WEST DALHOUSIE, N.S. — A parcel of Crown forest south of Bridgetown won’t fall under the axe, at least not right away.
After a week of protests and an encampment by concerned citizens and members of Extinction Rebellion Forest Protectors, Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin told WestFor Management Inc. to hold off on harvest plans.
“Over the past few days I have heard from concerned community members and recently received information that points to there being species at risk in the proposed harvest area between Dalhousie and Corbett Lakes in Annapolis County,” Rankin said in a ministerial statement. “I have ordered WestFor to put a hold on the harvest until further investigation can be done.”
Rankin’s action came less than a day after naturalist Scott Leslie released photos of a Magnolia Warbler nesting in balsam fir bows in the aging forest off the Morse Road between Bridgetown and West Dalhousie Road. He said in an interview late on June 13 that that one nest should be enough to halt the logging operation until sometime in October.
The Magnolia Warbler is a migratory bird and Leslie said under the Migratory Birds Convention Act cannot be disturbed during the nesting season. The scientist took GPS coordinates and photographs were taken showing the bird in its nest, presumably sitting on eggs.
HEARTENED
Leslie said late Friday afternoon it was heartening to hear the minister's response to the concerns over logging of the forest area at Corbett Lake.
“The combined efforts of many individuals, including the women who spent many days camping at the site in tents, are what was needed to get the province of Nova Scotia to take seriously how critical it is we take care of migratory birds and the places they live and all of biodiversity,” Leslie said.
“My sincere hope is that this will be a departure point into a new, more sustainable, and more ecologically sane way of treating and benefiting from the wildlands of this beautiful province,” he said. “Our determination to push forward with constructive change has been energized.”
Naturalist Bev Wigney from nearby Round Hill, who discovered the unique biodiversity of the Corbett Lake forest when she lead about 20 concerned residents on a walk through the woods on Boxing Day, said Rankin made the correct decision.
“Our community of naturalists and biologists has worked hard to provide the science and evidence required for this kind of decision,” Wigney said. “I'm glad that our observations and recommendations are being accepted.”
OTHER WILDLIFE
Wigney has been leading the movement against harvesting the older section of the 85-hectare Crown land and recently was focusing on migratory birds nesting in the woods near the forest floor.
But locals are also concerned about Blandings Turtles they say have been seen in the area, black bears, and even suggested that moose live in the vicinity.
Rankin has been hearing from those residents and others and he said he takes the feedback from his staff and from the public very seriously.
“We have an opportunity to engage further with community members as the department reviews evidence put forward,” he said in his statement. “I will continue to ensure decisions are made based on science and evidence with a focus on ecological conservation and protecting the province's wildlife.”
Annapolis County Warden Timothy Habinski, who met with Rankin earlier in the week in a bid to have the forest turned over to the municipality so it could develop a climate forest and create a new sustainable economic forestry model, said Rankin’s decision was terrific and marvelous news.
While Rankin had shown interest in the county’s forestry plans, he had told Habinski the harvest would go ahead.
“We’re certainly intending to keep lines of dialogue open with the province,” Habinski said. “We met yesterday and already discussed our next avenues for correspondence with them in order to try to keep the conversation moving.”
CITIZENS
While Habinski praised Rankin’s decision, he gave the biggest kudos to the citizens who fought for the forest.
“Without question, I think what needs to be highlighted in this is our deep appreciation for the citizen members and volunteers and a number of scientists who reside within Annapolis County who have taken enormous amounts of personal time and energy and devoted them to obtaining the evidence that was necessary in order to demonstrate to the province that there were indeed species at risk jeopardized by this particular cut,” Habinski said. “The praise goes to them. Their hard work and dedication is really what made this possible.”
Habinski said the municipality is delighted that it had a role to play in this and has been able to facilitate an ongoing discussion with the province focused on moving towards more sustainable practices.
“But honestly, sometimes the residents of the county can take your breath away because their determination and their resourcefulness is really responsible for the success for pressing pause on this for more consideration,” he said.
NO TIMELINE
Rankin said in an interview there is no timeline on his department’s look at the species at risk situation at the Corbett Lake site.
He said a previous look didn’t identify any species at risk in that general area. “But we have received, as you know, correspondence from some of the community members that wanted us to take a closer look, and I know that they’re out there and they’re providing information that we should look at. So I decided it would be beneficial to take a look at what is being provided and add that into the data that we currently have. And we put a pause and a halt to the actual ability to harvest in the meantime. If there are species at risk that we need to be aware of that could change either whether there is harvesting or not or special management practices.”
Rankin said there is no timeline.
“This is an important issue for the community,” he said. “I take my role very seriously. I think if there are concerns on something of this importance government should respond and look at the data that is being provided and we’ll look at that closer and analyse to see if there should be changes.”
APPRECIATION
Habinski said appreciation must go out to the province for listening to the citizens concerns and the municipalities concerns.
“We cannot move forward independently,” he said. “We really do have to have dialogue between our constituents and each of the levels of government in order to make meaningful inroads on this.
Wigney had planned a ‘March for the Birds’ in Annapolis Royal Saturday morning, June 15. The march will go ahead.
“This will now be less a protest and more a victory parade,” Wigney said.
