[NatureNS] Crown Land Clear Cuts

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From: Bev Wigney <bkwigney@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2019 12:22:23 -0300
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Perhaps it would work if those involved had better ethics and were
responsible and actually cared about our forests and weren't just in
it for the bucks and to grab as much of the forest as they possibly
can, using contractors who often don't even reside in this province.
So much for caring about jobs for our own local forestry workers who
can't even get work much of the time because it's all being contracted
out to guys with heavy machinery that can take out a whole forest in a
few days -- it's being done all over the province. So much for the
small mills who don't have any pull and can't get decent saw logs
because they aren't part of the "in crowd".

This isn't about forest management.  This is all about power and
keeping it in the hands of those who already have it.

What should probably happen is turn all of the Crown land forests over
to regional forestry cooperatives who would make the decisions for
every forest in their territory based on consultation with local
people, First Nations, local mills, etc.. There should be no large
scale consortium or vertically integrated industrial power calling the
shots on anything in this province anymore.  They have failed
miserably with their "so-called management".

bev

On 12/6/19, David Webster <dwebster@glinx.com> wrote:
> Hi George & All,
>
>      This could take a while.
>
>      John is thoroughly convinced that the current harvesting system is
> as perfect as it can possibly be. He does not want to be confused with
> facts. Meanwhile we now know what lies behind this destructive process.
>
>      And I hope others will drive in the advantage of perpetual cutting
> rights wedge at any opportunity.
>
> Dave
>
> On 12/4/2019 1:30 PM, George Forsyth wrote:
>> 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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