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Well done, we look forward to his response.
George Forsyth
On 04/12/2019, David Webster <dwebster@glinx.com> wrote:
> Hon. John Lohr:
>
> I have wondered for many years why nearly all Crown Land cuttings
> are clear cuts; and I think I now understand why. I wrote to the DNR
> minister Nov. 21 but I expect he has has no time for public input. So I
> am writing you in the hope that some opportunity may arise for you to
> personally ask a few pointed questions.
>
> Some weeks ago I noticed a comment on Facebook which implied that
> cutting rights on Crown Land were for one specific harvest as opposed to
> perpetual but marketable rights. A reading of the Crown Land Act appears
> to confirm this; excerpt below.
>
>
> "Sale of resources
>
> 31 (1) The Minister may offer timber or other resources from Crown lands
> for sale by tender, public auction or other means upon such terms as the
> Minister deems expedient.
>
> (2) Subsequent to a sale pursuant to subsection (1), the Minister may
> issue a licence upon such terms and conditions as the Minister deems
> appropriate.
>
> (3) No licence issued pursuant to this Section shall be granted for a
> longer period than two years or renewed for a longer period than twelve
> months at any one time./R.S., c. 114, s. 31."/
>
> If a logging company does not have perpetual cutting rights to a
> given block of woodland then they will have no incentive to manage it
> for maximum profit over the long haul and every incentive to aim for
> maximum immediate profit which naturally will be to clear cut it.
> Consequently, for sound management of Crown Land forests, Clause
> 31(3) should be modified so that cutting rights are perpetual with
> provision to sell rights back to Crown if a company closes operations.
>
> RATIONALE:
>
> Apart from soil degradation, bald spots and erosion which may
> follow clear cutting the greatest fault is loss of revenue. The
> productivity curve following a typical clear cut is described in Farm
> Woodlots in Eastern Canada, E. S. Richards, Ottawa, 120 pp., 1939. on
> page 15. After a clear cut it takes 30 years to grow 2 cord of Spruce
> and yield in the second 30 years is 42 cord.
>
> The primary advantage of selective cutting, which I have practiced
> for 77 years, is that the slow growth of young trees occurs in the
> spaces between larger trees. Consequently, in an uneven aged
> selectively cut stand, that initial 30 year period of vanishingly low
> yield is eliminated. In addition, clear cuts lead to overstocked
> regrowth and a huge non-commercial thinning investment.
>
> Please note that Richards, in this 1939 publication, advocates
> selective cutting. And this was a period where felling options would
> have been axe or crosscut saw. Currently, using chainsaws or felling
> equipment, selective cutting is far easier than it would have been prior
> to 1939.
>
> Yours truly,
>
> David H. Webster, Kentville
>
> 902-678-7824
>
>
>
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