Region Archives: Canada East

Wayne Gillis

WEST LAKE AINSLIE — The co-chair of the Margaree Environmental Association (MEA) has expressed concern about a large clearcut in the West Lake Ainslie area of Cape Breton. …This is private land… so the province has little control over what happens on it. Wayne Gillis, president of Margaree Excavating, the company in charge of this clearcut, said… they’ll be done their work in about a week. Livingston said MEA is most concerned about the cut occurring on a steep hill and the rutting in the ground, since both conditions can make a runoff more likely in the spring when temperatures rise and snow on the slope melts. …MEA said they requested that Port Hawkesbury Paper (PHP) insist that private-land contractors they buy from comply with the same standards as those set for Crown-land suppliers. PHP has purchased wood produced from Margaree Excavating in the past. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access to this story requires a subscription]

Hamilton has lost 20,000 ash trees in recent years that were infested by invasive beetles. The city is nine years into its 10-year plan to slash the ash tree population, which has been impacted by the emerald ash borer. The city has aimed to remove 10 per cent of the ash trees on public property each year. The result is “a sad event,” said Dan McKinnon, general manager of Hamilton’s public works. “It’s an illustration of some of the new realities that we’re experiencing as a result of climate change.” The ash trees have been destroyed over time by the emerald ash borer, which is native to China and eastern Asia. The species has killed millions of trees over North America. …Each ash tree that is removed is supposed to be replaced with a new species of tree.

The lawyer arguing for the continuance of a court order against protesters who have been trying to stop clear cutting in public forests says the protesters’ end goals don’t justify their means. WestFor Management Inc., a forestry consortium that works with 13 lumber mills in Nova Scotia, brought a motion to Nova Scotia Supreme Court last year that forced protesters to abandon two blockades on logging roads in Digby County. An interim injunction against the blockades is due to expire this month but WestFor is seeking to extend the order until a full hearing on the issue concludes. “This motion is about one thing,” WestFor lawyer Ian Dunbar said in court Tuesday. “And that is whether an order should be issued to prevent the roads from being reblockaded.” …The protesters, who include members the Extinction Rebellion, have said the Crown land WestFor is cutting is prime moose habitat and should be preserved.

Irreparable harm was a consistent theme Tuesday in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. An application for an interlocutory injunction against forestry protest blockades in southwestern Nova Scotia hangs on potential irreparable harm to WestFor Management…, and irreparable harm to the endangered mainland moose that the blockades were intended to protect. Ian Dunbar, lawyer for WestFor, questioned Kevin Smith, a board member of Extinction Rebellion Nova Scotia, the group that … blocked a company contracted by WestFor from accessing logging operations in Digby County late last year. …The Extinction Rebellion-led group had set up the blockades nearly two months earlier as a protest against clearcutting… “The blockade is the harm,” Dunbar said, pointing to a high degree of probability that the blockades will continue without an injunction. “…this motion is about whether an order should be issued to prevent the (logging) roads from being re-blockaded …where my client [is] lawfully permitted to harvest. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access to this story requires a subscription]

The endangered mainland moose is getting another day in court.  Members of Extinction Rebellion and other concerned citizens were served an injunction Dec. 11 against blocking access to Crown land in Digby County designated for logging by the provincial Lands and Forestry Department.  …Nina Newington, a member of Extinction Rebellion and one of nine blockaders arrested by the RCMP on Langford Road in New France, Digby County, on Dec. 15 for continuing to block access to logging crews in contempt of the injunction, will be in the gallery of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Tuesday.  Lawyers from Ecojustice, supported by Juniper Law, are defending the group of protesters, known also as forest protectors, against the injunction obtained by forestry company WestFor Management. “In order to get an injunction, they (WestFor) had to bring a suit claiming economic damages,” Newington said. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access to this story may require a subscription]

Peter Duinker

SYDNEY, Nova Scotia — The province is continuing to move forward with its new triad model of ecological forestry on Crown lands.  The Department of Lands and Forestry has opened public consultations on its new draft forest management guide, dubbed the Silvicultural Guide for the Ecological Matrix.  The draft guide’s triad model has three legs that will work together: conservation zones, high production forestry zones and mixed-use or matrix zones.  Only Crown land, which is about one-third of Nova Scotia’s forests, will be managed under the triad approach, said Peter Duinker, professor emeritus at Dalhousie University’s School for Resource and Environmental Studies in Halifax.  No timber harvest will occur in the province’s conservation zones, except in serious emergencies, and the focus for them will be entirely on diversity conservation, recreation and other non-intrusive uses.  The high-production zones are “all about timber production with very basic environmental protection.”   [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access to this story may require a subscription] 

