{"id":3277,"date":"2023-12-23T22:53:43","date_gmt":"2023-12-23T22:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/?page_id=3277"},"modified":"2023-12-24T00:23:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-24T00:23:09","slug":"3apr2023-cow-supply","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/ns-triad\/ns-docs\/3apr2023-cow-supply\/","title":{"rendered":"3Apr2023 COW-supply"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extracts from NS Legislature, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON SUPPLY, APRIL 3, 2023<\/a>
\nThe extracts are of sections that pertain primarily to the implementation of the TRIAD.
\n————–
\nResolution E15 – Resolved that a sum not exceeding $142,579,000 be granted to the Lieutenant Governor to defray expenses in respect of the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, pursuant to the Estimate.<\/p>\n

THE CHAIR: I will now invite the Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables to make some opening comments and introduce the members of your team, should you choose.<\/p>\n

HON. TORY RUSHTON:
\nThousands of Nova Scotians make a living in the forests. In fact, hundreds are multi-generational foresters. These people care about keeping our forests healthy. They are making sure this sector is sustainable for the long haul. That\u2019s our goal too – conserving biodiversity, nurturing healthy forests and good forest management for a sustainable industry. That\u2019s where the triad model of ecological forestry comes in. As you know, this model was recommended by the independent forest practices review. Building this model on Crown land is the first item in my mandate letter. It\u2019s a bold, new approach to forestry management in Nova Scotia. The model includes the conservation zone, the mixed-use zone, and the high-production zone.<\/p>\n

The first zone we established is the conservation zone. That is 35 per cent of Crown lands conserved in protected areas and old-growth forests. This zone may grow as we work towards our goal of protecting 20 per cent of Nova Scotia\u2019s land and water mass, but it will never shrink.<\/p>\n

The second zone of the triad model that we established is the matrix or mixed-use zone. It makes up 55 per cent of Crown land. It is where timber harvesting is done with low-intensity practices. As of June 1st\u00a0of last year, all but a handful of grandfathered harvest plans are following the new guide for this zone. To help with the adjustments, we\u2019ve been offering more training for the forestry industry.<\/p>\n

In January, we put the final zone in place. The high-production forest zone will be no more than 10 per cent of the Crown lands. High-production forestry is an efficient method of growing crops of spruce. It\u2019s a lot like agriculture: you plant, grow, harvest, repeat. Because you are adding nutrients to the soil and using faster-growing seeds, your crop is ready for harvest in about half the time. This method will mainly be used on Crown lands that have already been used for forestry or agriculture. It will not be done in places like parks and protected areas, old-growth forests or sensitive habitat, amongst others.<\/p>\n

We released the first three areas of the zone in January. By the end of this year, we\u2019ll identify areas throughout the whole province. From there, licensees will work on establishing sites for tree farms, as we refer to it. This will take time. There\u2019s only so much you can harvest and so much you can plant in the run of one year.
\n\u00a0
\nTogether these zones are bringing Nova Scotia into a modern, advanced approach to forestry management and conservation. They give the sector enough access to timber on Crown land to be successful. We can also be sustainable, promote biodiversity, and move towards our protected areas of goals.<\/p>\n

One of our next steps is to consult on the draft forest stewardship planning guide. This guide will provide licensees with the direction for the 20-year management plans. Those plans will ultimately be subject to an environmental assessment.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re offering opportunities for others to learn and adapt to these practices as well. We encourage that with annual silviculture funding. <\/p>\n

Our provincial parks and protected areas promote biodiversity and conserve wildlife…That\u2019s why we\u2019re working on protecting at least 20 per cent of Nova Scotia\u2019s total land and water mass by 2030. We\u2019re working on this with colleagues in the Department of Environment and Climate Change, and with Mi\u2019kmaw on Indigenous, protected, and conserved areas.<\/p>\n

