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In the article below, the "grey-winged moth" should read, "Pale-winged Grey [or Gray]", and its Latinized name in Wagner's "Caterpillars of Eastern North America" is Iridopsis ephyriaria. This is a native inchworm moth (Geometridae) that caused major defoliation in Kejimkukik National Park, which is a bit west of Molega Lake, in 2002 and succeeding years. "Red root" should read "Redroot" and its Latinized name is Lachnanthes caroliana. Cheers from Jim in Wolfville ---------- From: Elizabeth Doull <edoull@ns.sympatico.ca> Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:11:00 -0300 To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca Subject: [NatureNS] Article on Molega Lake Fragile & endangered Randall Knox is proud that he saved a parcel of his land around Molega Lake, but he still likes to chop down trees By Bev Ware South Shore Bureau | 6:24 AM July 15, 2007 Halfax Herald Photos are in the website: http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian CENTURY-OLD stands of hemlock trees provide welcome shade from the 33 C heat. Rays of sun pass through the treetops, creating a hazy path from heaven to earth. The needle-covered branches 24.5 metres above shimmer in a gentle breeze but as we lower our heads and look out across the forest, it is a sea of brown, not green, that greets the eye. That’s because the grey-winged moth has eaten their foliage. "Two or three years ago, this would be green," says Randall Knox, although he says the damage hasn’t spread to the extent he had feared this time last year. Mr. Knox donated the entire 14.6 hectares in which we stand to the Nova Scotia Nature Trust to be protected. The trust’s Duncan Bayne tells him the damage isn’t so bad here because this is a relatively healthy forest. And it’s healthy because it’s old and untouched. The different types of trees and their varying heights help ward off pests, Mr. Bayne explains. In newer forests, the trees are pretty much the same species and the same age, so when a pest such as the grey-winged moth decides to do damage, it goes right through the forest and kills all the trees in its path. The variety of species found here on the Knox Conservation Lands on the shores of Molega Lake in Queens County "make the whole ecosystem so much more robust and resistant," says Mr. Bayne, who is land procurement co-ordinator with the provincial nature trust. Mr. Knox, a third-generation forester, is beginning to look at these trees in a different way — but he isn’t entirely a convert. He doesn’t see himself as a naturalist and believes protection efforts must be balanced against economic benefits. His father gave him this land to harvest. He looks around and with a glint in his eye says, "I wish I had a chainsaw in my hand. I’m not lying to you. It would please me no end to come in with a chainsaw and start cutting." All his life he has seen the forest in an entirely different way from those working to save it. "The trees on the land, to me, are more important than the ecosystem, the snakes, the plants that most of you are interested in," Mr. Knox says, gesturing to the nature trust workers and volunteers here to monitor what’s going on. With patient explanation from Mr. Bayne, he has gradually seen the value of these trees beyond how much they would fetch at the mill. "It has changed my perspective, I’ll admit that." It took a couple of years of careful thought before he handed over the land and its endangered reptiles and flora for protection but now he says: "Maybe this was a better thing to do than I first realized. It will be a thing that will last forever." The Knox Conservation Lands are unique because of their forest and flora. Southwest Nova Scotia is one of only two places in Canada where you can find Atlantic coastal plain flora; the only other spot is in the southern part of the Great Lakes, but by far the most are found here. Of the 90 species that exist, 11 are endangered and found only in southwest Nova Scotia. Five are globally endangered with extinction. "So we have not just a provincial responsibility, a maritime responsibility and a national responsibility for the plants, we have a global responsibility for their protection," says Mr. Bayne. The Molega Lake conservation lands are home to two rare species at risk. One is a plant and the other is a reptile. The red root plant, one of Canada’s last-seen wildflowers, and the eastern ribbon snake are both endangered. The red root is found only in the shores of freshwater lakes and bogs in southwest Nova Scotia and is plentiful here, while the snake is only found here and in southern Ontario. Not only is the snake rare, it’s also hard to find. Mr. Bayne and a couple of nature trust employees monitoring flora search for one on part of the shores of Molega Lake. "The chances are not good," Mr. Bayne says as he starts out. "They’re so unpredictable." The snakes are small (46 centimetres at most) and quite