What is getting in the way of protecting 20% of Nova Scotia’s lands and waters? 16Apr2025

Old sugar maple stand approved for harvest in citizen-proposed Chain Lakes Wilderness Area.

By Nina Newington*

Shortly after coming to power in 2021, Tim Houston’s government tabled the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act (EGCCRA). To their credit, it incorporated one of the election pledges the PCs ran on: to protect 20% of Nova Scotia’s lands and waters by 2030. In October 2023 the Canada-Nova Scotia Nature Agreement introduced an interim target of protecting 15% by 2026. It also gave Nova Scotia $28.5 million to help it get moving on meeting these protection goals.
*This post was first published as as a contribution from SOOF (Save Our Old Forests) on www.healthyforestcoalition.ca on Apr 10, 2025. Continue reading

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Stories Maps Tell III: Where the Bowater map got it wrong and a new map to enjoy 10Apr2025

By Nina Newington

An old Yellow Birch in the Goldsmith Lake area

At right:

At right: This old Yellow Birch in the Goldsmith Lake area was revealed by our coring to be well over 300 years of age. It is located in an area that the Bowater map shows as having been cut and treated in 1971-72. Hence it was assumed by DNR not to host any old growth forest. Our citizen science observations led DNR to investigate and finally to recognize the existence of old growth stands within areas managed and harvested by Bowater between 1970 and 2012.

At issue in this ongoing series by Nina Newington is whether 3900 hectares of Crown land around Goldsmith Lake in Annapolis County should be protected, as citizen scientists propose, or whether it should remain available for forestry and other industrial activities.

In Stories Maps Tell I: Just Not True, posted Feb 2, 2025, I described the Bowater map for the area and how DNR uses this map to justify logging in this area, maintaining that it is largely “managed forest” that was cut or treated between 1970 and 2012. However close examination of the map shows that there is a LOT of forest that was not touched during Bowater’s tenure.

In Stories Maps Tell II: Where the Bowater map gets it right, I show that, except for some old forest clearcut by WestFor after Bowater went bankrupt, areas west of Goldsmith Lake shown as untouched on the Bowater map are of high conservation value. Some stands were assessed as old-growth forest by DNR in 2023. In others, a survey of calicioid (stubble) lichens by Citizen Scientists demonstrated a level of ecological continuity typical of old-growth forest. Neither DNR’s old-growth assessments nor the scientific article published about the Citizen Scientists stubble lichen survey seemed to change DNR’s “managed forest” narrative about the area.

Now, in Stories Maps Tell III: Where the Bowater Map got it wrong plus a new map to enjoy, my starting point is the discovery of old-growth forest on a peninsula in Goldsmith Lake that the Bowater map shows as having been cut and treated in 1971-72. This leads into a broader examination of the stories DNR tells and the ones it chooses not to tell. In the face of the curious secrecy surrounding the existence of multiple stands of old-growth forests around Goldsmith Lake, the vital importance of Freedom of Information requests is revealed.

Read More

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Geoff Hurley on “A Balanced Path” for Nova Scotia 7Mar2025

In a Commentary published in the Chronicle Herald on Mar 4, 2025, Geoff Hurley offers specific, practical recommendations for ensuring long-term well-being of Nova Scotians and our natural environment while moving ahead with more resource development in NS.

Mr. Hurleys’s perspective is informed by his many years as an environmental consultant which included his serving as the Senior Environmental Advisor for the Sable Offshore Energy Project to date “the largest natural resources development project in the history of the province” – and one that was concluded without significant environmental issues.

