[NatureNS] re Red Herring & Forestry

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From: "David & Alison Webster" <dwebster@glinx.com>
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Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:20:15 -0400
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   &lt;br/&gt;&amp;#62; sooner. There are stacks of research papers
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Hi Donna & All,                                    Jan 11, 2016
    I will address some of your other comments later but first things =
should come first.

    It would be of great help if this whole tree harvesting were =
documented in a factual way and made public. This, to be credible, =
should be done with care to not exaggerate or wrap in emotion. This =
wears thin quickly.=20

   About 1995 (?) I spent a few hours with a man from Newfoudland who =
had taken Silvaculture in NB and moved directly to BC for work. So I =
asked why he had not remained in Atlantic Canada.  His long reply =
reduced to few words was that Forestry in Atlantic Canada was dead =
by1970; nagged to death by environmentalists plus Forestry here has many =
natural disadvantages: as pulp mills became obsolete they would shut and =
the companies would move on.

  About 8 years ago Irving generated flak by refusing to reroute a road, =
at great cost, to avoid possibly disturbing a Heron colony. A paste from =
one of my e-mails is relevant.   =20
PASTE from my post of Mar 27, 2008 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
   In any case those who objected to normal Forestry harvesting cycles=20
of about 100 years will soon look back to those times as the good old=20
days, as more forest land is converted back to farming or to 7-year=20
biomass harvesting cycles.
  END OF PASTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ =20
    Shortly after the Cod stocks collapsed many years ago I happened to =
hear an Economics Prof. from Memorial on the radio. According to him, =
Nfld. would do just fine without fisheries; there was Teaching, Highways =
work, Health Care, Police work... all activities which consume wealth =
and no primary industry to create wealth.  This is typical of modern =
'thought'.

    I had wanted as time permitted to discuss the future of Forestry on =
Naturens but unfortunately a brush fire, in the form of whole tree =
harvesting, takes priority. First I think it helps to employ the power =
of self-interest.=20

    There have been shortages of firewood, hardwood for high value =
products and wood pellets in recent years and I would guess that =
biomass, not only for local plants but for export, is a major cause of =
this. If the above washes,after careful documentation, then it should be =
made public.=20

    As I think I observed some time ago, the colossal machine trades =
local jobs for remote jobs and exports wealth. That aspect could also be =
documented to effect I suspect; self-interest again.

Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
   =20
   =20
   =20

----- Original Message -----=20
From: "Donna Crossland" <dcrossland@eastlink.ca>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2016 10:43 PM
Subject: RE: [NatureNS] re Red Herring & Forestry


> There is no whole-tree harvesting allowed on Crown lands.  Bob =
Bancroft and
> I suggested this be enacted back in 2010 during the Natural Resources
> Strategy, and it may be one of the very few good things (sadly) that =
stemmed
> from our work.  But as we know, Crown land is a very small portion of =
the
> province.  Private lands are where the atrocities are presently =
occurring,
> and there is an increasing focus on how to convince private land =
holders to
> relinquish their wood. =20
>=20
> Foresters have been ordered to go and find suitable private lands for =
"full
> tree" harvesting for some companies.  The criteria are deplorably low =
and
> devastating on the ecology of the land.  Search for lands that are at =
least
> 50 % treed (species not important, but hardwood is best for most =
operations)
> that are 4 inches in diameter (DBH) or greater.  (Teeny, tiny trees, =
in
> other words.)
>=20
> Our Nova Scotia forests are being cut long before maturity and long =
before
> they are allowed to recover and grow to the next successional stage.
> "Stands" of grey/wire birch (barely meet the criteria of a "stand") =
are
> being mowed down; this little tree which generally indicates past =
abuses
> wherever it grows by its very nature is never allowed to 'heal the =
land' or
> restore soil, as is part of its natural ecological role.  The =
flattening of
> such stands resets the land to the same early successional stage.  =
Other
> stand types are also being cut using the same criteria.  Yellow birch, =
sugar
> maple, no matter-all sent through the chipper.  It doesn't matter if =
it's
> green or brown biomass.  There are no laws for private.  I sometimes =
lie
> awake at night during springtime and wonder how many bird nests and =
young
> are being sent through the chipper while we sleep (operations go all =
night
> and day, no matter the season in the mad dash for the last pitiful =
grab). =20
>=20
> The tops of some of the softwoods, if present in the stand during a =
full
> tree chipping operation, may be taken back out to the site and =
scattered
> around.  The goal is not environmental so much as to please the buyer =
who
> wants mainly hardwood chips for industrial pellets overseas. And other =
wood,
> of course is going to the Port Hawkesbury burner.  Biomass burners are
> starting to pop up here and there elsewhere in NS, too.  (We no longer =
grow
> trees to saw log size, and no new saw log mills have been started up =
for
> ages.)
>=20
> Companies such as Reeves out of New Ross puts most of their cut =
through the
> chipper.  Chips are going to Sheet Harbour and from there I am not =
certain
> to where.  I know that several years ago, some operations were quietly
> shipping wood chips across the Atlantic to biomass burners in Europe =
so they
> could state they were generating 'green energy'.  It would be =
laughable if
> it were not so sad.=20
>=20
> I am happy to see this topic being focussed upon by the naturalist
> community, and I am grateful to Jamie Simpson's research into biomass. =
 This
> is a very important subject, and one that our current politicians =
would not
> disagree with.  More that I would like to share with folks on that =
later,
> but there is another item or two that I would like to address before =
bed-=20
>=20
> About thinning:  What I've been reading in this thread is an old =
school,
> 'agronomist' perspective still widely taught in forestry, and a =
strongly
> held mantra with foresters, but one not generally adopted by
> biologists/ecologists/naturalists who are taught to think more broadly =
on
&g