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Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects Hi John and all, Thank you for your reply to my email a few days ago. My apologies for not replying sooner, but I've been sidetracked by various events. In any case, I appreciated reading of your experiences with the fishery. In many respects, it is comparable -- especially the overarching notion that there will always be plenty of forest to harvest. I know that, to many, especially those who never drive down the back roads to see the extent of harvesting taking place, all may still seem rather idyllic and as though the supply of trees is infinite. Unfortunately, I don't think that adequately reflects reality, especially in a time of rapid climate change. We have no way of knowing how much or how quickly things will change here in Nova Scotia, but I can't see that it will be so different here that we can ignore what seems likely and expect to somehow skate by what's happening in forests elsewhere on this planet. In fact, we should be paying plenty of attention. Also, we need to be considering how change will impact wildlife -- and how more intensive harvest activity could threaten already stressed forests and wildlife, pushing some populations over the edge. Even without consideration of climate change, in my opinion, we need to be more cautious and less aggressive in our actions. For example, in my county (Annapolis), there has been so much cutting over the past two years that I really have to wonder where owls might nest -- especially as, just a couple of days ago, friends reported that the harvest machines are already rolling in to resume cutting along Morse Road - an area already heavily devastated. Can there be no peace during nesting season? Apparently not. Further, you're quite right regarding monitoring, assessment and accountability. You asked a series of questions -- I'll quote that paragraph here as a reminder to myself and to all of us. > My knowledge of the forest industry is limited to what I have seen while in > the field doing bird surveys over many years, and no doubt, there is much > going on that I'm not very informed about. But based on my experience in > another renewable resource industry, the forest industry in Nova Scotia > appears to be an immature industry that does not appear to take its role in > conservation seriously. Do forest operators keep log-books about where and > the types of trees they are cutting down and their volume? Do they pay for > monitors to observe where bird nests may be located while they are cutting? > Is there a third-party firm to assess the on-the-ground impact of operations > according to a set of good practice guidelines? Does this third-party firm > measure the amount and type of wood taken in a way that can then be fed into > an assessment and mapping process? Do they pay for forest inventories and > the collection of waypoints on the location of species-at-risk? Are the > workers required to have a professional certification which would have an > ecological knowledge minimum requirement? If the answer to most of these > questions is no, then it is time to bring the forest industry into the > Twenty-First Century so they can begin to resemble other industries that > have been given the privilege to harvest our resources. I will go out on a limb to say that the answer to most of your questions is probably "no". In recent months, I have advanced some of these ideas on a couple of forestry discussion pages on Facebook -- such as the idea of having trained monitors do site visits or be on-site during harvesting. My thinking was that we are graduating many young people from community college "ecology" programs, and that there are also many undergrad biology and landscape ecology students -- who could be doing onsite assessments and monitoring work from spring through autumn. It would give them some income and field experience, and help to improve accountability. It seemed like a good idea, but several in the forest industry were very quick to shoot me down -- saying they don't like the idea of having monitors --- that young people from those programs don't know anything -- and that, furthermore, they know what they are doing and don't need anyone watching over their shoulders. Then, when I commented that there should be more care taken in selection of trees to be left standing -- that certain ages of trees of certain species should be left in place, they were also quick to criticize that you can't expect a machine operator to be able to see and recognize trees from their cab and that such a thing just isn't practical. I asked if the trees couldn't be tagged by someone else, and apparently that was also not possible and they can't see marker tags, especially as they are often working at night with lights, etc... It went on and on like this to the point that I completely gave up on making what I thought were sensible, practical suggestions for improving the survival of forest ecology in the face of intensive harvesting. I know some things are supposed to improve under the Lahey recommendations. I am attempting to remain hopeful that there might be at least some small sliver of change. I guess we'll see at some point in the as-yet-undetermined future after the latest stated 12 months of further delay to allow the forestry industry to "adapt" has elapsed - whenever that comes. One can only hope. Regarding this comment: > With all that said, I totally endorse the initiative that you are suggesting > and plan to participate myself. I believe these community-driven > conservation initiatives are important in driving change, and this one in > particular is a worthy project, independently of the current tragic state of > our forests. I do think organizing ground-truthing groups and getting out to the forests is a good thing in so many ways. For one, it is a way to help communities get to know their forests better. It could be a community-building experience. Also, I look at the educational possibilities, especially for young people. This summer, while doing my occasional volunteer gig leading a nature walk at the French Basin Trail for Clean Annapolis River Project, I met up with staff and volunteers from CARP who were working with children to net and identify aquatic invertebrates. The youths were so into it -- it was such a good activity and so nice to see children having so much fun while learning -- especially in this day and age when most kids have few opportunities to muck about in marshes. Reminded me of occasional outings with high school biology students while I was doing stream surveys back in Ontario. The youths that spent a day out in the field with me were so enthusiastic and said it really changed how they thought about nature. It was so rewarding to see young people who said they had never even held a frog, spend the day helping me catch and meas