Nova Scotia Forest Notes

Nova Scotia Forest Notes: a record of goings-on in forests and forestry in Nova Scotia 21Jun2016-21Jun2022

Posted on September 22, 2024 by admin

Wabanaki Forest Love Affair Yellow Birch at left, and Eastern Hemlock at right on a mound in old forest by Sandy Lake (Bedford) More about it here.

A new blog/website has been set up at nsforestmatters.ca

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This blog/website, “Nova Scotia Forest Notes“, posted at www.nsforestnotes.ca, was created on June 21, 2016; I stopped updating it on June 21, 2022. As such it provides a record of sorts of goings-on related to forests and forestry in Nova Scotia over that interval. For a period after June 21, 2022 I posted links to blog posts on other websites (cited below). The last one was on July 14, 2024.

Nova Scotia Forest Notes was replaced by a website “On the state of Triad Forest Management in Nova Scotia” at www.versicolor.ca/nstraid which functioned until June 5, 2024.

That website in turn was replaced by “Nova Scotia Forests Matter” at nsforestmatters.ca. The first post was on June 4, 2024. It is a collaborative effort which we hope will be maintained as long as it is relevant…

Nova Scotia Forest Notes will be maintained at this URL (nsforestnotes.ca) at least until July 21, 2025.

The site is archived regularly on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine The website on the archive is a near-to-perfect replica of this one – it is searchable, and can be viewed in different stages of its development.

I continue to post various natural history materials on several websites I currently maintain or contribute to (see www.versicolor.ca).

– david p
(aka JackPine, JackPine22)

Posted in About the website | Comments Off

Shady Accounting and Vanishing Forests on Nova Scotia’s Crown Lands 14Jul2024

Posted on July 15, 2024 by admin

By Nina Newington

SUMMARY

New forest road at Goldsmith Lake, October 2022 Forest lost to roads is NOT included in the harvest removal tallies.
Photo: Nina Newington.
Click on images for larger versions

To justify the sacrifice of biodiversity in the 10% of Crown land to be consigned to High Production Forestry under the Forest Triad, the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) tells us that “90% of Crown and protected areas land will always be committed to the two zones that prioritize biodiversity”. The Conservation zone (aka protected areas) does protect biodiversity but is biodiversity really prioritized in the 1 million hectares currently assigned to the Ecological Matrix?

Both government and industry resort to an ecological rule of thumb, stating that “Two-thirds of the forest will be left standing” in areas subject to ‘ecological’ harvest prescriptions. Closer examination reveals that all but two of the prescriptions generated by the new Silvicultural Guide to the Ecological Matrix result in the removal of at least 50% of the forest.

This article examines the shady accounting used to conceal this fact, with specific reference to the variety of harvest plans approved for 462 hectares around Goldsmith Lake in Annapolis County in 2022.

View more on nsforestmatters.ca

Posted in Citizen Science, Conservation, Independent Review, Natural Resources & Renewables, New PC Government, Show Us the Science, Tree Harvests, Variable Retention, Wabanaki Forest | Comments Off

Lichen Camp Day 127: symbiosis is always the topic 7Jul2024

Posted on July 7, 2024 by admin

Wrote Nina Newington on Jul 6, 2024:

As word spreads about the camp and our work to protect this area, we get an ever more interesting mix of visitors, from Antonija Livingstone, performance artist living in France, to Haeweon Yi from South Korea, PhD candidate and Climate Theatre person, to Keith Eggers, mycologist and retired professor, surveying fungi in some of the old growth forest here, to two members of the Southwest Paddlers Association and their canoes, come to check out the pristine lake they’ve heard about, to Carman Kerr, our MLA, and his constituent assistant, Evan Fairn.

On our Wabanaki Forest 21Jun2024

Posted on June 21, 2024 by admin

Wabanaki Forest by Lower Trout Lake on the Chebucto Peninsula
Click on images for larger versions

On June 21, 2024, we in the northern hemisphere celebrate the summer solstice, as our ancestors have done since prehistoric times.

Since June 21, 2017, the day is also known as Canada’s National Indigenous Peoples Day:

In cooperation with Indigenous organizations, the Government of Canada chose June 21, the summer solstice, for National Aboriginal Day, now known as National Indigenous Peoples Day. For generations, many Indigenous peoples and communities have celebrated their culture and heritage on or near this day due to the significance of the summer solstice as the longest day of the year.

Posted in Wabanaki Forest | Comments Off

Fourteen students completed the first official tree marking course in Nova Scotia 20Jun2024

Posted on June 20, 2024 by admin

Guest Post by Minga O’Brien

Tree marking is an integral step in partial harvesting systems geared towards managing for quality timber products, and healthy forest habitats.

