抗议者在安纳波利斯县计划的收获现场扎营，说削减“不能只是继续”

该省说，这是“公众一直在要求的林业”，但一群抗议者，当地的MLA和生物学家不同意。

Since Friday, a small, rotating group of protestors have been camped out on a small parcel of land in Annapolis County, trying to convince the province to stop a planned cut near Beals Brook. The protestors, who call themselves Forest Protectors, say the land is a wildlife corridor where locals have seen evidence of endangered species. They believe the planned cut is a threat to the habitat of these species and the area’s biodiversity.

他们说，它绝不应该被批准。

“This [cutting] can’t just go on and on until it’s all gone,” Nina Newington told the Examiner Friday. “It’s what all of us have been afraid of, feeling so frustrated that, you know, some of us have been willing to camp in the winter and get arrested and not get to live our regular lives. Because somebody needs to get in the way of this.”

The Beals Brook site, where protestors are camping, is just off Highway 10. The 24-hectare plot of forest (mostly pine and oak), wetland, and streams is part of the former Bowater-Mersey lands theprovince bought back in 2012.

这些新的王室土地随后被租用由12磨房的财团Westfor管理。经过省级审查和公众咨询，Westfor于今年夏天获得了批准，以砍伐现场30％的树木。

兰迪·尼莉（Randy Neily）在私人土地上有一个与计划中的削减接壤的私人土地。他的家人已经在该地区居住了几代人，他用附近的小屋钓鱼和狩猎。他告诉审查员，这不是公司第一次被认为是砍伐的土地。这也不是他第一次反对。他说，墨西哥的鲍德 - 梅西几乎在20年前拥有土地时削减了该地区。这片土地不再是私人拥有的，因此他希望该省在这段时间内走。

“Hopefully they’ll will do the right thing and reverse their decision and withdrawal that license from WestFor,” Neily said Friday. Like the protestors, he believes the small piece of forest in its current state serves as a corridor for wildlife.

“I’m not going to say that they’ve got to withdraw all the licenses [on Crown land], but this little block here, in my opinion, it has more ecological value than it does economical. To take 30-tonne machine or more in there to harvest that little bit … that’s nuts.”

Neily了解了上个月计划的削减。他是警告森林保护者的人。其中一些人，例如尼娜·纽丁顿（Nina Newington），参与了封锁洛矶角湖去年伐木路。

尼莉说，他已经看到了陆地周围的派恩·马丁斯和木海龟的证据。尽管他上次看到它们的迹象已经有20多年的历史，但他曾经不时看到该地区的驼鹿。松树和大陆驼鹿都受到濒危。木龟是新斯科舍省的受威胁物种。

He’s concerned cutting will harm their habitat, and reduce food supply and shelter for other animals in the area.

Before alerting the protestors, he went to his MLA, Carman Kerr, who is the provincial Opposition critic for the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR).

The two met with representatives of DNRR to ask if the cut could be stopped, but were told it had been approved and the decision would not be reversed. They then spoke with a WestFor representative, said Neily, who told them the cut would begin any day. That’s when the protestors got involved.

In an email to the Examiner, Kerr said he’s since heard from a number of his constituents, and other Nova Scotians, saying they oppose the cut.

“The common argument against this harvest,” he wrote, “is that because the parcel consists of relatively mature forest situated near three important wetlands in an area where there has been significant forestry activity, that it provides critically important habitat for a variety of wildlife species.”

“鉴于当前的气候和生物多样性危机，我也相信这种削减不应该发生，至少直到Lahey报告建议可以完全实施，该部门可以确定该包裹最适合新的三合会模型。”

The triad model would designate areas of forests one of three ways: protected from all cutting; protected from some cutting; or designated for “high production,” like clearcutting. On Nov. 30,William Lahey released a progress report on his 2018 independent review of forestry practices, saying very little had been done to implement its recommendations since it was published over three years ago.

省份说，削减与推动更多的生态林业实践一致，但生物学家不同意

尽管有反对，但自然资源和可再生能源部仍在批准的削减中。

Ryan McIntyre, a registered professional forester and resource manager for Crown lands in the province’s western region, calls it a “benchmark” of future forestry practices.

他在接受采访时说：“这经历了严格的[审查]过程。”“而且它确实与我们要与生态林业一起去的地方保持一致。这是一种轻微的触摸收获，保留了长寿的树木 - 像松树和橡木一样，并创造自然的开口，并允许自然再生，多年龄段和多样性。”

The approved plan is a shelterwood cut. WestFor would remove 30% of trees, leaving enough behind to provide shelter and food for local animals.

The site is also located outside the core habitat for moose recently identified by the province in itsMainland Moose Recovery Plan.

Ultimately, the plan has been reviewed, put to public consultation on the收获计划图, and approved under current interim regulations. The DNRR has no plans to change its decision, said McIntyre.

“I just think it’s important to recognize that the harvest here does align with the new SGEM [生态矩阵的造林文化指南，这尚未实施]以及我们要去的生态林业。我的意思是，这应该显示为公众要求的林业类型之一。”

但抗议者和生物学家担心,WestFor might be taking more than 30%, that the trees left behind will be harvested later (as is often the case with shelterwood cuts), and that the site was approved for harvest without considering the context of the surrounding land.

生物学家鲍勃·班克罗夫特（Bob Bancroft）在接受采访时说：“他们没有在周围的割伤和栖息地的更大情况下批准这一收获。”“安纳波利斯县有清晰的海洋。”

Bancroft used to work in government and helped prepare the forest section of the province’s 2011 Natural Resources Strategy, a precursor to William Lahey’s 2018 independent review of forestry practices in Nova Scotia.

“I think they’ve been doing too much damage all around that 24 hectares. And they should just bloody well leave it alone. And I don’t know how many animals are going to be able to survive on that small amount. But the solution is not to turn around and cut more.”

也从事自然资源战略的生物学家唐娜·克罗斯兰（Donna Crossland）表示同意。她认为这种削减与Lahey报告中建议的生态林业实践不符。

她对审查员说：“首先，拉希想要对景观水平的计划进行研究。他们还没有这样做。他们通过隔离更大的景观来评估每个微小的收获块。因此，他们不考虑累积效应。他们没有看过周围已经大量收获的景观。”

She said the area can’t handle much more cutting, even if it’s a lighter approach. When trees are removed from the area, even a small amount, they never get a chance to decompose and return nutrients to the soil. And the soil around cuts, she said, is nutrient-poor.

Crossland is also doubtful that WestFor will stick to a 30% cut, as she believes they’ll have to clear additional trees to widen the main road and create others so machines can get in.

Both biologists are also worried that not enough forest will be left along the wetlands in the area to provide connected shelter and protection for travelling animals looking for water. Under current regulations, tree harvests must leave a buffer of 20 metres of untouched forest next to these water sources. The science, they said, doesn’t back up that number. Bancroft said closer to 50- or-60-metre strips of forest should be left beside bodies of water to be adequate for wildlife.

Protest continues

So, protestors remain at the camp. They have a main tent set up with a stove to stay warm and plan to stay until the province reverses its approval of WestFor’s harvest.

“[We] just try to be a presence here and monitor what’s happening,” said Nina Newington. “It’s not really acceptable for the government to say, ‘Oh, too late: we’ve already approved these harvests.’”

As of Tuesday night, they had yet to hear from the province or see any machinery come in from WestFor.

The Examiner reached out to WestFor for comment on the protest and planned cut, as well as information on when cutting was scheduled to start. The consortium had not replied by time of publication.

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