IMAGE::  SECTION OF FOREST ALREADY **SAVAGED** UNDER THE RECKLESS AND IGNORANT APPROVAL OF NOVA SCOTIA'S DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTRY

The Minister of the Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry has given his approval to the continued destruction of the forests on the peninsula between Corbett and Dalhousie Lakes in Annapolis County.  Much of this is "old forest" with "super canopy trees" - many of which are more than 8 feet in circumference.  Much of it is shade tolerant forest featuring important tree species such as Yellow Birch, Sugar Maple, and Red Spruce -- all of which are long-lived species typical of what was once the pride of the renowned Acadian forests of Nova Scotia before they were all but reduced to a pathetic shadow of their past.  Noted biologist, Bob Bancroft, visited the forest with me this week and has stated that this is a unique forest, one of the few remaining of its type --  one of the last of the type that is now down to less than 1 percent of Nova Scotian forests.

A few strips of this forest have already been chopped down (see photo).  This was done last autumn before work ceased for the winter.  It is a scene of destruction.  The best of the trees in these strips were removed, leaving misshapen and multi-trunked survivors standing - trees that are *SUPPOSED* to be "overstory" (just a joke).  It is all but impossible to walk through the mass of slash covering the forest floor where heavy machinery went through to do the logging.  Before the destruction, this was a forest floor that was covered in ferns, a dense carpaet of mosses, and lichen-encrusted granite boulders.  Now it's just a trashy mess.  The ecological integrity of the forest in those strips has been destroyed and will take decades to recover.  Now the plan is to do the same to the remaining forest -- BECAUSE --- well, because Minister Iain Rankin and his staff think this is OKAY!!!!  Because, HEY, making a few more bucks is infinitely more important than protecting one of the last remnants of our most valuable Acadian forest in southwest Nova Scotia -- for wildlife habitat and for future generations of citizens. As if all of this isn't bad enough,  many of the trees are likely destined to be CHIPPED FOR BIOMASS BURNING as many of the old growth Yellow BIrch are hollow in the center - they are fine - they will live for many more decades while providing terrific shelter for nesting owls and flying squirrels - but they won't make good lumber.  A few of these great old trees have already been felled and are now lying in a CULL LOG PILE because they had hollow centers.  Thanks, Mr. Rankin!  Glad that you think a century-and-a-half old  Yellow Birch is worth more for BIOMASS WOOD CHIPS  than as a HABITAT FOR WILDLIFE!! 

Help us to stop this insanity NOW before it resumes this spring!  When I was in the forest this week, there were already migratory birds arriving on territory - singing and beginning to nest.  I was hearing warblers in the tree tops. Help us to stop this greedy madness.