Updates
– Oct 9, 2025: Community members want land protected amid concerns over clearcutting
Michael Gorman · CBC News “Mike Lancaster is growing frustrated. For 10 years, the executive director of the St. Margarets Bay Stewardship Association has been part of a group of people working to get provincial protection for the proposed Ingram River wilderness area, about 11,000 hectares of Crown land that once belonged to Bowater. But as people continue to wait to see if the government will act, Lancaster says part of the proposed area is seeing applications for high-production forestry activity, such as clearcutting.Lancaster said the proposed wilderness area would include “one of the most, if not the most, ecologically valuable parts of Nova Scotia.” Within the 11,000 hectares is the oldest-known forest in the Maritimes, core habitat essential to the survival of the Mainland Moose, 16 species at risk that have been identified, and an additional 72 considered species of conservation concern. “How can you not want to protect an area that has the literal oldest forest in the Maritimes,” said Lancaster. “It’s a failure of government and public policy to not make this happen at this point.” Neither Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton nor Environment Minister Tim Halman would agree to an interview for this story….In a statement, a spokesperson for the Natural Resources Department said about 4,000 hectares of land in the Ingram River area has been protected as part of the Island Lake Wilderness Area, where no forestry activity is permitted. The statement goes on to say that harvesting that is happening in the Ingram River area is happening in places that are “not pristine wilderness.”But Lancaster said the province is missing out on the economic development potential of activities such as ecotourism and guiding that would come through the creation of a new wilderness area. He said the group’s proposal, which is supported by more than 50 citizen and business groups, would allow for ecological forestry activity — but not clearcutting — on about 70 per cent of the area that would make up the Ingram River wilderness area…”
– Sep 5, 2025: Province doubles area designated for proposed high-production forestry in Ingram River Wilderness Area
Madiha Hughees in the Hfx Examiner, Intro by Philip Muscovitvh in Morning File “The area targeted for high-production forestry (HPF) within the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area (IRWA) has more than doubled, putting at risk the oldest documented forest in the Maritimes, a core mainland moose habitat, and several at-risk species. This means 346 hectares (854.72 acres) of the St. Margaret’s Bay watershed would be clearcut, with about 164 hectares within the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area. Mughees speaks with forester Mike Lancaster, executive director of the St. Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association…Lancaster and his organization have worked hard to protect that area. Part of the area slated for clearcutting is a parcel that he and the Stewardship Association have spent considerable time and money restoring.”
– Aug 15, 2025: Concerned citizens attend full house meeting in Tantallon about proposed clearcutting of Ingram River Wilderness Area
Madiha Mughees in the Hfx Examiner. Intro in Morning File “About 100 people packed a Tantallon Public Library meeting space on Wednesday evening for a public awareness event about the importance of the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area, which has been designated for high-production forestry. Organizers argued that the area provides significant economic and ecological value and should be conserved. “Over 195.65 hectares, or 483.26 acres, of High Production Forestry has been proposed for the St. Margaret’s Bay watershed,” noted a Facebook post announcing the event.”
– July 30, 2025: Letter from Nina Newington/SOOF to DNR Minister Rushton “concerning the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) plans to clearcut in the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area as well as in the Beals Brook, Tobeatic-Tidney Extension andChain Lakes Wilderness Areas.
– July 22, 2025: ‘All is not well here in the forests of Nova Scotia’: An open letter to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change by Bev Wigney in the Halifax Examiner.
– July 20, 2025: NatureNS: Community Nominated Protected Areas Need Your Help & How you can help
-July 17, 2025: The EAC’s Statement on the Prioritization of Clearcutting over Conservation in the Proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area
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Original Post
A Forest Alert issued by the Healthy Forest Coalition Jul 14, 2025:
Just over 195.65 ha, or 483.26 acres, of High Production Forestry has been proposed for the St. Margaret’s Bay watershed. This equates to over 366 football fields. 77.53 ha, or 191.5 acres, of those harvests have been proposed within the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area (IRWA) under three separate polygons:
HX025202 – 24.13 hectares – within IRWA – comments due by July 22
HX025201 – 6.63 hectares – within IRWA – comments due by July 22
HX025191 – 46.77 hectares – within IRWA – comments due by Aug. 23
HX025188 – 16.59 hectares – comments due by July 22
HX025190 – 9.18 hectares – comments due by July 22
HX025186 – 3.5 hectares – comments due by July 22
HX025183 – 68.72 hectares – comments due by Aug. 23
HX025194 – 20.13 hectares – comments due by Aug. 23
You can view the proposed harvests by navigating to the Harvest Plans Map Viewer, and you can learn more about the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area by following this link.
