{"id":152,"date":"2010-10-18T20:20:46","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T23:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/?p=152"},"modified":"2010-10-18T20:20:46","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T23:20:46","slug":"forest-policy-the-chronicle-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/?p=152","title":{"rendered":"Forest Policy – the Chronicle Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to people, not forest companies<\/h2>\n
By SILVER DONALD CAMERON<\/div>\n
Sun, Oct 17 – 9:40 AM<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Listen to people, not forest companies <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

By SILVER DONALD CAMERONSun, Oct 17 – 9:40 AM<\/p>\n

Which is more important, the forest or the trees?<\/p>\n

The trees, say the forest corporations.<\/p>\n

The forest, say the rest of us. That\u2019s the clear message from the public consultations led by Voluntary Planning for Nova Scotia\u2019s Natural Resources Strategy Review, which started in 2007.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear about the terms. A genuine forest is a natural community, complex and diverse, full of complicated interactions. Soil fungi pass nutrients between plants, bears flip salmon ashore to nourish the trees, birds and insects distribute pollen and seeds. A living forest inhales greenhouse gases like CO2, and exhales oxygen. It prevents soil erosion. It absorbs rainwater, filters it, and regulates its release into the streams. It nourishes the human sense of wonder, attracts visitors and supports recreational activities like hunting, fishing, birding and hiking. Its inhabitants pollinate our crops.<\/p>\n

\nAn industrial \u201cmanaged forest” is not a forest at all. It\u2019s a plantation, a farm for pulpwood. Its trees are all the same spe cies, all the same age, maintained by chemicals and grown to be clearcut by monstrous machinery. It resembles a forest about as much as a plastic turkey resembles a Thanksgiving dinner. But that\u2019s what the \u201cforest” industries want, and that\u2019s what they\u2019ve created on vast tracts of the Nova Scotia landscape.<\/p>\n

\nAccording to the consultations, Nova Scotians want a real forest, not a plantation. Voluntary Planning\u2019s first report accurately reflected those opinions, and its Phase 2 report massaged them into proposals designed to shape the prov ince\u2019s new forestry policy \u2014 and, ulti mately, its new forest.<\/p>\n

\nBut the forest corporations are desper ately concerned that the provincial gov ernment may actually do what the citi zens have called for \u2014 a truly horrifying novelty. Behind the scenes, they\u2019re staging a veritable orgy of lobbying, spin doctoring, bullying and arm-twisting.<\/p>\n

\nTheir scare campaign could very well succeed, says Wade Prest, a professional forester, woodlot operator and former president of the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association. The three big pulp mills absolutely dominate forestry in Nova Scotia, and they have been strongly supported by the provincial Natural Resources Department. In effect, the mills now control the whole provincial market in wood fibre.<\/p>\n

A sawmill, for example, absolutely requires a reliable source of sawlog and a place to sell its waste products. A pulp mill can provide both \u2014 but the agree ment binds the sawmill firmly to the pulp mill. By the same token, many woodlot owners feel they have no choice but to do the bidding of the pulp compa nies, which diligently foster the illusion that they\u2019re the only game in town.<\/p>\n

\nAnd that\u2019s how the companies got the clout they\u2019re using to put pressure on Natural Resources Minister John Mac-Donell \u2014 who, say Wade Prest and others, really does understand the desperate need for reform.<\/p>\n

The Forest Products Industry Association of Nova Scotia, for instance, boasts over 600 members including loggers, truckers, \u201csawmill operators, pulp and paper manufacturers, small and large landowners, forest equipment operators, maple product producers, woodlot own ers, Christmas tree producers, silvicul ture and harvesting contractors.” FPANS is calling on all its members to write the minister opposing the Voluntary Plan- ning report.<\/p>\n

\nWhy? The report\u2019s recommendations, the association declares, \u201care not based on credible science and come from a few vocal people who would prefer to see our industry die. These people forget the forest industry is the backbone of the rural economy of Nova Scotia. Without a viable forest industry, we will see rural communities fade off the map.”
\nApparently the whisper campaign goes so far as to insinuate that the wicked socialist government intends to expro priate private woodlots.<\/p>\n

\nGet a grip, lads. Who are these bogey men who want the forest industries and the rural communities to die? The real enemies of rural communities are the pulp companies who have been mechanizing and cutting jobs for decades, who come and go as it suits them, whose forestry \u201cmanagement” closely resembles the fisheries \u201cmanagement” that extinguished the cod fishery, and whose idea of democratic procedure is to bully its suppliers and employees \u2014 and, if possible, the government itself.<\/p>\n

\nThere\u2019s a better way to do things, both in the woods and in the legislature, and the time to start is now.<\/p>\n

\nwww. silverdonaldcameron. ca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to people, not forest companies By SILVER DONALD CAMERON Sun, Oct 17 – 9:40 AM Listen to people, not forest companies By SILVER DONALD CAMERONSun, Oct 17 – 9:40 AM Which is more important, the forest or the trees? … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-the-record"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}