Stories Maps Tell 1: Just not true? 2Feb2025

by Nina Newington

Forest around Goldsmith Lake November, 2022. Drone photo credit Malachi Warr
Click on images for larger versions

Part I:  Just not true?

By Nina Newington

One frigid November day in 2022, CBC came out to film citizen scientists on the South Mountain in Annapolis County. The group had identified 7 species at risk occurrences in areas the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (NRR) had approved for logging around Goldsmith Lake.

Breck Stuart,  General Manager of WestFor penned an op-ed in the Chronicle Herald in response. It began:

The area around Goldsmith Lake in Annapolis County has caught the eye of anti-forestry perspectives here in Nova Scotia. These 10,000 acres have been painted in the media as old, untouched pieces of forest that should be protected because of these qualities. We thought it would be important for the public to know this is just not true.

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More on Nova Scotia DNR’s Zombie Forest Harvest Plans 15Jan 2025

By Nina Newington*
*First posted on Friends of Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area on Jan 12, 2025

I thought I’d expand on the zombie harvest plan news included in the Information Morning interview that aired on January 9th. The maps accompanying this post tell a lot of the story.

A little background for those of you who haven’t waded into the murky waters of public access to forestry information: since 2016, all new plans to log on Crown Land have been posted on the provincial Harvest Plan Map Viewer. (Searching HPMV NS should get you there.) When a new plan is posted, the public is given 30-40 days to comment. That’s our one and only opportunity to weigh in. Continue reading

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Are magnificent stands of old-growth forest on Crown lands a State Secret in Nova Scotia? 10Jan2025

Nova Scotia’s Old Growth Forest Policy

By Nina Newington*
___________________
*Posted earlier today on Friends of Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area (Public FB Group)

Check out this interview about some of DNR’s shenanigans at Goldsmith Lake:

Is the province favouring forestry over conservation? (Audio 8 min)
CBC Info AM with Portia Clark, Jan 9, 2025. “Hear why the president of Save Our Old Forests has been filing access to information requests to try to find out about old growth forest stands in Annapolis County. Nina Newington talks about seeing a disconnect between what the government knows and what it’s posting publicly.” A Rough Transcript of the interview available on NSFN

Continue reading

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Corbett-Dalhousie Lake Peninsula Old Forest revisited 4Jan 2024

Old Beech There is  a lot of beech in this forest. The bark blight that Queen Victoria sent  us (unintentionally) via two European Beech she contributed to the Halifax Public Gardens in 1890 meant that their growth stalled out when the blight reached them. Trees like this one may not be very big but they are in all likelihood very old.
Click on images for larger versions

By Nina Newington

On Boxing Day six years ago, local resident Bev Wigney organized a gathering on the peninsula between Corbett and Dalhousie lakes. She shone a light on the value of the old, beautiful forest there to wildlife and to people.

When the Citizen Scientists of Southwest Nova Scotia proposed the Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area for protection in 2022, we included Corbett Lake and the peninsula. For most of the last two years our focus has been further to the west, but a couple of weeks ago, just before the snow came, we decided it was time to take a closer look at the Corbett area.

To our delight we identified eight new occurrences of Frosted Glass Whisker lichen (pending confirmation.) This comes on top of spotting a Rusty Blackbird, another species at risk, earlier this year at the south end of the peninsula, and an Olive-sided Fly Catcher documented on the north shore of the lake. Continue reading

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NSWOOA providing “Live, in-the-woods demo of new ecological forestry equipment” Dec 13, 2024

Received from NSWOOA this a.m.:
Continue reading

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Harvesting in citizen-proposed Nova Scotia Protected Area continued…Chain Lakes Wilderness Area 8Dec2024

Map of Chain Lake Area with Areas of Scheduled Harvest – Green area is Crown Land.  Comments are needed by 8 a.m. on December 14, 2024. To submit comments use the Harvest Plans Map Viewer or Send an E-mail to ecologicalforestry@novascotia.ca

An item in the most recent Blomidon Naturalists’ Newsletter (Dec 2024 issue) provides yet another example  of intent to log Crown land forest in  a  citizen-proposed Nova Scotia Protected Area, in this case the Chain Lakes Wilderness Area:

Chain Lakes Update:
There are plans are to partial cut the areas and eventually remove the overstory. These areas are all inside the region identified as the best forests to set aside for protection and provide for wildlife habitat. The Blomidon Naturalists Society with the approval of local municipality have requested that the provincial government stop cutting here to enable an evaluation to take place for preservation. Please visit this website link for more information from Larry Bogan.