His comments are surely timely and constructive. In the interest of helping to see them more widely considered, we asked Mr. Hurley for permission to reproduce them on NSFM, to which he kindly agreed. Read More

Posted in Conservation, Freedom of Information, Landscape Level planning, NS Gov, NS NRR, ProtectedAreas, Resource Development | Comments Off on Geoff Hurley on “A Balanced Path” for Nova Scotia 7Mar2025

In the News on Nova Scotia Forest Matters: NS Democracy Issues 28Feb2025

We have a new subsection of In the News on NSFM: NS Democracy Issues

BACKGROUND

 Democracy at Work: The”Forest Funeral” on Oct 17, 2017  This event “was organized by the Healthy Forest Coalition and the Ecology Action Centre to highlight and mourn the losses of mature and old growth Acadian forest and associated wildlife due to extensive clearcutting over the last 50+ years. The clearcutting has taken place under the tenure of governments variously formed by the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP.”
View Words, rhythms and songs of the Forest Funeral at Province House, Nova Scotia, Oct 19, 2017 Post on NSFN 20Oct2017. Many of the participants were actively and constructively involved in two successive reviews of forest management in NS, the Natural Resources Strategy (2008-2010) and  the Independent Review of Forest Practices of 2017-2018. The current NS Gov has adopted major recommendations of the latter, but notably not as of yet at least, the Forest EA which would provide transparency and public engagement in ongoing forest management on Crown lands.

Lack of transparency surrounding NS Governments’ handing of forestry and of environmental issues more broadly has been a major issue for decades, and regardless of the party forming government. Those governments more recently were formed by PCs (1999-2009), NDP (2009-2013), Liberals (2013-2021) and PCs again (2021, ongoing).

The first PC Government (2021-2024) under Premier Tim Houston, acted quickly and progressively on some major environmental issues early on.

However, early in its new mandate, the Houston Government has targeted “Special interests [who] have captured too many parts of our economy and have had an out-sized voice in policy creation.” “That” said Houston “must end.” (CBC, 22Jan2025)

These Special Interests evidently are those who in any way question the PCs “push for more natural resource development in Nova Scotia” (CBC, 22Jan2025).

In short order the PC Government has “introduced a series of government bills that will make them a lot less accountable, transparent, and accessible to the media and the public” (LP, 24Feb2025).

This NEW subsection of NSFM’s In the News compiles related news items beginning with the Premier’s Letter to Caucus on Jan 21st, 2025. Items are listed in reverse chronological order (most recent items at top).

NSFM also provides some coverage of comments in Social Media under On Social Media.

View In the News: NS Democracy Issues

Posted in Freedom of Information, NS DNR, NS Gov | Comments Off on In the News on Nova Scotia Forest Matters: NS Democracy Issues 28Feb2025

Stories Maps Tell II: Where the Bowater map gets it right 14Feb2025

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

At issue in this ongoing series by Nina Newington is whether 3900 hectares of Crown land around Goldsmith Lake in Annapolis County should be protected, as citizen scientists propose, or whether it should remain available for forestry and other industrial activities.

In Stories Maps Tell I: Just Not True, posted Feb 2, 2025, Nina described the Bowater Maps for the area and how NRR/DNR is attempting to justify logging in this area by maintaining that, except for a couple of stands of officially recognized Old Growth, it is “managed forest” that was cut or treated between 1970 and 2012.  However close examination of the maps showed that there is a LOT of forest that was not touched during Bowater’s tenure.

Now,  in Stories Maps Tell II: Where the Bowater map gets it right, Nina describes how her FOI (Freedom of Information) requests revealed that DNR has been sitting on (not making public), the existence of some very old forest on the lands that were not touched during Bowater’s tenure. Further, investigations by Citizen Scientists revealed many occurrences of Frosted Glass Whiskers, a Species-at-Risk Lichen that is indicative of mature to Old Growth forests – and that they are most concentrated in those forest stands that were NOT managed by Bowater.

Go to Stories Maps Tell II

Posted in Citizen Sceince, Conservation, Landscape Level planning, ProtectedAreas, Species At Risk | Comments Off on Stories Maps Tell II: Where the Bowater map gets it right 14Feb2025

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.

Read more

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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

Posted in Citizen Sceince, Conservation, Landscape Level planning, Species At Risk, Wabanaki Forest | Comments Off on More on Nova Scotia DNR’s Zombie Forest Harvest Plans 15Jan 2025

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

Posted in Conservation, Sustainable Wood Harvests | Comments Off on NSWOOA providing “Live, in-the-woods demo of new ecological forestry equipment” Dec 13, 2024