When you add up parks, protected areas, and lands managed under the Crown Lands Act, only 35 per cent of Nova Scotia\u2019s land mass is in our hands. The vast majority of land is private. We need to be careful managers of Crown land to accommodate many
\nthings: parks and protected areas, forestry, mining critical minerals to support clean energy technologies; and clean energy technologies themselves like wind turbines and solar gardens – and there\u2019s a range of other uses.
\n\u00a0
\nOn the money front, we\u2019re doing that by focusing on critical minerals. Some examples are lithium, rare earth elements, tin, and zinc. They are essential raw materials for technology such as wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles.
\n\u00a0
\nWe\u2019ve been consulting with stakeholders on a new critical mineral strategy for Nova Scotia<\/p>\n

Another innovation that will drive our green economy and help us reach climate change goals is green hydrogen. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to get off coal and reach 80 per cent renewables by 2030.<\/p>\n

———–<\/p>\n

CARMAN KERR: Thank you to the minister and staff for being here tonight. I don\u2019t have much time, so I\u2019ll jump right into it.
\n\u00a0
\nWithin the\u00a0Medway Community Forest Co-operative, the\u00a0Nova Scotia Community Lands Trust, was developed, and developing and upholding the working forest community easements. The new trust will offer landowners an option to preserve the forests they steward. They\u2019ll maintain the economic benefits through harvesting forest products, and they\u2019ll provide access to carbon offset markets.
\n\u00a0
\nTied to the property deed in perpetuity, the easement will require a certified forest management plan, and will prohibit intensive forest management land conversion and subdivision.
\n\u00a0
\nThe\u00a0Nova Scotia Working Woodlands Trust\u00a0has supported a launch from several supporters, including the\u00a0Forestry Innovation Transition Trust, the Canadian Wildlife Service, private land stewardship stakeholders, and over 10,000 acres of interested landowners, yet it is halted by delays within this department for being designated as an ineligible body in the Community Easements Act.
\n\u00a0
\nMy first question to the minister is: Please explain in detail the steps required and the timeline for reviewing the application, and designating NSWWT as an eligible body in the Community Easements Act.
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: Yes, the applications go through the department. This is something that was in the Lahey review as well – about community working for us and such. When all the documentation is in place, that\u2019s when the application actually gets under way and is started. That was only about six months ago. The initiative started awhile before, but the actual process started only about six months ago. It is still under review with the department.
\n\u00a0
\nI do want to point out that they don\u2019t need the government to actually do the easements. They can have two lawyers actually do the easement for themselves on the outside of that. It\u2019s actually not a step that they need government to take place in.
\n\u00a0
\nCARMAN KERR: Has the department spoken to this group about the other options?
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: There have been ongoing conversations back and forth from the department to that group.<\/p>\n

———————-<\/p>\n

CARMAN KERR: I\u2019ve got a lot of questions for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change at this point. I\u2019ll switch it over to high production<\/strong>. The landscape level assessment process is being applied to all eco-districts, last year and again this year. As assessments are completed and maps and information are released, there was talk of an online high-production forestry map. Is that online?
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: Is it just recently announced? No, that part is not online yet. As we move through this year, it\u2019s our hope to have the whole matrix and the high production on that map viewer, once it\u2019s established. Or – I don\u2019t want to tie that to it – another link where you can actually go and see where the zones are allocated for the high production.
\n\u00a0
\nCARMAN KERR: I\u2019m sorry, to the minister, I didn\u2019t hear that last bit – no, but?
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: I\u2019m just being corrected. The first three sites are actually on the map viewer now. The rest of them, as they come into works, working with the licence holder and the areas that are named, the rest of them will be on the map viewer as we allocate those sites.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t going to be a flick of the switch. It\u2019s going to take a few years to get to that 10 per cent mark, but we do have a commitment to the sector that we\u2019re going to work with them, hand in hand, to make sure they\u2019re going to the right areas, for the right reasons, with the right aspects<\/p>\n

CARMAN KERR: The minister just mentioned it will take a few years to get to this 10 per cent, or no more than 10 per cent. Does that mean three years or does that mean more than that?
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: Just to give you an example, we\u2019re going to do as long as it takes. To give you an example of where we\u2019re at right now, we\u2019re at 0.5 per cent with those first three allocations, so it is going to take some time. I know the sector would love to have it done in two years. Others would like to see it prolonged even longer.<\/p>\n

