In 2008 this doc was published:
Implementation of Nova Scotia Interim Old Forest Policy “A Status Report”
Bruce Stewart & Peter Neily, Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources REPORT FOR 2008-1
The complete Interim Old Forest Policy is available on-line at:1
http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/forestry/planresch/oldgrowth/policy.htm
1
INTRODUCTION
In Nova Scotia the long and extensive history of forest alteration, the large proportion of land in private ownership, and the dynamic nature of forest growth cycles, make it challenging to find and conserve old forest in the province. In 1999, Nova Scotia implemented the Interim Old Forest Policy (NSDNR, 1999a) to identify and increase the representation and protection of old1 forests on Crown land and to support the long-term restoration of old growth forest in the Province.
The Interim Old Forest Policy is intended to clarify and consolidate the Department’ s initiatives to maintain old forests in the landscape. The primary goal is to set aside the best remaining old growth forests and old forest restoration opportunities by addressing gaps in old forest representation within the existing protected areas system (NSDNR, 1994). This will establish a network of high quality old forests that provide a critical component for forest age class planning.
The specific policy commitment by the province is to set aside as old growth and old forest, a minimum of eight percent of Crown land in each of the 39 forested ecodistricts defined by the Ecological Land Classification (ELC) for Nova Scotia (Neily et.al., 2003). Where possible, the selected forest should provide a full representation of the climax forest types that are ecologically natural for the ecodistrict, as determined by the “potential climax forest ” mapping asociated withthe ecosection level of the ELC. The Policy provides three criteria to aid decision making: I) favouring older stands in later stages of succession, ii) selecting larger stands and groups of stands, and iii) opting for stands with higher proportions of climax species.
The purpose of this document is to report on the implementation and achievements of the Interim Old Forest Policy up to 2008
METHODS
The policy was implemented by Department of Natural Resources Regional Services Integrated Resource Management (IRM) planning teams who assessed and selected stands following the five step procedure outlined in the policy. These steps provided a sequential approach toward fulfilling the policy commitments, as follows
Step 1:
All old growth (> 125 years old) within existing protected areas (including federal parks) is given the first priority to meet the policy targets.
The 1999-2003 provincial forest inventory (NSDNR, 2004) indicates that only 0.3 percent of the province is over 105 years of age. Therefore it was assumed that no ecodistrict had sufficient old growth in protected areas to meet the policy target, and a search of protected lands for old growth was not necessary to verify this.ars) on Crown land outside of protected areas (IRM – C1, C2) is the next priority for meeting the policy targets