Nova Scotia Tree Marking Course: Marking for Selection Harvest at Medway Community Forest.
Click on image for larger version

From June 4-7, 2024, it was my pleasure to be an instructor for a tree marking course offered by Nova Scotia Community College’s Centre of Forest Innovation. Accommodation and morning classes took place at NSCC’s College of Geographic Sciences in Lawrencetown, and field sites were situated on Crown lands licensed to the Medway Community Forest Co-op. There were 14 participants and 7 instructors, 2 of whom (Al Stinson-from the Canadian Institute of Forestry and Martin Streit – from Forests Ontario) traveled from Ontario to lead what many hope to be the first of many tree marking courses in Nova Scotia.

Feedback sought on Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s Regional Risk Assessment for sourcing biomass from Nova Scotia’s harvestable forest land base 16Jun2024

Posted on June 16, 2024 by admin

Please, all stakeholders, register and review this RRA. A wide range of stakeholders is considered relevant.

One of the ways I attempt to keep up with News related to forests and forestry in Nova Scotia is by subscribing to a Google Alert, specifying “Forestry, Forests, Nova Scotia” as the topic.

Under my Alert this am:

Clicking on it takes one to https://biomassrra.ca/nova-scotia/
where I learned that the Wood Pellet Association of Canada has conducted a “Regional Risk Assessment” for Nova Scotia, and is seeking input from stakeholders.

What’s it take to convince Nova Scotia DNRR to give interim protection to an area with 33 occurrences of SAR Old Growth Forest Indicators? 15Mar2024

Posted on March 16, 2024 by admin

That’s what Forest Protector Nina Newington asks on Day 13 of “Lichen Camp”.

Forty SAR occurrences, 33 of them an old growth forest indicator species, are not enough, it seems, to convince DNRR to give the whole area interim protection while final decisions are made about areas that will be given permanent protection to meet the 20% goal.

Follow the developments at and related to Lichen Camp on the Facebook page for the Friends of Goldsmith Lake Wilderness. For the convenience of those not on FB, key posts are copied (with permission) on a page on this website – see Lichen Camp GLWA 2024

The first post in the Lichen Camp series explains what it’s all about… Read More on www.versicolor.ca/nstriad

Posted in Old Growth, Triad, Wabanaki Forest | Comments Off

BDO Zone Initiative issues an “A-rating” for Southwest Nova Scotia as a location to develop “Bioeconomy Projects” 4Feb2024

Posted on February 4, 2024 by admin

Press Release, Feb 1, 2024

This latest “Bioeconomy” initiative would involve use of 550,000 green metric tons per year of sawmill residuals and by-product wood fibre from the forest sector. In the formal BDO Zone Report, cautions are expressed that are not amongst the highlights cited in PR lit about about the Bioeconomy prospects for SW Nova Scotia and presumably are why a higher rating (AAA or AA versus the A-rating given) was not realizied, e.g. related to nutrient limitations, uncertainty about buy-in of private woodlot owners. The basic concept goes back to Dexter Days and dreams of “Cellufuel” and other biorefinery products replacing the markets for residuals and low grade wood lost with closure of the Bowater Mill; now we have the loss of the NP Mill as well contributing to supply, and advocates are able to cite the harmony/sustainability created by the Lahey Report/implementation of the forest Triad as a supporting factor in development of a regional Bioeconomy. There is clearly a need and significant opportunities for use of the forest residuals, but also needed is a dose of realism about what is actually compatible with true sustainability economically, ecologically and socially in SW Nova Scotia.

Could Nova Scotia-produced Mass Timber reduce our housing shortage AND save our Old Forests? 7Jan2024

Posted on January 7, 2024 by admin

“The Lake Mjøsa Skyscraper in Brumunddal, Norway, is built of cross-laminated timber (CLT)”, one of the major Mass Timber types in use today. Photo by Øyvind Holmstad, on Wikipedia

The first Mass Timber manufacturing facility east of Quebec is due to begin production in Hants Co., N.S. in 2026 and could supply as much as 1/4 of the housing supply in NS by the end the decade. Can it be matched up with innovative forest managements practices introduced following the Forest Practices Review (2017-2018) to ensure truly sustainable wood production and protection of our Old Forests?

I began keeping a bit of a tab on developments in Mass Timber (or MTC for Mass Timber Construction) while writing NS Forest Notes (2016-2022) in my “quest to understand forests and forestry in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada”.

Would “thinning areas where harvesting isn’t allowed” as advocated by Forest Nova Scotia reduce wildfire risk? 23Nov2023

Posted on November 23, 2023 by admin

Forested land in NS that burned in late May viewed on Sep 27, 2023. New growth mostly aspen and raspberry.
Click on image for larger version

Forest Nova Scotia, “the largest organization of forest interests in the province of Nova Scotia, on the East coast of Canada” says it would.

In recent blog posts, the organization also maintains that we are “worsening climate change and increasing wildfire risk by protecting too much land”.

I am not so sure, but I would like to see people more knowledgable than myself on such matters, weigh in.