Nova Scotia Forest Matters

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.

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