Open letter to Nova Scotia Premier Houston Oct 17, 2024

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The letter from The Save our Old Forest Association (SOOF) with 17 co-sponsors requests cessation of logging in areas that are prime candidates for protection by 2030.

View Original Letter

View expanded version with photos & links below.
(Letter by SOOF;  photos, links and formatting by Nina Newington & David Patriquin)

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Thu, Oct 17, 2024

Dear Premier,

In the last election, many Nova Scotians were delighted when the PCs ran on a pledge to protect 20% of our lands and waters. We were pleased when you put that promise into legislation shortly after coming to power in 2021.

Now, though, that goodwill is being compromised by one of your departments. Instead of moving us towards protecting 20% by 2030, Natural Resources and Renewables is taking us backwards.

Beals Brook big view south, cutblock and new cuts centre foreground. Photo on  October 6, 2024 by Malachi Warr. View more drone images.

Consider what just happened on Crown land in the Beals Brook area of Annapolis County. Four different proposals to protect this part of the South Mountain are on file with the Department of Environment and Climate Change. Public support for protecting this area is strong. The Municipality of Annapolis County and the Towns of Annapolis Royal and Middleton voted to support protecting the area. They also called for a moratorium on forestry, road building and industrial activity in the area until it is designated. Citizen scientists collected ample data demonstrating the area’s importance for wildlife, including several species-at-risk. And yet, in the last month or so, NRR permitted WestFor to go in and log a cutblock that – 20 years ago – Bowater spared. Bowater spared it because it was worth more to wildlife than to the mill. Bowater listened to the requests of local citizens. WestFor ignored them. So did NRR.

Citizen scientists conducting lchen surveys at Beals Brook on May 2, 2022

The buffers around 17 species-at-risk lichens did protect 60% of the cut block in question. WestFor left that part alone, but not the remaining 10 hectares. There they took the oldest forest. There wasn’t much of it. They took the stand of mature spruce that provided the winter shelter and summer shade necessary to Mainland Moose. They took the narrow band of forest where the oldest oaks and maples grew, the big, often hollow trees perfect for Martens to den in. They took the forest that was invaluable to wildlife.

Buffers around 17 Secies-At-Risk lichen at Beals Brook

The whole planet is facing a climate and biodiversity crisis. One hundred and ninety-six countries have committed to protecting 30% of their lands and waters by 2030 but your government couldn’t set aside 10 hectares.

NRR is planning more of the same for areas proposed for protection on Crown land in Halifax, Queens, Kings and Annapolis Counties. Specifically, they are currently advancing plans to log 200 hectares in the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area and 64 hectares in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area Addition. They are refusing to put holds on existing harvest plans in the Chain Lakes Wilderness Area and the Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area. This is no way to engage with the public in achieving our collective goal of protecting 20%.

On the Water in the proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area. View more

In the Collaborative Protected Areas Strategy, published last December, the section titled “What We Heard From Public Engagement” concludes: “The desire for urgent action, a collaborative approach, and a transparent process were clearly articulated by participants.” This urgency has only strengthened over the last year. There is tremendous support for protecting nature now. But frustration is growing with your government on this file. Progress is glacial.

New logging road, Beals Brook  on October 6, 2024

We understand that identifying and documenting our most ecologically valuable forests is time-consuming. This is an area where members of the public are making valuable contributions. Unfortunately, far from being collaborative, NRR’s approach to the proposed Wilderness Areas listed above suggests indifference to the public’s contributions. Harvesting and road-building in these areas will, without question, degrade their conservation value.

The Department of Natural Resources and Renewables and the Department of Environment and Climate Change are mandated to work together to protect 20% of Nova Scotia in the next six years. The deadline for meeting the interim target of 15% — March 2026 — is even more demanding. Of necessity, most of the 300,000 hectares needed to meet the 20% target will come from Crown land. We need NRR to work with both ECC and the public to achieve this goal.

