WEST DALHOUSIE, N.S. — It wasn’t just about the old forest at Corbett Lake, said Sue Skipton, one of the people who helped convince Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin to halt the harvest of a section of Crown forest south of Bridgetown. It was about forests everywhere.
Now she’s helped put together a Forest Manifesto that would give communities more say in what happens in their woods, places more ecological value on old forests, makes wildlife harm reduction a priority, demands proper watershed buffers to reduce flooding, erosion, and nutrient loss, and demands an immediate and dramatic reduction in clear cutting.
See Also: HARVEST HALTED
See Also: RESIDENTS CAMP OUT
And they’re not just talking about the small peninsula of Crown forest between Corbett and Dalhousie lakes – the manifesto applies to the entire province.
“Even though most know our names from Corbett-Dalhousie area, we’re working for the betterment of all forests in Nova Scotia,” Skipton said. “People need to band together, as we did, and keep the ball rolling for the proper management of our forests and all that live within.”
Skipton is with Annapolis Royal and Area Environment and Ecology Group, author of the manifesto that comes out just days before an Ecological Forestry Forum to be held in Truro.
MANIFESTO
In a general statement, the manifesto document points out that on June 17 the House of Commons passed a motion to declare a national climate emergency in Canada and that on May 6 the United Nations' Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released its report stating that over a million species are on the verge of extinction.
“Within that framework, our group is advancing the following response to the Lahey Report,” the manifesto said before listing its six demands. “The report emphasizes the need to shift away from current forestry practices to ones that give priority to the protection and maintenance of natural ecosystems and biodiversity.”
"In other words, I have concluded that protecting ecosystems and biodiversity should not be balanced against other objectives and values as if they were of equal weight or importance to those other objectives or values,” Lahey said in the 2018 report. “Instead, protecting and enhancing ecosystems should be the objective (the outcome) of how we balance environmental, social, and economic objectives and values in practicing forestry in Nova Scotia. A number of reasons are given for this conclusion, but the primary reason is that ecosystems and biodiversity are the foundation on which the other values, including the economic ones, ultimately depend."
SMALL STEP
“The province's change of heart about cutting in the Corbett-Dalhousie Lake forest during migratory bird nesting season was a small step in the right direction for the management of Crown lands,” said Nina Newington with Extinction Rebellion Forest Protectors who led a protest at the proposed harvest site for almost a week.
She helped put together the manifesto with ARAEE headed by Bev Wigney who first toured the Corbett Lake forest on Boxing Day 2018 and has been pushing for its protection ever since.
Newington said the ARAEE manifesto, coming as it does a few days before the government's Ecological Forestry Forum, outlines a direction Extinction Rebellion hopes the province will take as it finds ways to implement the Lahey Report.
“In a time of climate and ecological emergency, we must restore the biodiversity of our forests and allow their trees and soils to store carbon,” she said. “Key demands are to halt cutting in all old mixed species forests until a more sustainable ecological forestry has replaced the industrial model we have now. Many old forests should be left alone to replenish our meager supply of old growth forests.
She said clear-cutting must be massively reduced immediately.
“There is a widespread perception that harvesting plans have been rushed through under the old Forest Management Guide, a guide that Professor (Bill) Lahey described as deeply flawed,” Newington said. “All harvesting plans approved under the old regimen should be cancelled and resubmitted for approval under new ecological guidelines. Only in this way can the province rebuild trust in its ability to manage our public lands.”
STATEMENT
Wigney said the document was prepared as a pre-conference statement in response to the Ecological Forestry Forum being held by Department of Lands and Forestry June 25. She said no one in her group was invited to attend.
“Our group decided that we wished to make a statement concerning ecological forestry in our county,” Wigney said. “We citizens don't ever seem to be regarded as stakeholders even though forestry operations are happening all around us and certainly do have an impact on our lives – everything from our roads, to our watersheds, to the effect of thousands of acres of clear-cut ‘scenic views’ on our tourism. “
She said the impact on wildlife is huge with loss of habitat for nesting migratory birds and bears wandering into yards after being displaced by massive forestry operations.
“We feel it is within our right to issue a well-considered statement so that, at the very least, those who create policy will realize that there are ‘people’ who actually live and work in the midst of these forests,” Wigney said. “We are not being properly consulted or respected. That has to change.”
LONG TERM
Newington is looking at the long-term affects of forest destruction and climate change impacts that are already happening.
“Our forests do not exist primarily for the benefit of logging companies and pulp mills,” she said. “They belong to the earth and to all the living beings that inhabit them. If humans are to survive we must reverse the damage we have done by treating nature as a resource to be pillaged.”
“Indigenous knowledge, science, community engagement, the perspectives of forestry workers, all are vital as we engage in consultation and planning for the uses of our public lands,” she said. “Rural jobs matter. With time and care, a sustainable forestry supplying building materials and firewood can be developed. Recreation, ecotourism, non-timber forest products can create jobs but only if, from now on, we respect the natural limits of our forests.”
Lisa Jarrett, Lands and Forestry spokesperson confirmed the forum is taking place June 25 at Dalhousie University Agricultural Campus starting at 9 a.m.
“Minister Iain Rankin and Deputy Minister Julie Towers will be providing an update on the implementation of ecological forestry at a stakeholder forum,” Jarrett said.
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