Moose get no help from province
Back in the day, staff in the long-gone Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forests wore an arm patch proudly proclaiming that they, and the department, “conserve our resources.”
The current incarnation of the department — Stephen Mcneil’s version — is called the Department of Lands and Forestry. It mostly steers clear of such overt claims to conserve anything, perhaps in an effort to preserve the last shred of its tattered credibility.
The Department of Lands and Forestry is where the Mcneil government’s political promises to protect nature go to die, or to atrophy from lack of movement.
It’s also the department responsible for protecting endangered species — like the mainland moose — but has been found repeatedly to be in dereliction of that duty, including by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.
The last big promise that’s going nowhere fast is the pledge to transition the forestry sector in Nova Scotia to more ecologically sound harvesting practices that protect and preserve ecosystems and the life they support.
LAHEY REPORT
That was a core value in Kings University President Bill Lahey’s 2018 report into the province’s forests and their future.
The Mcneil government accepted Lahey’s report and promised to implement his recommendations but more than two years later, Nova Scotians who care about the province’s natural environment are still waiting for some sign of action.
Others, however, are done waiting and have set up camp and blockades on logging roads not far from the Tobeatic Wilderness area. They are trying to save habitat of the endangered mainland moose from a planned clear cut over hundreds of acres of publicly owned Crown land.
The peaceful protest and blockade is led by Extinction Rebellion (ER), but don’t let the name throw you. These are not wild-eyed revolutionaries. They are mostly mature — many of them in their 60s and 70s — Nova Scotians who are tired of the government’s broken promises, and so they took it upon themselves to try to preserve the forests the moose need to survive.
In other words, they took it upon themselves to do what the Mcneil government promised to do but failed.
No one knows with any certainty how many of the endangered moose are left, but there have been sightings and other unmistakable signs that they are in the area of the planned clearcut. (The endangered mainland, or eastern moose, is a different subspecies from the moose found on Cape Breton.)
Lands and Forestry officials claim the department takes the moose habitat into consideration, even when it approves clearcutting in areas where moose are thought to be. Except the department doesn’t use the words “clearcut” much anymore. It’s developed euphemisms to reflect the requirement that harvesters must now leave little islands of trees standing.
BELATED RECOVERY PLAN
The department says it has a recovery plan for the mainland moose, as required by the province’s Endangered Species Act, and the plan’s been updated to satisfy the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia’s order.
The department also says it will add the required definition of core moose habitat to the plan, do a threat assessment and create a plan to monitor the moose, all by next spring or summer.
That’s all great, except that the mainland moose was declared an endangered species in 2003, so the department is years behind on its homework.
In addition to the Supreme Court, Nova Scotia’s auditor general and Bill Lahey have called out the department for its failure to protect endangered species and their habitat.
Given the department’s sorry record, it shouldn’t be surprising that folks have no confidence in its weak assurances that the moose in Southwestern Nova Scotia will somehow be protected.
This sad saga also bears the unmistakable mark of the McNeil government’s inability to countenance criticism, and its heavy-handed response to those Nova Scotians who dare to defy it.
MINISTER IGNORES PROTESTERS
One of the protest and blockade organizers, ER’S Nina Newington, wrote to Lands and Forestry Minister Derek Mombourquette on Nov. 11 requesting a meeting to discuss the proposed clearcut and look for ways to protect the moose habitat.
She never heard back — not even an acknowledgement — so this week a handful of the blockade’s supporters went to the minister’s Halifax office to peacefully apply a little pressure to get the requested meeting.
The department’s response was to call the cops and have those Nova Scotians physically removed from the lobby of provincial government offices. The protesters were told that anyone who wants a meeting with the minister needs to follow the appropriate channels.
The appropriate channel, of course, would be to write and request a meeting, just like Nina Newington did.
The Mcneil government has broken its promise to implement ecologically sound forestry practices. It has habitually failed to protect endangered species in Nova Scotia.
And when Nova Scotians call out the government for its failures and pressure it to meet its responsibilities, the Mcneil government reverts to form, first ignores them and, should they have the nerve to actually show up, the government calls the cops.
Nova Scotians have said repeatedly that they want a government that cares about nature and seriously addresses pressing environmental concerns. The available evidence suggests that this isn’t it.