Mainland moose, forestry can co-exist

Over the past few weeks, The Chronicle Herald has printed stories and columns regarding forestry management practices, the Lahey report, and the current blockade of a Westfor forest operation in Digby County by an activist group called Extinction Rebellion.

As an industry that has evolved and enhanced its practices over the past two centuries, it can be disheartening to many of the proud Nova Scotian forest workers to read these stories. These individuals have dedicated their lives to the education and implementation of healthy forestry practices and these stories do not speak to that.

While they are passionate, these stories are missing the facts, science and experience that comes with healthy management of our province’s forests. Our industry is proud of the environmentally responsible work we do every day in our forests. We support the findings of the Lahey Report, an independent review of forest practices in Nova Scotia, and its recommendations for ecological forestry under a triad approach which will reduce clearcutting.

Nova Scotia is home to abundant forests. Over 75 per cent of the province is made up of forest land. The vast majority of this land is owned by over 30,000 private woodland owners, many of whom share their property with Nova Scotians by providing free access for hiking, bird watching, hunting, fishing and use of trails.

The preservation and recovery of the mainland moose is especially important to people who work in the forest and we want mainland moose to recover and thrive in Nova Scotia.

The planned and ongoing forest harvest in Digby County follows provincial special management practices (SMP) identified for mainland moose. The SMP was created by Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry biologists, based on science, including recommendations from the Nova Scotia Mainland Moose Recovery Team.

In fact, many scientific studies have shown that responsible forest management can help enhance moose habitat by providing requirements such as browse (food), shelter patches, wetland buffers and corridors.

The area approved for harvest is less than 0.01 per cent of the 708,000-acre moose management area (MMA) in western Nova Scotia that spans Queens, Digby, Yarmouth, Shelburne and Annapolis counties. The majority (373,000 acres) of the MMA is made up of designated parks and protected areas.

There are 229,000 acres of Crown forests in Digby County and 74 per cent of it is already protected. In the protected area, no forest management activities are conducted.

The remaining 58,000 acres (26 per cent) of forest makes up the working multi-use forest. The sustainable management of the forest resource covers a wide variety of forest interventions and treatments including harvesting, silviculture and road construction.

The area that the blockade has denied access to is part of the working forest that has been sustainably managed for over a century by multiple forest companies. This long-term history of forest management for a variety of values includes wildlife as well as timber and the presence of the mainland moose is evidence of that.

Forestry is a renewable industry and that’s how we manage it. Despite the blockade, we continue to believe that a responsible forest industry can be balanced with the need to protect our natural environment, including endangered species such as the mainland moose.

Forestry and the mainland moose can co-exist and thrive here as they do in many other areas throughout Atlantic Canada and across North America.