Large swaths of green. And dotted throughout: patches of beige, which show sections of cut forests. This is what can be seen in drone images from Sentinel Explorer, which indicate sections of the Cape Breton Highlands that have been impacted by clearcutting. …Adam Malcolm, a high school science teacher who runs the Stop Clearcutting Unama’ki Facebook group. …concern is that clearcutting heavily impacts forest creatures that won’t leave the canopy out into the open. So wide clear cuts, as seen in the drone images, with no connectivity between different sections of forest, create serious barriers to populations that would naturally have some genetic flow between them. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access to this story may require a subscription]

There’s a new attempt to find a balance between the economy and the environment in northern Ontario’s most watched forest. For decades, Temagami was gripped by logging road blockades, with environmentalists and Indigenous protesters chaining themselves to bulldozers. But now some of those who used to be on opposing sides are sitting around the same board table with the formation of the Temagami Forest Management Corporation. …The management corporation is the second of its kind in the province, after one created in the Pic River area in the northwest in 2012. It brings together logging companies, municipal leaders and First Nations to decide which trees to cut and find buyers for that wood. “Even by that happening it’s a statement that we can work together for the benefit of all,” says John Yakabuski, Ontario’s Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. 

More than two years after the Lahey Report … the provincial government has publicly released a draft version of a new management guide. The public will have 30 days to offer comments on the silvicultural guide for the ecological matrix, which lays out a path for a more ecological approach to forestry that includes notable reductions in clear cutting and greater weight on things like biodiversity preservation when determining how and where to harvest.  “As proposed, the draft guide aims to facilitate the practice of ecological forestry on Crown land by promoting long-lived, multi-aged, multi-species forests to maintain and enhance biodiversity and to reduce clearcutting on Crown land,” said documents released Wednesday. It does so through increased retention requirements in stands that would have been prescribed clearcut treatments in previous versions of the guide, and through enhanced requirements for ecological values in [pre-treatment assessment] data collection.”

Paul Lefebvre

As we know so well here in Sudbury, planting trees is one of the most effective ways to protect our environment and mitigate the effects of climate change. Plain and simple. Without our Canadian forests, there is no path to our 2030 Paris climate agreement targets or achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. That’s why over the next 10 years, our government will invest $3.16 billion to plant two billion trees from coast to coast to coast – the largest number committed by a single government in the world. In fact, this plan fulfills a 2019 election promise made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau right here in Sudbury only 18 months ago. …By planting two billion trees, we can eliminate as many as 12 megatonnes of carbon emissions from our air. Trees enhance our communities’ long-term resilience to climate change.

OTTAWA, ON – The Ministery of Environment and Climate Change announced an investment of $1.07 million over four years to conserve species at risk in the Northern Green Mountains region of southern Quebec. This funding will go to Appalachian Corridor and eight of its partners, under the Canada Nature Fund’s Community-Nominated Priority Places initiative. The Northern Green Mountains natural area is part of one of the largest tracts of relatively undisturbed temperate forest in the world. The area is home to 42 Canadian species at risk such as the Bicknell’s thrush, the eastern pipistrelle, the wood turtle, the spring salamander, the monarch butterfly, and the butternut. The Northern Green Mountains region is part of a critical ecological area and is considered one of the last regions in southern Quebec where large tracts of relatively undisturbed wilderness still remain. 

Brian Martinello

SYDNEY, N.S. — Nearly a year after Northern Pulp mill’s closure, some wood suppliers are feeling nervous about the future.  “The pulp industry, from what I can gather, anyway … I guess the best way we can explain it is it’s sort of steady,” said Brent MacInnis, president of lumber supplier Hugh MacInnis Lumber Ltd., adding there haven’t been any cutbacks in wood supply going to the pulp mill, however, there also isn’t an abundance of demand.  Hugh MacInnis Lumber supplies product to Port Hawkesbury Paper in Point Tupper and was also a part-time supplier to Northern Pulp in Pictou County before it closed on Jan. 31, 2020. They’ve been able to hang on to their market through PHP, though the lack of competition now is concerning for the future.  “Competition is good for everybody. … The demand could be a little bit higher,” MacInnis said. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access to this story may require a subscription] 

Government, in partnership with the Forestry Transition Team, is inviting private woodland owners to complete an online survey, launched today, Jan. 20. This research will help government and its partners better understand the needs, values, interests and motivations for private land use, as well as management practices. …Derek Mombourquette, Minister of Lands and Forestry… “As landowners make decisions about how they use and manage their woodlands, we want to hear from them and ensure they have access to information, programs and other resources that can help them meet their goals.” Online focus groups with private woodland owners will also be held this winter. The results will inform the development and delivery of government programs and services, improve information sharing and education, and support woodland-owner-led solutions in advancing environmental, social and economic goals.

