by Nina Newington, Camp Now entry for Day 82
Feb 19, 2026: – ‘Shock and awe’ at DNR: Wildlife division gone, managers sacked, and restructured department geared for natural resources exploitation and extraction
Joan Baxter in the Halifax Examiner.
I was going to write a cheery post about the new warmth in the February sun; the joy of shadows on snow; the steady stream of visitors to camp, travelling from near and far to drink tea and talk and walk or ski.
But then came this in the Halifax Examiner: ‘News of massive changes to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff landed in an email today, according to a source who asked for anonymity to protect his career.
The source describes the changes and sackings as “shock and awe,” and compares them to Elon Musk’s dramatic and vicious slashing of the United States’ public service by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last year.
The entire wildlife division in DNR is gone, replaced by something called “integrated resources planning,” which will be inside a new “Land Strategy and Planning Branch.” (…)
Sources also tell the Examiner that managers who were focussed on actual forest health – managers of biodiversity, of ecosystems and habitats, and the head of the wildlife division – were sacked.”
A member of what was the wildlife division spoke to CBC today:
“This is completely devastating to all of the work that the wildlife division was doing. We will not be able to function as an entity moving forward,” the source said.
The layoffs amount to the loss of “a massive amount of information” that will take years to recover and “will be completely devastating to conservation in Nova Scotia,” they said.
“There is no one left to protect wildlife in Nova Scotia.”
The managers in the Wildlife Division led small teams with specific missions:
-Understand and protect the biodiversity of Nova Scotia.
-Understand and protect the unique ecosystems and habitats in Nova Scotia,
-Maintain the health of game and non-game populations of wildlife in Nova Scotia.
Feb 20, 2026:
Shakeup at N.S. Natural Resources intended to ‘modernize’ support for development
Michael Gorman · CBC News
They had their own office in Kentville where they were meant to do science-based work, independent of industry and of the other divisions of DNR. They had their own division head. He has been fired too. The heads of the other two DNR divisions — Forestry and Geoscience & Mines — remain.
As my Day 79 post made clear, the upper reaches of DNR frequently undermined, twisted or corrupted the work of the Wildlife Division. They ignored, for example, a wildlife biologist’s report that she had been unable to place cameras so they had a good view of a possible endangered Chimney swift nest tree. Instead, they used the fact that the cameras had not captured any images of the birds as proof that the tree was not a nest tree. Nothing to see here.
The biologist did her job. She told the truth. She may never have seen what senior staff at DNR made of that truth.
It is important not to attack the people who are doing their best to do an important job – such as protecting biodiversity – within an unsupportive institution. The citizen scientists have reported hundreds of species at risk identifications. Until recently we always got a response from Dr. Donna Hurlburt, Ph.D., the Manager of Biodiversity within the Wildlife Division, thanking us for our work and acknowledging receipt of the information. This information was shared promptly with the Forestry Division and the required buffers were removed from the relevant harvest plans. The harvest plans were duly amended. Freedom of Information requests allowed us to track this process. (A recent change to this process is making it harder to track, but that’s for another day.)
Donna Hurlburt was fired yesterday. She posted about this last night on Facebook.
But the post I want to quote here is from February 9th:
‘Been thinking a lot about my experiences as a Mi’kmaw woman employed in government – natural resources management, at that. Good thing I came from strong resilient stock and my connections to the land and waters run deep. My moral compass sure is taking a beating as it tries to stay on its path. Doing my best to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, but it sure is a slog.’
I have deep respect and admiration for the woman who took on this work. In so many dimensions it must have been hard. Now more than ever we need to support each other, all those who are trying our best “to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
The forces of greed and ignorance are powerful and desperately short-sighted. We need everyone, whether you are camping by a logging road or still working in a government department, in academia or a non-profit or a corporation, or sitting at home, wondering what to do. Shoulder to shoulder, Mi’kmaq and settlers, we can resist the destruction of the Earth and work for a world where we take care of each other, human and other than human. We are all in the same boat. Those of us who know it must show it.
Msit No’kmaq
First step. Call your MLA and object. Numbers of calls count. No need for a long message.
Second step. Save the date: March 2nd at noon outside the legislature in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. Shoulder to Shoulder: We Are All Treaty People returns.