News Items

This page provides links to news items related to the Report from the Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia following its release on Aug 21, 2018 up to Dec. 8, 2018, at least as I was able to keep up to them.

The NS Government issued its response to The Review on Dec 3, 2018, indicating very little will change for another year while they continue to work on it and figure out how to maintain current or higher levels of wood supply from Crown lands while implementing “ecological forestry” (which DNR always claimed they were doing).

Posts on nsforestnotes.ca related to the Report from Independent Review from Aug 21, 2018 onwards are placed under the category (tagged) “Ind Rev Post-Report“. (Click on a category to view a list of posts in a particular category.)

Posts on nsforestnotes.ca about the Independent Review up to Aug 21, 2018 are placed under the category Independent Review. (Click on a category to view a list of posts in a particular category.)

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW IN THE NEWS AFTER ITS RELEASE
Most recent items at top

NOTE Sep 19, 2018: due to the Chronicle Herald moving their website to a new platform circa Sep 15, 2018, links that refer to articles in the Chronicle Herald before that date are not currently working. Presumably they will fix that issue.
Nov 14, 2018: There is no sign that the CH will fix and make accessible the old links and now the Chronicle Herald further restricts online access to news and opinions (Post, Nov 10, 2018)

• • Dec 5, 2018:
    – VIBERT: A thin response on clearcutting
    Jim Vibert, Truro News. ” Minister Rankin contended the province could further the ecological objective of Lahey’s report, while “growing the forestry sector.” That comment is a telling insight into the government’s view of the environment. They are all for protecting it, as long as that doesn’t stand in the way of someone making money.”
    – Minister of Lands and Forestry outlines clear cutting Policy
    CBC Info AM. 14 mins. “The province says it will move towards more ecological forestry. Minister of Lands and Forestry Iain Rankin takes our questions.” Mike Lancaster is interviewed in the beginning about cutting in the Ingram River watershed. Transcript
  • Dec 3, 2018:
    – The Nova Scotia Government responds to The Lahey Report
    Post on NSFN. “The extension of forestry licensing agreements by one year, given what’s going on and Minister’s recent defence of it, is not a good sign.”
    – Nova Scotia vows to reduce clear cutting, move toward ‘ecological forestry’
    Michael Gorman · CBC News
    – Government to Improve Forest Practices
    NS Government Press Release
    – Government Response to the Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia
    NS Lands & Forestry. 6 page document (4 pages content)
    – Interim Retention Guide Nova Scotia Crown Land
    NS Lands & Forestry 5 page document (4 pages content)
  • Nov 29, 2019:
    – Still no response on recommendations three months after N.S. forestry review released“The author of a review on forestry practices in the province says he is anxious to hear what the government thinks”
    Alicia Draus for Global News
  • Nov 21, 2018
    – Bill Lahey presentation in NB (Nov 19, 2018) on the Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia available online
    Post on NSFN
    – Three months after forestry report, nothing but silence and worrisome signals
    Opinion by Dale Smith published online in the Chronicle Herald (behind a paywall); posted on NSFN with permission of author.
  • Nov 19, 2018:
    –Residents concerned about forestry in Annapolis County
    by Ian Fairclough in the CH (behind a paywall). View also: Prof Lahey’s concerns about the Nova Scotia government’s delay in responding to the Independent Review are reflected in frustrations expressed about cuts proposed for Hardwood Hill, Annapolis Co.(Post on NSFN, Nov 19, 2018)
  • Nov 16, 2018:
    – Many are wondering why the province hasn’t yet responded to an independent forestry review, released in August (audio)
    CBC Information Morning, interview with Prof Lahey
  • Nov 13, 2018:
    – Prof Lahey to talk to New Brunswick’s professional foresters about the Independent Review and how the report has been received by the government, media and civil society
    Post on NSFN
  • Nov 7, 2018:
    – Shelburne County residents pan ‘disrespectful’ clearcut plans
    Moira Donovan, Phlis McGregor · CBC News
    – An independent forestry review calls for a decrease in clear cutting. Yet the province has just approved new clear cuts. We’ll speak with the minister of Lands and forestry. (audio)
    CBC Information Morning
  • Oct 31, 2018:
    – READER’S CORNER: McNeil silent on forestry review as clearcutters rev engines
    Brad Armstrong, Chester, conservation director/Friends of Nature in The Chronicle Herald
  • Oct 9, 2018:
    – GUEST SHOT: Lahey Report contains significant gaps, errors
    Neil Livingston in Cape Breton Post. “We need non-clear cut forest cutting regulations to reign in large industrial forestry on private and Crown land. We need regulations to ensure that small private landowners benefit from changes in forestry practices, and are regulated to be non- clear-cut forestry. We need to shut down the large industrial polluting biomass plants. And we need to ensure that all forestry is done without herbicide spraying.
    How do we get there? It is actually very simple. Nova Scotia successfully adopted recycling practices based on regulations, and fixed timelines for implementation. Let’s use the same template to reform forestry practices by 2020. “
  

