Last Thursday, Heather and I went to the Extinction Rebellion (XR) encampment on crown land within the Southwest Nova Biosphere region.
It is about a two hour drive from our home base in Paradise. You take Highway #101 to Weymouth and then head inland towards the Tobeatic Wilderness Area. This requires driving over twenty kilometres on forestry roads.
On our return home, I wanted to check our route and thus went to the Nova Scotia Atlas. The area of interest is on page 71. What struck me was the difference in land use designation between 2001 (first edition) and 2019 (seventh edition). This is perhaps best illustrated by page 64. (See photographs).
Push the centre slider left/right to compare the two maps.
The map sheet has changed colour. From primarily white (private land ownership in 2001) to primarily green (crown lands) and yellow (provincial parks, wilderness areas and nature reserves) in 2019. My assumption is that this is the result of the Bowater Mersey land coming under the management of the provincial department of Lands and Forestry. In 2016, WestFor Management Inc. was established to implement the forest management.
The good news is that the yellow areas are ‘protected’ from clearcutting. The bad news is that the green areas ‘crown lands’ are available for cutting at the discretion of the provincial government, in association with WestFor.
These findings need to be placed within the context of the Biosphere Reserve. The Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve was established in 2001. At that time, it defined as a core area: Kejimkujik National Park and the Tobeatic Wilderness Area and the surrounding working landscape. At the time of review, UNESCO MAB insisted on a definition of the buffer zone, which would require engagement of interested parties, in particular, the Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry.
Last week, Doug Hickman sent a report to UNESCO, the provincial and municipal governments which identifies the need for a management plan which protects the habitat of endangered species in the region, in particular the mainland moose (see download links, below).
Meanwhile, cutting continues apace on both private land and crown land.
Acknowledgements.
Doug Hickman for producing a comprehensive review of the situation in a short time frame. Heather for her work on a safety plan. Edward for his graphics skills.
References
The Nova Scotia Atlas. 2001. Fifth edition co-published by Formac and the Province of Nova Scotia.
The Nova Scotia Atlas 2019. Seventh edition co-published by Formac and the Province of Nova Scotia
Doug Hickman, November 18, 2020. Backgrounder and Report (two documents) “GUTTED. Endangered Mainland Moose and how the government of Nova Scotia makes a mockery of UNESCO” (see below)
Ernest Blair Experiment 