Dirk Brinkman in 1973

TORONTO – Fifty years ago, Dirk Brinkman secured one of British Columbia’s first tree-planting contracts. …A few years later, he founded Brinkman Reforestation Ltd. To date, the company has planted over one-and-a-half billion trees, making it Canada’s top and longest running tree-planting firm. A visionary of landscape restoration, Dirk Brinkman will deliver the keynote speech at Forests Ontario/Forest Recovery Canada’s 2021 Annual Conference, Growing Our Future. His address will look at integrating ecosystem-based management with traditional knowledge as a way to guide the world’s adaptation to climate change. …“We are very excited to have Dirk Brinkman as the keynote of our conference,” said Rob Keen, RPF and CEO of Forests Ontario/Forest Recovery Canada. …Over the decades, Brinkman has perfected planter tools, techniques, and wilderness work systems. He has worked extensively with First Nations and has played a key role in shifting the responsibility of reforestation from the government to the forest products sector.

What will Waterloo Region’s forests look like in 80 years? …Andrew Trant is partnering with rare Charitable Research Reserve to study how the forest in Waterloo Region is responding, what it looked like in the past and what it could look like in the future. Trant, an assistant professor in the school of environment, resources and sustainability at the University of Waterloo, says Waterloo Region is a particularly important area to study landscape shifts as the climate warms, because the region is in the middle of an ecotone — an area where two biological communities meet. …The goal of the project is to build an understanding of the next generation of forest in this area looking forward to roughly 2100, a common period of time to study in climate prediction science.

OTTAWA, ON – By investing in conserving and restoring our natural environment, we can fight climate change, protect our iconic Canadian biodiversity, and ensure that Canadians across the country have access to nature in their communities. Today, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, announced an additional 268 hectares will be added to the Portobello Creek National Wildlife Area, increasing the ecological connectivity of the national wildlife area and further protecting the unique wetland habitat. …The additional six parcels of land purchased from J.D. Irving, Limited (178 hectares) and Five Islands Forest Development Ltd. (90 hectares) will increase this national wildlife area’s footprint to just over 3,200 hectares. This expansion brings Canada one step closer to its goal of conserving 25 percent of its land and inland waters and 25 percent of its oceans by 2025. Funding for this initiative comes from the historic Budget 2018 investment of $1.3 billion in the Nature Legacy initiative.

…This [recent] surge of recognition for the benefits of wild places is encouraging, especially if it translates into broad support to see them conserved and expanded. That’s why the scathing series of annual reports on the environment released last November by Ontario’s auditor general should be of concern to anyone who has spent time in nature over the past year. They expose alarming deficiencies in the province’s management of protected places, biodiversity and processes to add to the network of parks and conservation reserves. The audit specifically calls out the 65 per cent of Algonquin open to commercial logging, logging roads and gravel extraction as an example of a protected place that’s not really protected. It’s not the first to do so. In 2014, Ontario’s environmental commissioner called for an end to logging in Algonquin, and the Wilderness Committee has been advocating for real protection for the park for years.

Jacob Fillmore

The lone protester who for three weeks has occupied a tiny portion of the Grand Parade in downtown Halifax has been told to move on. “I regret to inform you that I have been asked to leave the Grand Parade,” Jacob Fillmore said in describing his eviction notice in an email message Wednesday afternoon. “There was a Halifax bylaw compliance officer and someone from Halifax Regional Municipal parks (department),” said Fillmore, a 25-year-old Haligonian. …Fillmore set up his small two-man tent in mid-December, encountering cold temperatures and snow through a quiet and Covid holiday season, to protest government inaction on protecting trees and the environment. Posting signs that read Stop Ecocide and Nova Scotia Needs Forestry Reform near his temporary digs, Fillmore said he was “protesting a lack of action on environmental issues such as climate change and species extinction by the provincial government.” [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]