Where:
Ingram River Wilderness Area – former Bowater-Mersey lands, North of St. Margaret’s Bay and HWY 103.
What is High-Production Forestry?
High-Production Forestry (HPF) is an application of land and forest management techniques that focus on the maximization of extraction. HPF is one of the three legs of Bill Lahey’s proposed ‘Triad Forestry’, with ‘conservation’ and ‘ecological forestry’ representing the other two legs.
In short, applying HPF onto an identified landscape relegates the area to a perpetual cycle of clearcutting on short rotations.
The Problem?
Nova Scotia is legally required to protect approximately 330,000 hectares of its lands and waters within the next five years. IRWA, widely recognized as one of the most significant areas for public land conservation in Nova Scotia, is incredibly well-positioned to be protected as part of this initiative.
The Department of Natural Resources claims they do not cut even close to the total amount of wood our forests grow every year. This would mean there is a high-level of flexibility in what areas can be protected without harming industry in any way.
Why on earth would this area be getting targeted for High Production Forestry?
Why is this happening now?
Why pick a fight here when there are so many places for HPF values to be in less conflict with conservation and community?
The move to slate this ideal candidate for protection for perpetual clearcutting looks like a vindictive move to cut the area before it is protected.
Why everyone should be concerned
- Loss of a public natural resource close to the expanding city of Halifax
- “Industrialised” forestry process leaving ugly, barren landscapes
- Threatens the final extinction of the Mainland Moose
- Impoverishes soil, resulting in less fire-resistant forests
- Increases peak and total run-off during storms; leading to flash floods and destruction of bridges, roads and other infrastructure, and a long-term increase in streambank erosion and subsequent silting up of downstream pools, lakes, coves and estuaries.
- Failure of government to choose other areas and methods which are apparently available, over this area, which is part of a sensitive and irreplaceable ecosystem and close to homes and major roads
The proposed IRWA:
- Contains the oldest documented forest in the Maritimes, with one tree that is 535 years old
- Is observed to support at least 17 Species at Risk and 72 species of conservation concern known to be within Ingram River Wilderness Area.
- Supported by over 50 businesses and nonprofits, including the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq and the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia, with a combined membership of 50,000.
- The area has been identified as core habitat for Mainland Moose, meaning that the protection of this land is essential for the long-term survival of the species.
Adding insult to injury, the St. Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association, the organization leading the charge on the IRWA proposal, was delivered a commitment from DNR in 2021 that the areas not protected under the Island Lake Wilderness Area designation would either be protected in the future or fall under the ecological forestry leg of the triad. This commitment has been cast aside and flagrantly ignored.
What you can do:
Submit comments through the Harvest Plans Map Viewer process by clicking on the “User Comments” button on the left side of the screen and then selecting the polygons.
Express your support for the designation of IRWA and concerns about this logging to Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables Tory Rushton at toryrushtonmla@bellaliant.com and mindnr@novascotia.ca.
Express your support for the designation of IRWA and concerns about these cuts to Minister of Environment and Climate Change Tim Halman at timhalmanmla@gmail.com and Minister.Environment@novascotia.ca.
Express your support for the designation of IRWA and concerns about this logging to Premier of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston, at pictoueastamanda@gmail.com and premier@novascotia.ca.
It is beyond frustrating to see this ‘cut-it-before-it’s-too-late’ mentality occur within the boundaries of the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area. Nova Scotia has legally committed to protecting 20% of our lands and waters by 2030, and Ingram River Wilderness Area is one of the best candidates to further this protection. Having these harvests come up creates an unnecessary conflict between conservation and forestry values that does not need to occur, making the conversation of balancing societal values more difficult than it needs to be.
