Sketch shows prominence of highly acidic, calcium-deficient/high aluminum forest soils in Nova Scotia. Sketch after Keys et al. (2016), Fig 3. More about it here. Could such conditions affect the feasibility of a new paper mill in Queens Co.?
Recently I viewed an e-mail from a Paper Excellence official, addressed (apparently) to a set of “forestry sector stakeholders”, in which the focus topics for an upcoming meeting to be held in Queens Co in early September are described, and inviting addressees to share their thoughts, suggest topics for future meetings etc.
The focus topics included, amongst others, considerations related to air emissions and effluents, and forestry-related modelling assumptions.
These topics are surely of interest and have impacts outside of the forestry sector per se.
I sent a message to several officials with the Queens Co. municipality and with Paper Excellence officials who I thought would probably know about such meetings asking “Is there some public announcement about the meeting that can be shared more broadly?”. I also commented: ” It is crucial that there is broad discussion of the pros and cons of a new mill… If such meetings are semi-secret/not open, the process will lack credibility as well as important input.”
On Aug 27, 2024, I received this info from a Paper Excellence Official:
The meetings set up in September are stakeholder meetings. We are holding two meetings that day by invitation. The first is a stakeholder meeting for approx. 25 people. We’ve met already with this group to start getting feedback and many of them represent organizations and business interests in the community. The second meeting is for forestry stakeholders – approx. 40 have been invited – to provide feedback on the forestry assumptions we are putting into the model for the feasibility study.
As we are only at the feasibility stage, we are keeping the feedback sessions smaller. The goal of the feasibility study is really to understand how and if the economics of the project can work. If the feasibility study proves to be positive, then we would advance to a project planning and environmental assessment stage where we would hold more public engagement sessions to receive more input on the project.
So… I guess we all stay tuned and hope that the forestry sector stakeholders address/highlight issues pertinent to feasibility that the rest of us might raise.
For example, one of my concerns is whether the forests of SW Nova Scotia can sustain fairly intensive harvesting, re: extreme soil and aquatic acidification/base cation depletion (see figure above); will such harvesting in fact worsen the current situation?
The level of forest harvesting affects other uses and values of our forests. Thus I wonder about the Forestry-related modelling assumptions. Separately I had been and still am attempting to get answers from the NS Government to the following questions:
Background
The figure of “5.7 million cubic meters/yr” is cited as the Sustainable Harvest Level for NS, e.g., in the NS Forestry Economic Task Force’s Nova Scotia Forestry Sector Fact SheetQuestions
(1) What is publicly available or can be shared about how that number was generated?
(2) Is it a current figure? I.e. it’s what’s available currently, or is it based on future yields with improved silviculture etc.?
(3) What’s the figure for Crown Lands, and how does that break down under the Matrix, HPF zones?
(4) What rotation lengths are assumed for the Matrix lands?
(5) What are the assumptions, if any, in relation to protection of more Crown & private lands (re: 20% target)?
(6) What are the assumptions in regard to private lands, e.g., what proportion of private lands are assumed to be available?
(7) About forest age structure: what assumptions are made, if any, to allow more old forest/old growth to develop over time; if not, what is the expectation, will the current age structure be maintained?
(8) About nutrient limitations on the matrix lands, and private lands: what assumptions are made about regrowth with and without fertilization etc.?
The more I think about it, the more questions I have. Here are a couple:
(9) What are the assumptions in regard to full-tree harvesting on private, and on Crown lands (where its presently not permitted), re: NS Bioeconomy plans*
*View
– Nova Scotia Forest Sector – Bio-Product Opportunities, Full Report, Dec 7, 2022, available on request from NS Forestry Economic Task Force
– Bioeconomy Development Opportunity Zone Risk Rating, Sep 20, 2023 available from NS Forestry Economic Task Force
– Nova Scotia’s Biorefinery Plan cites full-tree harvesting, other requirements to make it competitive. Post on nsforestnotes.ca Feb 22, 2017.(10) Are Mi’kmaw-administered lands included in the estimate? if so what assumptions are applied (e.g., are they equivalent to assumptions related Crown lands, to private lands or entirely separate)?
Just maybe it’s all pertinent to the feasibility of a new mill in Queen’s Co. And to a lot more.
– david p
RELATED
– From In the News – Announcements
Ongoing
Nova Scotia RRA (Regional Risk Assessment for Sustainable Biomass Program) seeking input from stakeholders on RRA for Nova Scotia’s harvestable forest land base.
Notice received June 16, 2024 via Google Alert for “Forestry, Nova Scotia”.No date is given for its issuance or for when the comment period is to begin. There is a link to Register to provide input. UPDATE: Received from Brenda Hopkin Jul 27, 2024 in response to an inquiry, re: when can we expect to be notified: “We are in the final stages of finishing the RRA. We are aiming for the middle of August & will post the end date in the notification.” Aug 13: new notification “You should receive notification by beginning of September. We decided not to send out during the summer.
– Feedback sought on Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s Regional Risk Assessment for sourcing biomass from Nova Scotia’s harvestable forest land base 16Jun2024
Post on nsforestmatters.ca, June 14, 2024.
– BDO Zone Initiative issues an “A-rating” for Southwest Nova Scotia as a location to develop “Bioeconomy Projects” 4Feb2024
by David Patriquin, Post on versicolor.ca/nstriad Feb 4, 2024. “This latest “Bioeconomy” initiative would involve use of 550,000 green metric tons per year of sawmill residuals and by-product wood fibre from the forest sector. In the formal BDO Zone Report, cautions are expressed that are not amongst the highlights cited in PR lit about the Bioeconomy prospects for SW Nova Scotia and presumably are amongst the reasons that a higher rating (AAA or AA versus the A-rating given) was not realized, e.g. related to nutrient limitations, uncertainty about buy-in of private woodlot owners, sustainability concerns and associated public opinion.”