Voluntary Planning

Vision:
My ‘vision’ for biodiversity, forests, minerals and parks in Nova Scotia is:

Biodiversity and forestry

It is of paramount importance that biodiversity is maintained, currently we are seeing huge declines in forest dwelling bird species, studies have attributed this to mainly loss of habitat. The demise and destruction of the Acadian forest must stop. We are seeing mature Acadian forests continually mowed down by clear cutting to be replaced by sterile (sometimes non native) tree plantations. This completely changes the habitat and all typical Acadian forest flora and fauna suffer and decline in number. I want to see a forest industry that is as diverse as the species that dwell within them. This would include high end consumer/artistic products not just pulp or saw logs that are shipped out of province for further milling. Our foresters need to focus on continuous canopy forestry, in other words selective cutting of the type we see the Nova Scotia Woodlot owners and operators promoting. This ensures the forest remains intact WITHOUT clear cutting and continues to provide habitat for all species.

Minerals

The current moratorium on uranium mining should remain in place indefinitely no matter how ‘assured’ we are made to believe that it is safe. Mines or quarries should NOT be allowed in places where the local population are against a proposal as we saw with the proposed Digby Neck quarry. Mines should also NOT be allowed in any sensitive areas or within a significant distance of a protected area boundary, including parks and wilderness areas. Also any mines should not be allowed to have any affect on any water course, lake, stream, swamp, bog, fen or river.

Parks

Government should use our parks to help Nova Scotian’s explore and bond with nature. There is an increasing gap between Nova Scotians and the natural world. Years ago, our children were taught the names of the wildflowers in schools, this no longer happens and natural history and the forest has become something to be feared by many children. Natural Resources should be leading ‘field trips’ into our parks with school children up to the Grade 12 level to help them bond with nature and for them to learn how much we truly do rely on it for our own well being both spiritually and physically. Natural resources staff should be involved with school children of all ages and exploring our parks in a safe way should be made a part of the school curriculum.

Strengths:
The current strengths as I see it are actually quite simple: It is our protected wilderness areas. We need more of them, many more. Natural Resources IRM planning process is very pro industrial forestry and from my travels as a landscape painter along Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore, the crown lands have been clear cut and increasingly so through the past few years. So much so in fact that I am sure our tourism sector will be affected in the future. Our other strengths are our regional biologists that work for DNR, but they are but a small voice and need to have more power when the department proposes questionable clear cutting in areas that are sensitive like Mainland Moose habitat.

Barriers and Issues:
The department of natural resources basically ignore the general public with regard to their forest practices. They are a resource based department with a mandate to promote the use of Nova Scotia’s so called resources. Natural resources MUST become more in tune with current day land use ethics of the type we see in Germany for example where a forester would no doubt lose their job for clear cutting a forest. The department is like an ‘old boys’ club where younger more forward thinking staff members have little or no say in the pecking order. The foresters basically all go to the same school to learn industrial forestry, the same school as the foresters that run the pulp mills. There is a questionable relationship there that must change. I have been active for about 12 years trying to protect Nova Scotia’s forests. I was significantly involved in the Gully Lake and Eigg Mtn wilderness areas and have been a leader in trying to stop industrial forest spraying in my community on several occasions, all against the will of the Natural Resources department.

Community's Priorities:
1. Biodiversity, STOP clear cutting the Acadian forest and changing it into a mono culture

2. Protect our water, our forests don’t only provide us with jobs, but also clean water and air.

3. STOP forest herbicide spraying - herbicide spraying happens in communities that simply don’t want it, yet, we (the people) have NO say in whether this method of ‘thinning’ is used or not.

4. Educate our young people bring them to the forests, teach them to be physically and spiritually connected to the natural world.

5. MORE protected wilderness areas, many more, no matter what the financial costs, we will NEVER be able to replace what we have lost, We must do this before its too late.

Guiding the health and sustainability:
We need a change in our ‘land ethic’. Nova Scotian’s and DNR need to form a new relationship to the land that is based on respect and preservation. This needs to be done in a way where the general public is PROUD to have a department that doesn’t just speak for extraction but also the many many people who use the forests for pleasure or retreat and also for the species that do not have a voice in this process.

Additional Comments:
I am not sure why I am filling out this questionnaire. I have been involved in many deep battles with DNR over the years on protected areas issues and sat next to the deputy minister at one point in a public forum. My trust with DNR has just about eroded. I am disgusted and ashamed at the state of Nova Scotia’s forests. Areas that I have painted in or fly fished or bird watched are now gone. Not just one or two, but many of them, clear cut. This must stop. We are growing poisoned sprayed mono cultures in this province, destined for the pulp mill - designed to feed a bottomless world market. There will NEVER be enough trees in our province to feed this world market, there for it will all go. Make this a process where you listen not just to the people but to the forests, it to has its own intrinsic values separate from our own. Listen to the birds that are declining and the magnificent moose that is now endangered, the Atlantic Salmon and the Brook Trout, the Pine Martin and the Evening Grosbeak, a few species of many that are directly connected to the forests and are declining rapidly. Somehow this process has to give them hope, it is not just about humans but so much more.