For some background info, see this post just published on nsforestmatters.ca: Continue reading

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Protecting a Special Place – The Chain Lakes Wilderness Area 8Dec2024

Peters Lake on an October morning, a beautiful spot to canoe or kayak. Photo: Alan Warner.
Click on images for larger versions.

By Alan Warner

CONTENTS
Introduction
Why Protect the Chain Lakes?
Building Support for the Proposal
Whatʼs Next?
Stay up to date on the Chain Lakes campaign
Notes
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*Post reproduced, with permission,  from “Protecting a Special Place — The Chain Lakes Wilderness Area” by Alan Warner in Beyond the Tides (Blomidon Naturalists Society) Spring 2024 Vol. 51, No.2, pp 20-23. Alan Warner is Professor Emeritus, Department of Community Development, Acadia University

Introduction

“Thatʼs the biggest tree I have ever seen in Nova Scotia!” Those were the first words out of Valerie Campbellʼs mouth as she approached a giant yellow birch not too far from the shores of Upper Gully Lake in southwest Kings County on a sunny day in early April. The tree is one of many within the 12,000-hectare area that the Blomidon Naturalists have proposed to the Nova Scotia government for wilderness protection. Continue reading

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A Reminder: Comments on RRA-NS are due by Friday Dec 6, 2024

The Sustainable Biomass Program launched its public consultations on “Regional Risk Assessments” including one for Nova Scotia on Nov 6, 2024 with responses to their Draft Document due by this Friday,  Dec 6, 2024.

In a post on Nov 7, 2024, I suggested that “As a compendium of ‘what’s broadly understood about NS forests & wood supply’ (my paraphrasing), this RRA warrants careful scrutiny by Nova Scotians – especially given that the “biomass issue” was not addressed by Lahey in the 2018 Forest Practices Review and given the several plus mega-projects that involve use of wood, wood processing byproducts or clearing of forested lands that have been proposed, discussed, and some approved recently coupled with our commitment to 20% Protection by 2030.”

View the Draft Regional Risk Assessment for the province of Nova Scotia, Canada Continue reading

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Harvesting in citizen-proposed Nova Scotia Protected Area continued…Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area 26Nov2024

UPDATE Dec 8, 2024:
Comments on this harvest planned for the Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area should be submitted before 8 a.m. on Dec 14, 2024
See Comment deadline for Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area harvest plan

—————

From a post by Lisa Proulx on Friends of Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area (Public Facebook Page).

“As soon as we heard about the new cut block that was posted for comment in the Harvest Plan Map Viewer (HPMV) within the boundaries of the proposed Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area, we had a crew at the ready. Continue reading

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Responses of Nova Scotia Liberals, NDP, PCs & Greens to “Nature Protection First Not Last” 20Nov2024

Just received (Nov 20, 2024) from the Healthy Forest Coalition:

The Healthy Forest Coalition reached out to the provincial party leaders with a 7 point  election statement and a question [See Post, Nov 8, 2024, for details]. It ended thus:

…Right now, our government appears to be offering up our forest resources — whether as fiber, biofuel or real estate for wind turbines — to any company offering economic growth, seemingly forgetting the commitments it has already made to protecting the health of our lands and waters and all who depend on them.

The promises of new industries must be weighed against the costs. Wealth without ecosystem health is worthless.

Will you and your party put nature protection first, not last, ending log now, save later and acting with the urgency required to protect 20% of our province by 2030?

Below  are the responses (in order of receipt) from the Liberals, NDP and PCs. Due to an error on HFC’s part, the Green Party has only just received the statement. Their response will be post as soon as it is received. See Update Continue reading

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