Woodlots or Clear Cuts

Minister warns woodlot owners
New management plans should rein in clearcutting, MacDonell says
By MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE Truro Bureau
Sun. Jun 6 - 5:18 AM


MacDonell





TRURO — Nova Scotia’s new natural resources strategy is not carved in stone, but the natural resources minister warned a gathering of woodlot owners here Saturday that things are definitely going to change.

John MacDonell appeared to be aware some of the 100 members at the annual meeting of the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners were not feeling positive toward an interim report delivered in May.

Proposed enforced management plans on woodlots and perceived interference by government weren’t sitting well with participants.

"One thing I do want to make clear — the status quo isn’t good enough, so if anybody’s thinking we’re backpedalling on the strategy, we’re not. We’re going to try to find the kind of common sense part of this, but there’s going to have to be some changes," said MacDonell.

"I see this specifically in clearcutting. There’s too much of it, and with all respect to the technicians and everybody, we harvest about 100,000 acres a year, and damn near all of it is clearcutting.

"There’s not enough people in this room to convince me that that’s appropriate for 100,000 acres."

MacDonell stressed the importance of a provincial strategy that would consider the health of waterways, wildlife and forestry in the future.

"Some tend to think there are woodlot owners, and then there’s the rest of Nova Scotia and politicians. But we’re all in this together, and there’s lots of woodlot owners who’ve not been too impressed with forestry practices in this province for a long time," he said.

Practices like whole tree harvesting, which consumes all parts of a tree, including limbs, tops and even twigs, will not have a place in this province, MacDonell said.

"Whole tree harvesting is a dead duck," he said.

"My God, after this much time in the 21st century, you’re going to tell me that this is what we’ve come to — we’re going to take the tops and the limbs and whatever is left of a tree."

Not likely, he said.

"Your land is your land, and I’m not trying to throw a monkey wrench into what you would like to do, but there are things that we’re going to say, ‘If you want to do this, you are going to do it this way.’ "

MacDonell said some are hoping the report, titled A Natural Balance, gets shelved.

"Well, not while I’m drawing a breath," he said.

One man in the audience told MacDonell it’s all well and good to put policies in place to help protect the environment, but woodlot owners will take the hit financially.

"We recognize that there’s a lot of intelligence, a lot of knowledge and commitment by people in the industry, and woodlot owners are the owners," MacDonell said.

"So we don’t want to do things that impact above and beyond. But we are going to impact what you do on your land, and if I told you something different then I’d be a liar."

( mmacintyre@herald.ca)