Page in development Aug 21, 2019
Note. The links below take you to the L&F projects pages posted on June 25, 2019.
Those documents provide a useful reference as they indicate the projected times for consultaions, completing projects etc, at that time.
If those pages happen to get removed or the links changed to the current documents, the June 25, 2019 docs are still available via a web archive of this page. – dp Sep 1, 2021
On May 31, 2019, L&F informed the public that a set of “Project Teams” had been formed to focus on the priorities “that will move us forward in our goal of achieving ecological forestry in Nova Scotia”.
On June 25, 2019 L&F issued Information Sheets for each of the Projects with an additional Project (Reporting on the State of the Forest) added.
Links to the Information Sheets (June 25) are given below, with the Objectives for each as stated in the Info sheets. The Info sheets provide additionally info on the Team Leaders, and Advisors (or “experts”), Key Deliverables, Expected Areas of Stakeholder and/or Public Participation, Next Steps and Timelines.
FOREST MANAGEMENT GUIDE
Objective: To review and update the current Pre-treatment Assessment (PTA) Process and the Forest Management Guide (FMG) to focus on long-lived, uneven-aged management species in support of the conservation and sustainable use of Nova Scotia’s natural resources.HIGH-PRODUCTION FORESTRY
Objective: To develop a strategic approach, involving methods and procedures for identifying, ranking and selecting sites for High Production forest management on Crown land.NATURAL DISTURBANCE REGIMES
Objective: To establish and implement an approach for publication of a peer-reviewed scientific paper on Nova Scotia natural disturbance agents (fire, insects, wind), to subsequently inform a second peer-reviewed scientific paper on the methodology used to map Nova Scotia’s natural disturbance regimes.OLD FOREST
Objective: To review the Old Forest Policy, and further develop identification criteria that will facilitate more effective land use planning by accelerating assessments of potential old forest and the conservation of old growth.OUTCOMES-BASED FOREST MANAGEMENT
Objective: To design an outcomes-based approach to forest management on Crown land with biodiversity as a priority that will support increased efficiency in forest management while ensuring ecological, social, and economic values are recognized and consideredREPORTING ON THE STATE OF THE FOREST
Objective: To improve the State of the Forest Report by addressing identified gaps in the current report, and by making it more accessible for the general publicSMALL SCALE WOOD ENERGY INITIATIVE
Objective: To replace fossil fuel heating systems with wood chip heating systems in select public buildings (e.g., schools, government offices, health facilities), ensuring the use of locally-sourced wood chips primarily from small private woodlots on a long-term basis. Benefits include building the market for lower grade wood fibre; substituting fuel imports with local, renewable, carbon-friendly fuel; providing reliable, stable and predictable heating costs for public buildings; and supporting sustainable forest management and strengthen wood supply chain.SPECIES AT RISK PROGRAM RENEWAL
Objective: To renew the management system for the Species at Risk program that institutionalizes a collaborative approach to recovery, leverages diverse resources, and uses risk management within a framework of robust and current policy
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In my view, what is notably lacking from these “priorities” in relation to the Lahey Report, is a Project Team on Landscape Level Planning.
In the context of Implementing Ecological Forestry one could ask ‘where does adapting to and mitigating climate change’ fit in. (The topic was not highlighted in the Lahey Report.)
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Related and recently posted on the same L&F webpage:
Strategy for Improving Openness, Transparency, Collaboration and Accountability at the Department of Lands and Forestry
by DG Communications for the Department of Lands and Forestry, June 20, 2019