Four months after receiving it, the province is making moves to adopt recommendations from the Independent Review of Forest Practices.
Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin says they will follow the triad approach recommended by Professor Bill Lahey.
That involves conservation areas, high production forest areas, and a combination of the two.
Rankin says the province agrees with the spirit and intent of Lahey’s recommendations but it will take time to implement.
“It’s taken us three to four months to respond to a report that took a year to put together and had various conclusions and it’s substantive, anyone who has looked through the report can appreciate this will take some time to get right,” he says.
Rankin says one of the most important recommendations they’re following is the revision of the Forest Management Guide, which dictates how crown forests are harvested and managed.
“We know that will take some time which is why we believed it was important to put some practices in place that will immediately reduce the amount of clearcutting and actually improve the retention quality of the stands.”
Rankin says the revision will take about a year and put more emphasis on ecological values.
He believes the move will drop clearcutting on crown land by about 10 per cent but says government doesn’t have a specific goal in mind for clearcuts.
Rankin called the Dexter government’s goals of reducing clearcutting by 50 per cent, an arbitrary number, saying it wasn’t a goal rooted in science.
The provincial government also plans to begin a peer review of the department’s approach to natural disturbance regimes and Rankin says they’ll implement buffer zones of 100 metres around protected areas.
Over the past two years there have been several proposed harvests near Kejimkujik National Park and other protected areas, which caused some push back from the public and advocates.
While the changes are underway, Forest Licence Agreement holders will have their licences extended for a year.
Companies like WestFor Inc. and groups like the Medway Community Forest Co-op have been on interim licences since the province announced they would undergo the forestry review over a year ago.
The provincial government says they will continue to work with Lahey on the forestry file throughout the next year.
Meanwhile, the NDP’s Lands and Forestry critic believes the province’s response lacks details.
Lisa Roberts says after waiting four months, she was hoping to see more ‘robust’ changes made.
She’s also unhappy with the amount of time it will take to implement some of the changes government plans to make.
“I would like to see an immediate, new evaluation process, some place where somebody can call and say ‘this cut that’s been approved, should not have been approved, this cut includes old forests.’”
Roberts doesn’t believe Nova Scotians will be happy with the projected reduction of clearcuts.
Raymond Plourde with the Ecology Action Centre says he also expected a more detailed response.
But Plourde says he believes the province understands what needs to be done as far as crown land is considered.
“The minister and the deputy referring to uneven aged management and multi species, longer lived, shade tolerant species, that is exactly what the Acadian forest should be managed with.”
Plourde wants to see the province adopt Lahey’s recommendation of amending the Crown Lands Act to put ecological priorities first.
The government’s complete response to the report and the interim retention guidelines can be found here.
Story by Brittany Wentzell
Twitter: @BrittWentzell
Email: wentzell.brittany@radioabl.ca
