to the area in Google Maps). It wasn’t comforting. Continue reading →

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Tree Marking – why not in Nova Scotia?

Posted on November 10, 2016 by admin
Minga (right) engaged in conversation with soil scientist Elena Ponomarenko at the MTRI Old Forest Conference

Minga (right) engaged in conversation with soil scientist Elena Ponomarenko at the MTRI Old Forest Conference.

Minga O’Brien, interviewed by CBC Cape Breton for their Breakfast Biography series, said she realized what was so special about our wild lands when she went to Europe as an 18-year old and discovered so little of the forests and streams in the natural state to which we are so accustomed in Nova Scotia.

Minga, amongst many other activities, teaches in the forestry program at the NS Community College in Cape Breton. She is apparently the only certified “Tree Marker” in Nova Scotia. In the interview, Minga talks about what’s involved in Tree Marking and the use of it in Ontario. Continue reading →

Posted in Biophilia, Ecosystem Services, Selection Harvest | Leave a comment

The Nova Scotia Forest Nutrient Budget Model surfaces

Posted on November 9, 2016 by admin

Click on image to view this open access scientific paper

Click on image to view this open access scientific paper

A slide presentation by NSDNR in June 2009 announced that a “Soil nutrient budget computer model–a decision support model to assess site suitability for biomass harvest in NS” was being developed by DNR contracting with UNB (University of New Brunswick) and it would be “Ready mid-2010”. To my knowledge, there has been nothing about the model on the NSDNR website since then, and it took a CBC Report to announce that a scientific paper on the model was published earlier this fall.
Continue reading →

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Feeling the Heat

Posted on November 5, 2016 by admin

mercury_thermometerNSDNR Minister Lloyd Hines has an Op-ed in the CH today on
A scientific approach to logging.

“Recently opinions (May the forest be with you, Oct. 29) have generated public discussion about a number of forest practices and have questioned the science behind timber harvesting on Nova Scotia’s government owned Crown land and land owned by private individuals. Continue reading →

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What lichens and lichenologists can and sometimes cannot tell us

Posted on November 4, 2016 by admin

Lichens are especially abundant and diverse in moist forests along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia. Photo is in the Terrence Bay Wilderness Area,

Lichens are especially abundant and diverse in moist forests along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, here in the Terrence Bay Wilderness Area. Lichens can indicate levels of air pollution, and can be used to monitor the “ecological integrity” of a site.

Writing in the Halifax Examiner, Linda Pannozo highlights lichens and lichenologists (lichen specialists) in Nova Scotia, and reveals some of the struggles involved in protecting the endangered boreal felt lichen and other species from the ravages of clearcutting.

A NSE (Nova Scotia Dept of Environment) scientist apparently got in trouble when he made a presentation about lichens-at-risk to the 2014 MTRI forest science conference and one of slides read “The level of forest harvesting on the landscape is ecologically unsustainable”. Pannozo discovered through a FOIPOP Continue reading →

Posted in clearcuts, Conservation, NSDNR, Show Us the Science | 23 Comments

Council of Canadians asks: Is Biomass Energy Sustainable?

Posted on November 4, 2016 by admin

biomass-clearcut-panel-coc-poster-18-11-2016 The Council of Canadians is sponsoring a panel discussion of a “Clear Cut Question”: Is Biomass Energy Sustainable?

Panelists are Bob Bancroft, Richard Pearson and Mary Jane Rodgers. The discussion takes place Friday, November 18, 2016. 7-9 pm at the Mahone Bay Centre (45 School St. Mahone Bay). Continue reading →

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More comments following “Show Us the Science”

Posted on November 3, 2016 by admin

Shedding light on the science of forestry in Nova Scotia

Shedding light on the science of forestry in Nova Scotia

Mike Parker’s Op-ed of Oct 28th has opened a box. Two contrasting reflections on the Op-ed are expressed in the CH today, by Tom Miller of Green Hill and Earle Miller, Lower Onslow.

Tom Miller begins ” What an incredibly well-done opinion piece by Mike Parker in the Oct. 29 Herald…Too bad Department of Natural Resources management has no desire to provide any answers to those questions, since no “scientific” answers exist to justify their decisions. Minister Lloyd Hines speaks only to the 11,000 or so jobs in the industry, not to the science issues. Regarding those jobs, the only good ones are in the DNR and the pulp mills, and perhaps at a few sawmills.”
Continue reading →

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Sterling Belliveau uses FOIPOP to access data on clearcutting of crown land

Posted on November 1, 2016 by admin

foiIn question period today in the Nova Scotia Legislature, Sterling Belliveau, MLA for Queens-Shelburne and NDP House leader noted that the goal of a 50% reduction in clearcuts was supposed to have been achieved by 2016 and that NSDNR Minister Lloyd Hines had said that “the goal is unchanged”.

So he asked NSDNR Minister Hines “what new timelines has his department has set out to reach the target of a 50% reduction?” Hines replied by stating that anyone looking objectively the Department of Natural Resources will see it is a science based, objective department and went on to describe the various entities within it and said he was proud of all of them. Continue reading →

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Anti-biomass petition tabled in Nova Scotia Legislature

Posted on November 1, 2016 by admin

helga300

Helga Guderley with anti-forest biomass petition at NS Legislature, Nov 1, 2016

The petition to stop using forest biomass for electrical power generation launched by St. Margaret’s Bay resident Helga Guderley in late February garnered over 25,000 signatures within 10 days, but could not be submitted to the Nova Scotia Legislature which requires paper petitions.

So Guderley & Co. collected over 1000 names on paper and submitted the petition today, November 1, 2016. (At the time the electronic petition stood at 29,199). The petition was presented in the legislature by  Lenore Zann, MLA for Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River.
Continue reading →

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Show Us the Science: Crossland and Bancroft comment

Posted on November 1, 2016 by admin

pathThe authors of the hallmark 2010 Natural Resources Strategy report Restoring the Health of Nova Scotia’s Forests comment in the CH today on Mike Parker’s Op-ed of Oct 28 in the CH in which he challenged NSDNR to “Show us the science that says clear cutting is proper forest management”.

Speaking from their personal experience, Crossland and Bancroft say that “Time and time again we would put relevant science on the table” only to see it dismissed by a woodlands manager for a pulp company who is now a senior bureaucrat in the Department of Natural Resources. View Crossland and Bancroft comments in CH Letters to the Editor, Nov 1st

Continue reading →

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