  from CPAWS

  • Sep 28, 2018:
    – Medway Community Forest Co-op Fall 2018 Newsletter
    Mary Jane Rodger for MCFC. It includes comments under the heading THE RELEASE OF THE FORESTRY REVIEW “There were several key recommendations within the report involving the MCFC which were in support of continuing to test the community forest model, or are aligned with our mission and objectives including:
    -An overarching recommendation to adopt ecological forestry as the prevailing forestry paradigm
    -Encouragement and support for research and innovation by NS’s forest sector. This includes true support for experimentation by the MCFC and support or innovation opportunities for woodlot owners
    -Providing the MCFC with a license with a term and area that allows the organization to be viable and self-sustaining
    We understand the Minister and Premier will be under immense pressure to examine each recommendation and pick which ones are easiest to implement, but as Prof. Lahey stated, in order for this review to make significant changes in the health of NS forests, all recommendations should be implemented in their entirety. The MCFC Board of Directors submitted a letter of support to the Premier following the release of the review stating our support, which has been acknowledged by the Minister of Lands and Forestry, Iain Rankin.”
    – OPINION: It’s imperative to embrace ‘ecological forestry’ approach
    Paul Pross in the Chronicle Herald
  • Sep 18, 2018:
    – Forestry minister, premier downplay email about clear-cutting reductions
    Michael Gorman · CBC News
  • Sep 17, 2018:
    – Nova Scotia ‘serious about reducing’ clear cutting: email
    Michael Gorman for CBC News. “Implementing a 100-metre buffer between clearcut and protected areas among changes outlined in letter.”
  • Sep 16, 2018:
    Clear cut would destroy critical animal habitat, says Nova Scotia hunter.
    Phlis McGregor, Nina Corfu for CBC News. “Rankin said it’s up to the province’s foresters and biologists to decide when clear cutting is “scientifically appropriate. In his report, author William Lahey recommended that “protecting and enhancing ecosystems” should be the objective when it comes to practising forestry in Nova Scotia… Kehoe said if this clear cut is approved, it would go against the recommendations put forward in the recent independent review of forest practices in Nova Scotia. “
  • Sep 14, 2018:
    – Minister still weighing recommendations of forestry report
    Michael Gorman, CBC News
    – Minister Iain Rankin on proposed clearcut (audio)
    CBC’s Information Morning
  • Sep 8, 2018:
    – OPINION: Lahey forestry report: The good, the bad & the missing
    Raymond Plourde in the Chronicle Herald. It’s also on the EAC website
  • Sep 7, 2018
    – OPINION: Lahey’s forestry review sets right course
    Wilma Stub, executive director of the Nova Scotia Landowners and Forest Fibre Producers Association in the Chronicle Herald
  • Sep 5, 2018:
    – OPINION: Latest forestry review fails to advance plot
    Sarah Fancy in the Chronicle Herald
    – Groups representing 2,000 N.S. woodlot owners endorse forestry review
    Sherri Borden Colley, CBC News
  • Aug 28, 2018:
    –LETTER: Report points to new direction for our forests
    Lisa Roberts NDP MLA for Halifax Needham and Spokesperson for Lands and Forestry in the Cape Breton Post
  • Aug 24, 2018:
    – Report calling for ecological forestry in Nova Scotia offers roadmap for better forest management in N.B
    Hannah Moore for New Brunswick Conservation Council
    – Nova Scotia long-term Crown timber harvest leases still on hold
    Paul Withers, CNC News. “New Ross forest contractor Colin Hughes [still] has concerns about the WestFor leases”
    – No timeline from Nova Scotia government for decision on forestry review
    By Jeremy Keefe for Global News. “Two days after receiving a long-awaited independent review of the province’s forest practices, the Nova Scotia government isn’t ready to say whether they’ll accept the recommendations and are hesitant to give a timeline on when that decision will be made.”
    – Nova Scotia Forestry report falls short
    By John Himmelman, Letter to the Editor, The Chronicle Herald
  • Aug 23, 2018:
    – Bill Lahey identifies path forward for forestry in Nova Scotia. Will Provincial Government act?
    Chris Miller on CPAWS-NS
    – “MCFC certainly has the full support of the Lahey Forestry Review. Congrats. Well deserved.”
    Comment by Medway Community Forest Coop on Woods and Waters Nova-Scotia
    – Lands & Forestry Minister responds to call for less clearcutting
    CBC Audio – Nova Scotia’s Minister of Lands and Forestry, Iain Rankin, reflects on the mound of paper that’s landed on his desk in the form of William Lahey’s report – “An Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia”.
  • Aug 22, 2018:
    – Forestry Review draws mixed reactions
    CANADIAN PRESS on iHeart Radio
    – Local Forestry Leader Applauds Recommendations In Provincial Report On Forest Practices
    On www.989xfm.ca. Citing Kingsley Brown. “Kingsley Brown, head of the Nova Scotia Landowners and Forest Fibre Producers Association, said Lahey has endorsed and practically adopted what has been done in eastern Nova Scotia with Forest lands.”
    – Everything wrong with Nova Scotia’s forestry review
    Jacob Boom in The Coast. “The Ecology Action Centre’s wilderness coordinator says the new report is a mix of good ideas, worrisome plans and glaring omissions.”
    – Can the Grits bear it?
    Chronicle Herald Editorial “The provincial government certainly got what it asked for, but it might be some time before we know whether Stephen McNeil’s Liberals take its radical message to heart.”
  • Aug 21, 2018:
    – The Lahey Review of Forest Practices is published; what does it mean?
    Jennifer Henderson for the Halifax Examiner
    – Forestry review calls for less clear-cutting on Crown land
    Paul Withers for CBC News
    – Review calls for ‘ecological forestry’ approach for Nova Scotia
    Francis Campbell for the Chronicle Herald
    – Nova Scotia report calls for restrictions on clear-cutting, ‘ecological forestry’
    Keith Doucette for Canadian Press’ in Globe and Mail

– Report from the Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia released
Post on this website. “Prof Lahey has set a high standard for further discourse about our forests and forestry”.