Saving Forests

Speakers included a moving welcome from the Mi’kmaq First Nations and by biologists, Donna Crossland, Bob Bancroft, and Rob Bright. It included a free lunch and a silent auction. The estimated turnout was around one hundred and eighty. It included members of municipal council and Carman Kerr, our local MLA. The Master of Ceremonies was Larry Powell, local reporter and writer.

The fundamental concern was old forests and the cutting on crown land. To address these issues in Annapolis County, to my mind, we need two large wall maps in the Municipal Board room at Annapolis Royal.

1. Land ownership in Annapolis County
2. Forest Ecosystems in Annapolis County

I can remember sitting in the COGS library and looking at the Church map. Well, we need current maps, at a similar scale, for the ownership and ecology for the county.

We have the Human Resources. COGS has turned out some excellent cartographers. Have you seen the maps produced by Marcel Morin, Lost Art Cartography for the Grand Pre area (see blog post “Spring Forward“)? The maps could also show the topography and the underlying geology.

All of us drive along highway #101 and notice the beech hangers along the face of North Mountain or, after a snow fall, the clearcuts along the face of South Mountain.

If we want ecological planning, maps of land ownership and ecosystem type are critical especially when connected to a modern GIS system. It would allow elders (from Mi’kmaw and settlers ) for example to speak on behalf of the old forests.

Acknowledgements

The Arlington Forest Protection Society for hosting the meeting. To the invited speakers.
Edward added the graphics.

References

Suzanne Simard, 2021, Finding the Mother Tree, Penguin Canada.

Gary Snyder, 2016,The Etiquette of Freedom, Penguin Random House

Gary Snyder (essays), 2020, The Practice of the Wild, Counterpoint Press