CONCERNS & QUESTIONS
Adam J Malcolm, post on Stop Spraying & Clear-Cutting Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) Jan 12, 2023: One doozy of a clearcut added to the harvest plans map today. 839 acres above Lake Ainslie. This is boreal forest – the habitat of our provincially endangered American marten, endangered Canada lynx and endangered Canada warbler.
From the Discussion
KS:I am watching another parcel land that now has a harvesting plan posted on the map. New to this, so asking for some guidance on terminology. Medium Retention Continuous Cover Irregular Shelterwood means what in practice? A much larger chunk is slated for Partial Overstory Removal and Underplant. No idea what that means either. No percentages of retention are given for any of the blocks…I have heard that Overstory Removal is a euphemism for clear cut. But that doesnt indicate much for me about what is being planned here…What in practice is the difference between Medium and High in Medium Retention Continuous Cover Irregular Shelterwood? How does this meet up, or not, with how the Lahey Report speaks of irregular shelterwood as the preferred dominant practice? I did read this: http://nsforestnotes.ca/2019/08/17/nova-scotia-harvest-plan-map-viewer-now-specifies-retention-17aug2019/
RB: My understanding is that DNRR changed the language about harvesting trees to avoid the word “clear cut.” The changes are purely cosmetic and deceptive in nature. NN and BW are well-versed in the new language and could better explain what these newer terms actually mean. My understanding is that many are just new terms that mean clear cuts done in two or three stages.
KG that likely means they will harvestall viable wood and leave a few scraggly bunches of low grade immature wood and call it sustainable forestry, when in actual fact they are setting land back hundreds of years by overcutting all land they harvest, that is inherent in today’s “modern” mechanized harvesting world where a huge percentage of the wood value is gobbled up by huge equipment and fuel payments , banks won’t lend to people to take proper care while harvesting, only to those willing to cut their children and grandchildrens future trees
RB: The book Against the Grain: NS chief foresters and NS Politics, outlines in detail how bureaucrats and merchants / Pulp Mill CEO’s have been in bed together! $$$$$
KS: I still dont see what Partial overstory removal is, Except this definition which I dont understand: A regeneration treatment where the mature overstory is removed except for reserve trees…It kind of sounds like clear cutting, with some minimal retention of trees ?
RB: It sounds similar to high-grading where the biggest and best trees are taken, leaving a few as seeding trees. But I’m not very experienced with these forestry terms myself.
BW: This jogged my memory of a large clearcut on private land above Lake Ainslie that Neal Livingstone commented on last year. I wonder where this is in relation to that one. If they cut this down, there can’t be too much forest left around the lake??? https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/news/large-clearcut-near-lake-ainslie-angers-cape-bretons-margaree-environmental-association-545769/
AJM: The crown land is all up in the hills, not visible from the lake. But once you’re up there, like most of the old Oxford crown lands, it’s either cleared or replanted for future clearing
AJM: you can find the prescription definitions with illustrations here:https://novascotia.ca/ecological-forestry/docs/silvicultural-guide.pdf
PC: Was up to Cape Clear a couple years ago. Gone. All the trees are gone. Gone for Kilometres. Very sad and shortsighted.
(Page posted Feb 6, 2023)