Obviously, it is going to take some time, but we are certainly committed to making sure that we allocate the proper lands, and not do it too speedily to allocate the wrong lands. It will be 10 per cent, it will be no more than 10 per cent. As we add more Crown lands through acquisitions or such things, you could see the land grow, but it will never be more than 10 per cent of the total Crown lands.<\/p>\n

…If you put it all in a harvest year this year and allocate all 10 per cent, and it was ready to harvest every 30 years, you\u2019d harvest 10 per cent of that land every year. So it has to be allocated throughout the whole process of a growth cycle, if you will. I think I\u2019ve said that right. Hopefully the team is listening and won\u2019t correct me later.
\n———–<\/p>\n

\u00a0CARMAN KERR
\nLahey\u2019s Recommendation No. 18 states that \u201cDNR must ensure, as an immediate priority, that the Endangered Species Act is fully implemented on Crown land, including the completion of recovery plans that identify and make provisions for protection of core habitat for species at risk.\u201d The department\u2019s process for reviewing harvest plans has struggled with identifying important species at risk. One example would be Goldsmith Lake, in my back yard, in my constituency. Several members of the public have flagged the ecological importance of the forests there. It seems to have fallen through the harvest plan viewer process.
\n\u00a0
\nI think the Wildlife Branch at one point indicated that it will take time and more resources to develop better modelling. How does the department plan to address the documented – I\u2019ll call them failures – of the Integrated Resource Management system to identify that habitat of legally protected species?
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: In that Goldsmith Lake harvest plan, in the original application, there were pieces of land that were actually removed because of what we knew. As people went out in public and saw that the process actually did its job and started to remove those pieces – as the public started going out and visiting – we had staff and sometimes contractors go out to identify what was being reported back to the department. We mitigated that by actually applying the policies that needed to be applied for what was found, such as the lichen, and extended the boundaries around where they could harvest.
\n\u00a0
\nThat original application actually had pieces of land removed from the application because of what we knew on the ground.
\n—————
\nCARMAN KERR: Will the department require an environmental assessment, as recommended by Lahey and agreed to by the province, when deciding whether to renew Northern Pulp\u2019s utilization licence agreement – this July, I believe.
\nTORY RUSHTON: Sorry, I missed the very first part of that question.
\n\u00a0
\nCARMAN KERR: It\u2019s around the environmental assessment requirement as recommended by Lahey, agreed to by the province, when deciding whether to renew Northern Pulp\u2019s utilization licence agreement, I think by July.
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: Yes, it is recommended. I think it\u2019s number 18 in the Lahey recommendations. Actually, I believe you said that. Now that I\u2019m saying that, I remember it.<\/p>\n

That is a process that is in the works, in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Climate Change, to set up those standards. Will they be enacted by the end of July of this year? I can\u2019t commit that they\u2019ll be finalized and finished, but that is the goal of this department – to get to the environmental assessment process. I actually made reference to that in my opening remarks, that eventually we want to get to that EA process and implement number 18, if you will.
\n\u00a0
\nCARMAN KERR: The question begs, why wasn\u2019t that process in place before Port Hawkesbury Paper\u2019s licence was renewed?
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: Very simply, it was a 20-year deal and there was an option to renew it at 10 years. That\u2019s when Port Hawkesbury Paper actually did. They came in and made the application to have it extended out for the 10-year review.
\n————-
\nCARMAN KERR: Does the minister have a target for protected areas in this mandate over the next two years?
\n\u00a0
\nTORY RUSHTON: In collaboration with the Department of Environment and Climate Change, our commitment was to finish off the Parks and Protected Areas plan and to develop the next stage plan for this calendar year, and start working on it right away. That was the mandate that was given to this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Extracts from NS Legislature, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON SUPPLY, APRIL 3, 2023 The extracts are of sections that pertain primarily to the implementation of the TRIAD. ————– Resolution E15 – Resolved that a sum not exceeding $142,579,000 be granted … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":2299,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3277","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3277"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3286,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3277\/revisions\/3286"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/nstriad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}