Could pollen in water at Dollar Lake be mistaken for a strange alien lifeform?
Site Map & List of exhibits for Open Forest Day
The poster invited you to…” Walk the woodland trails and open your eyes to Nova Scotia’s natural resources, all the while enjoying family fun! Learn how our natural resources are cared for and how you could benefit from having your own woodlot. Along the trail, you’ll find interactive displays about wildlife, biodiversity and the role our natural resources play in our economy, the environment, and our health.” It would include Information Booths, Passport to Nature, Canoeing,Drumming, Hiking, Face Painting. The event was held at Shubie Park in Dartmouth, which is a treat on its own. I arrived at opening time and spent two hours visiting all 33 exhibits, in the process walking about 4 km as the exhibits were distributed along the trail that runs beside the Shubie Canal. Continue reading
Clearcut on Crown Land in 2014
On the menu along the left side of the page you need to click Silviculture >> Jurisdictional Tables >> and then “NS” in the row labeled “6.1.0.0 Area harvested by ownership and harvesting methods” (Here is a direct link –http://nfdp.ccfm.org/data/detailed/html/detailed_6100_p_NS.html)
Stats are current to 2014 for now. Since this website breaks down the various types of clearcutting (including “shelterwood” – a two-stage clearcut, and “seed tree” – a clearcut with a few standing trees left), you need to scroll down a bit for the totals. For 2014, it reports that clearcutting was used on 8,035 of 9,364 ha cut on Crown, and 20,315 of 22,823 ha cut on private, or 28,350 of 32,187 ha total (88%). The footnotes at the bottom provide some background on where the data comes from.
Thanks to HG for this info.
“Researchers call for increased protection as the federally protected Boreal felt lichen population decline in Atlantic Canada shows links to human impacts on the environment.” View Canadian Science Publishing Press Release and CBC interviews with Rob Cameron. This news followed by only a few weeks, the Nova Scotia Auditor General’s Report in which he highlighted weaknesses in the NS Dept of Natural Resources monitoring of SAR (species-at-risk) and in their management practices for protecting SARs. As a legally protected species in Nova Scotia, Boreal felt Lichen is supposed to be off limits to cutting and indeed NSDNR has ensured that small protected areas are set up in clearcuts to protect this species on crown lands. However, I have been told that “invasive Arion slugs then move in on these tiny buffers since they are the only standing forest left in a large clearcut area”. Oh dear. Small protected areas in clearcuts won’t do the trick.