thin, and they freeze and try to blend into their environment or hide under rocks. "We really have to plan our route of attack, then move incredibly quickly to catch one." Perhaps it’s the heat, but there is not a snake to be found this day. Most endangered species in Nova Scotia are found on private land, which is why working with private landowners is so important. If not for people like Mr. Knox, this forest and the species that live here would be unprotected. "Randall . . . sets a tremendous example for other landowners," Mr. Bayne says. Less than 0.01 per cent of Nova Scotia forests are old-growth, he says. "There needs to be areas that are protected so that old-growth species can survive and live." Most forests in Nova Scotia have been cut three or four times, and the trees are only 40 or 50 years old. But many of the trees here are more than 100 years old, some 200 and 300 years old, and the forest includes different types of trees that make up old-growth forests. In the forest that surrounds us, hemlocks grow with yellow birch, ash, red spruce, oak and some beech. Old-growth forests aren’t determined by age but by habitat, which can only come with time. There must be an ecological process going on; a cycle that shows the forest is alive. Trees in an old-growth forest are so ancient and huge they fall down, opening a spot for the sunlight to beam down and encourage seedlings to emerge. The old tree on the forest bed decays and creates and supports new life in the form of mosses, lichens and insects. Even the dead trees still left standing, called snags, are important because birds nest there and raptors use their bare branches to search for prey. "This forest is moving definitely toward old-growth, but it’s not old-growth yet," Mr. Bayne says. "In another hundred years it will well qualify as old-growth. It’s an incredible place, it really is." He looks around with excitement at the green living trees and the decaying, moss-coated trunks lying across our path. Up ahead, the hemlocks thin and the path turns to green grass, opening up on to maple saplings and cranberries growing along the shores of Molega Lake. A frog croaks at the disturbance. The only obvious sign of life is a dragonfly skimming across the edge of the silent water. Mr. Bayne crouches down and takes a tiny white flower gently between his fingers. This too explains why these lands are so important. He is touching a lance-leaved violet, one of the rare species of coastal plain flora. To his right is red root, which looks just like thick blades of grass. It’s hard to see why these little plants wedged between pebbles and small rocks are important. "They’re part of an ecosystem," Mr. Bayne says. "The more species you have, the more robust the habitats are." These little plants are indicators of the health of the ecosystem in southwest Nova Scotia. "They tell us about the quality of our natural environment. If you lose them, you might not immediately notice the impact, but it tells you something is very, very wrong and if you don’t notice, it’s going to come around and hit you in the back of the head." These plants are endangered for two reasons — they are only found here, and they are being damaged by humans. They grow around the rocks in the relatively barren soil between the low and high water marks. Every year, the ice comes up, scours the water’s edge and scrapes it back into the lake. There’s little competition in this environment and the coastal-plain flora love it and thrive here, but they need that constant cycle of scouring to create these conditions. Not all areas around Molega Lake have this seasonal rhythm. A slight ripple disturbs the surface of the lake as a welcome breeze picks up. The lake is peppered with innumerable islands created by rocks left behind when the glaciers receded. While there are about 200 cottages on its shores, only one can be seen from here — and you have to look carefully to see it, as it is all but shielded from sight by the woods. Covenants ensure all cottages are built 30.5 metres from the shore. Patti Green works with the nature trust to preserve the delicate flora that grow not far from these cottages. She’ll be contacting many of these cottage owners later in the summer to explain the importance of the secret life that thrives just metres from their summer homes. "The biggest thing landowners can do to protect this habitat is leave it in its natural state," she says. Even building little docks can disrupt life because they alter the water flow and stir up sediment. Mr. Knox had intended to harvest this land; that’s why his father gave it to him. But not anymore. His father certainly wasn’t a naturalist, and Mr. Knox insists he isn’t either. As he walks back out of the woods toward his large Toyota truck, he says he still sees the almighty dollar when he looks around. But today he thinks he also sees more. Now, he sees the future. ( bware@herald.ca)
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