CROWN LANDS AND COMMUNITY FORESTS

The Province is conducting public consultations on what should happen to the Crown Land in Western Nova Scotia. (see detailed notes below meeting dates).

These hearings will be key to our 
  1. establishing community forests in the former Bowater-Mersey St. Margaret's District and the Medway  District, and 
  2. determining how the Crown Lands, our birthright, will be managed
IF YOU CARE ABOUT  COMMUNITY FORESTS OR HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THESE CROWN LANDS, PLEASE  ATTEND ONE OR MORE OF THESE CONSULTATIONS, WRITE LETTERS, GET PRESS, LEAVE COMMENTS HERE – and above all MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN! 
 
THE CONSULTATIONS START TONIGHT IN SHELBURNE... spread the word!

All meetings will be 5-8 PM. 

Date: March 18
County: Shelburne
Community: Shelburne
Venue: Shelburne Fire Hall & Community Center
Civic Address: 63 King Street, Shelburne
Date: March 19
County: Hants
Community: Windsor
Venue: Windsor Legion Hall
Civic Address: 35 Empire Lane, Windsor
Date: March 25
County: Digby
Community: Saulnierville
Venue: Saulnierville Legion Hall
Civic Address: 9938 Rte #1, Saulnierville
Date: March 26
County: Yarmouth
Community: Yarmouth
Venue: Yarmouth Legion Hall
Civic Address: 75 Parade Street, Yarmouth
Date: April 2
County: Annapolis
Community: Cornwallis
Venue: Desmond Piers Building Annapolis Basin Conference Center
Civic Address: 268 Marine Drive, Cornwallis Park
Date: April 3
County: Kings
Community: Berwick
Venue: Berwick & District Fire Hall
Civic Address: 300 Commercial St., Berwick
Date: April 4
County: Lunenburg
Community: West Northfield
Venue: Northfield District Fire Hall
Civic Address: 2233 Hwy #10 West Northfield
Date: April 8
County: Halifax
Community: Black Point
Venue: Black Point Fire Hall
Civic Address: 8579 St. Margarets Bay Rd., Black Point
Date: April 9
County: Queens
Community: Greenfield
Venue: Greenfield Recreation Center
Civic Address: 5048 Hwy 210, Greenfield
 
Western Crown Lands Consultation “Asks”

  • Follow through on commitments to establish community forests. Experiences in Community Forestry throughout Canada have proven that giving communities direct control of public forests will increase environmental performance and generate more community benefits. For more information check out the exciting projects proposed by the Medway Community Forest Co-operative and the St Margaret’s Bay Community Forest 
  • Add lands proposed through the Parks and Protected Areas Plan to the protected areas network: Western Nova Scotia is home to ecologically important tracts of old forest, rare plants and valuable endangered species habitats. Many of these lands have already been identified for protection through the Colin Stewart Forest Forum and the resulting Nova Scotia Environment’s protected areas plan but are now listed as “conditional” pending the results of the Western Crown Land public consultation. Those valuable lands need our support! In particular there are 30,000 acres on former Bowater lands (now owned by the province) that were promised by the minister for protection but are now listed as “conditional”. It appears government may be trying to claw back these areas into general Crown land so they don’t get protected and can be open to harvesting instead. Folks need to specifically speak up for the protection of these lands in both the Parks and Protected Areas Plan AND (perhaps more importantly), the Western Crown Lands consultation process.
  • Require FSC Certification for all forestry licenses: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification is the only forest certification system endorsed by environmental groups. Requiring certification for all forest licenses is the best measure available to ensure that forest management meets the highest standards for environmental protection and public consultation.
  • Seek the best value from our forest resources by focusing on value-added industries: The fibre agreement with Port Hawkesbury Paper has allowed that mill to control all the wood supply from Crown land in the entire of eastern end of the province - even for products they do not actually use! This model simply can’t be applied in western NS, where as many as 15 different mills have traditionally sourced wood from the former Bowater lands alone. In order to ensure we get the best value from our forests and ultimately support a more vibrant, diverse and resilient forest economy, government must devise a tenure system that allows more mills into the market for Crown wood, with a strict focus on saw mills and value-added manufacturers, while ensuring that total harvest levels remain well within the limits of ecosystem-based forestry.
  • Make public engagement a requirement of forest licensees. Many tools are available to facilitate better transparency and collaboration with respect to forest management on Crown lands, such as the interactive online mapping tool used in the protected areas consultation. Nova Scotians should be given on-going opportunities to participate in collaborative management of Crown lands and greater efforts should be made to provide transparency and accountability of industries that operate on our public lands.
  • Don’t give all the wood away through long term license agreements:– British Columbia is allocating up to 10% of its annual cut from Crown land to help prove stumpage rates.  Nova Scotia should follow suit and keep our options open for new wood uses, innovative value-added manufacturers and new community forestry projects. 
  • Enforce meaningful forest practice reforms: The government’s once promising clearcut reduction policy has been sidelined by a weak definition of what doesn’t constitute a clearcut. Any policy aimed at reducing clearcutting and moving the province towards true ecologically-based forest management must specifically endorse and facilitate the shift towards uneven-aged management – where a standing, intact forest ecosystem remains in place following partial harvesting.

Thanks for your support of the Community Forest concept!. 
Geoff Le Boutillier
680 Indian Point Rd.
Glen Haven, NS
B3Z 2T7
902-823-1404
Fax: 902-821-2115

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