When is a Clear Cut not a Clear Cut?

When the Government Promises You It Isn't - Natural Resource Strategy Is Wide Open for Business as Usual

by Miles Howe

Perhaps the only thing worse than doing nothing is doing something that's worse than doing nothing, and then touting it as having done something good. Such is the case with the Nova Scotia government's application of the Natural Resources Strategy as it relates to the future of our forests.

Readers may remember the wide-sweeping public consultation that went into “Phase 1” of the Natural Resource Strategy. Over 2,000 Nova Scotians from all walks of life participated, and over 600 submissions were received in response to the opportunity to shape Nova Scotia's future.

Phase 1's voluntary planning process birthed a document, titled “Our Common Ground: Nova Scotians Want Change”, in March of 2009. The demands contained within the document were clear as crystal. Clear cutting and whole tree harvesting practices in the province had to change, now. Readers should note that this was the last example of voluntary planning that the Dexter government ever requested. After 50 years of the process being a very important step in government/public communication, the current NDP government decided that voluntary planning really isn't for them.

Phase 2 involved an expert panel. The panel consisted of biologist and woodlot owner Bob Bancroft, forest ecologist Donna Crossland, and Bowater-Mersey forestry manager Jon Porter. Unfortunately, the three could not see eye to eye, and Mr. Porter went off on his own, and prepared his own report which touted the status quo, company line.

As for Mr. Bancroft and Ms. Crossland, backed by science, and flowing from public consultation, in February of 2010 they released the document “A Natural Balance: Working Toward Nova Scotia’s Natural Resources Strategy”. Included within the 132 recommendations was the need to drastically reduce clear cutting and end whole tree harvesting. The government reacted by preparing a strategic direction, complete with rosy promises, all of which was approved by cabinet.

But then came Phase 3, the NDP government's actual “Natural Resource Strategy”. The wording surrounding clear cutting and whole tree harvesting was vague, and left itself open to interpretation. The public reacted, groups from across the province denounced the government's “wishy-washy” stance, and hundreds protested in front of Government House in November of 2010. John MacDonnell, then Minister of Natural Resources, postured hard on the side of Nova Scotians, and promised a drastic reduction to clear cutting, and an end to whole tree harvesting. Premier Darryl Dexter promptly shuffled MacDonnell from the Natural Resources file.

 

Which brings us here. The exact wording contained within the Natural Resources Strategy, as it relates to clear cutting, is of the utmost importance. The Strategy notes that clear cutting within the province will comprise no more than 50% of all cuts. This sounds at least promising, but the proof is in the details.

The minimum regulatory targets for a clear cut, as defined by the Wildlife, Habitat and Watercourse Protection Regulations, are 10 trees per hectare, and one clump of 30 trees for every 8 hectares of clear cut. So, in theory, if one were so inclined, a certain Nova Scotia government might decided that they could define “not clear cut” as being just the least bit more than this minimum. They could, for example, claim that any cut that leaves 11 trees per hectare is not a clear cut. And this is exactly what they have done.

Is this better than doing nothing? Arguably not, because now the general public has been fleeced into believing that the notion of “50% of cuts will not be clear cuts” means something more than just one extra tree per hectare. But the NDP government has perverted the people's demands, and this is indeed all that it means. Is this what we expected? Or did we want an actual reduction in clear cut lands?

As for whole tree harvesting, it continues unabated, under review by the province.

Please enjoy the following conversation with award-winning forester and author Jaime Simpson, Matt Miller, award-winning independent woodlot owner and Forestry Program Coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, and Raymond Plourde, Wilderness Coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre.

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