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<br/>&#62; sooner. There are stacks of research papers This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0306_01D14C62.0B86E1B0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 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