Recently cut at Beals Brook n October 6, 2024

Premier, please ask Minister Rushton and his department to

stop logging forests in areas that have been proposed for protection
stop logging high conservation value forests on Crown land
stop proposing areas to clearcut for plantation forestry until 20% of our lands and waters have been designated for protection.

We must save the best of what is left of our forests and we must do it now, not after the forestry industry has taken the very forests wildlife need to survive.

As the Lahey report reminds us, the time for balancing economic concerns against environmental ones is over. Protecting and restoring ecosystem health must be “the overarching priority.” This is how we protect our health and the health of future generations.

Please take action now.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Save Our Old Forests (SOOF) Association, Nina Newington, President
Blomidon Naturalists Society, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen, President
Citizen Scientists of Southwest Nova Scotia, Ashlea Viola (On behalf of)
Friends of Nature Conservation Society, Syd Dumaresq, Board Chair
Halifax Field Naturalists, Brenie McKenna, President
Healthy Forests Coalition, Mike Lancaster, Coordinator
Margaree Environmental Association, Neal Livingston and Brian Peters, Co-Chairs
Nature Nova Scotia, Bob Bancroft, President
Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society, Charles Cron, President
Queens County Fish and Game Association, David Dagley, Secretary
Saint Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association, Richard Howell, Chair
Southwest Paddlers Association, Sandra Phinney, President
Tusket River Environmental Protection Association, Barrie MacGregor, President
Annapolis Environment & Ecology (1,767 members) Bev Wigney (Administrator)
Citizen Science Mi’kma’ki (431 Members), Robert Bright (Administrator)
Friends of Goldsmith Lake Wilderness Area (669 members) Lisa Proulx (Administrator)
Nova Scotia Bird Protectors (492 Members) Bev Wigney (Administrator)
Stop Spraying and Clearcutting Nova Scotia (4,924 Members) Sydnee Lynn McKay (Administrator)

LINKS

Save Our Old Forests (SOOF)
Nova Scotia needs old forests. Old forests are valuable in and for themselves…In Nova Scotia, there aren’t many left. In 1958 forests over 80 years old made up 25% of Nova Scotia’s forests. By 2003 that figure was down to 1.5%. Most of the remaining old natural forests are in the southwest. We are not opposed to all forestry. We are opposed to logging forests that should be protected. But without a pause on logging in old forests, what will be left to protect?

Protect Ingram River Wilderness Area
“The proposed Ingram River Wilderness Area is a community-based initiative with over 50 supporting organizations and businesses. Located on the outskirts of Halifax, the proposed Wilderness Area presents a vision of renewal that is right for our time. It’s about giving an incredible expanse of lakes, rivers, and woods on our doorstep a second chance – a chance to recover, where forests can grow old again and wildlife can return. A future that bucks the trend of nature in decline in the face of climate change.”

Protect the Chain Lakes Wilderness Area
The Blomidon Naturalists Society is proposing a new wilderness area for Crown land in southwest Kings County. Why this place?

  • The southwest corner of Kings County is the only major section of Crown land in the County that remains largely forested without human habitation.
  • There are pockets of old growth, forests that are older than 80 years, beautiful lakes, and pristine still waters and wetlands.
  • Numerous endangered species have been identified in the area—the Canada Warbler, olive-sided flycatchers, wisqoq (black ash), and very rare lichens. There are snapping turtle nests, foraging chimneys swifts and nighthawks, and even the elusive rusty blackbird.
  • There is much to celebrate and protect, the pockets need to be linked as a wildlife corridor, and the cut areas can be restored given protection and time.

The Camps
Page on this website with compilations of info, post etc. related to citizen camps set up to protest logging in prime areas for forest protections
Subpages
Lichen Camp (Apr 30, 2024, ongoing)
Last Hope Camp (Dec 2, 2021 to Jun 1, 2022)
Moose Blockade/Camp (Oct 21, 2020-Mar 11, 2021)
Corbett-Dalhousie Lakes Old Forest (Early- to mid-June, 2019)