[Sust-mar] Urgent action needed for Nova Scotia forests

[kim thompson]

Hello all,

This is a general and urgent call out for help for our Nova Scotia  
forests!
Please distribute this message far and wide -- within Nova Scotia and  
beyond - it is essential
that there is a strong and immediate response to the nasty campaign  
that has been launched by some in the forest industry to
undermine what at last heralds a shift toward better forest practices.

A short note or a phone call are all that is needed. Basically just  
say that the government needs to move forward on the
Crossland Bancroft report.

Thank you!

kim

Kim Thompson
Co-chair Eastern Shore Forest Watch



----- Original Message -----
From: Raymond Plourde
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 10:28 AM
Subject: Important Action Alert - Forestry report under attack, needs  
your support

Friends:

Right now the forests of Nova Scotia need your voice and your  
support. And we do mean right now… perhaps more than ever.

Here’s the situation:

The Government of Nova Scotia began a 3-year, 3 phase Natural  
Resources Strategy review process in May 2007 (www.gov.ns.ca/natr/ 
strategy2010/) which began with a massive, province-wide public  
consultation in Phase One. In Phase Two a set of four “expert panels”  
examined the results of the Phase One and ultimately delivered a set  
of reports to government which were released two months ago. The  
government will complete the process later this year with a final  
Phase Three strategy. The Phase Two reports contained some excellent  
and well thought out recommendations – including significant changes  
to how our forests are being managed.

The Natural Resources Strategy Phase Two report has recently come  
under coordinated attack from entrenched forestry interests. Perhaps  
this is not surprising but what is surprising is the level and  
intensity of the attack. Attached to this e-mail are some of the  
letters we are aware of so far attacking the report. No doubt you  
will find them very illuminating and alarming. These letters, and  
perhaps others like them, are being circulated far and wide to  
private woodlot owners, contractors, etc. They contain inaccuracies  
and gross exaggerations and are designed to create fear and  
resistance - the chicken little “sky-is-falling” effect.  It is  
nothing less than tactical fear mongering. These letters are asking  
recipients to write individual letters of their own to the  
government. The intention is clearly to create an engineered backlash  
that will make the government cave in and thus prevent any meaningful  
changes to forestry policies, programs or regulations. Intense  
industry lobbying and organizing against the report is ongoing and  
growing.

We realize that this is high summer and it’s the last thing you need  
to add to your to-do list. We’re sorry to even have to ask. But we  
also know – and we want you to know – that it is very, very  
important. It’s quite literally now or never for the future of the  
forests in Nova Scotia. Real, meaningful reform to forestry practices  
is within reach for the first and likely last time in decades. But it  
is also in real jeopardy. And pretty much nobody in the general  
public is even aware this is going on. The new government needs to  
receive an equal or greater voice of public support for the  
progressive forestry reforms that are currently on the table and  
being decided on right now. By September it will be too late.

You may have participated in the Phase One public consultations  
yourself. If you did you need to follow through and confirm your  
support for progressive forestry reform now. Here at the end of this  
important process – a process that the public has largely lost sight  
of – the new government needs to hear from you. Even if you missed  
the Phase One consultations, if you’re at all concerned about the  
state of our forests and the wildlife species that live in them, then  
you need to speak up for them now – this IS the time.  Please take a  
moment to send a short letter of support to Minster John MacDonell  
and Premier Darrell Dexter expressing your views. Contact info below.

The recently released Phase Two Report is available online at:  
www.gov.ns.ca/natr/strategy2010/phase2report.asp

A summary of the Phase Two forestry report is available through the  
EAC - contact Ray Plourde. A sample letter to government follows

Thank you.

Raymond Plourde, Wilderness Coordinator TEL 442-5008

  Matt Miller, Forestry Outreach Coordinator TEL 429-1335

Ecology Action Centre

www.ecologyaction.ca



Sample Letter

Minister John MacDonell
Minister of Natural Resources
Department of Natural Resources
3rd Floor, Founders Square
1701 Hollis Street
PO Box 698
Halifax, NS, B3J 2T9

Dear Mr MacDonell:

I have recently been made aware of a lobbying effort undertaken by  
several major players of the forest industry. This campaign has been  
targeting small woodlot owners and forestry contractors with fear- 
inducing, exaggerated claims about the potential impacts of forestry  
reforms included in the recently released Natural Resources Phase Two  
report titled “A Natural Balance”.

Please accept my support of the recommendations made by the Steering  
Panel report and the report titled Forests: Restoring the Health of  
Nova Scotia’s Forests, by Bob Bancroft and Donna Crossland. Central  
to these recommendations was a call for a substantial reduction of  
clearcutting and herbicide spraying and a ban on whole tree harvesting.

Their vision for the future of Nova Scotia’s forests is in keeping  
with the call for change identified during the public consultations  
undertaken in Phase One. Please take this opportunity to transform  
our forest industry with a focus on land stewardship, biodiversity  
conservation, protection of provincially significant natural areas  
and an integrated approach to ecosystem-base management.  These  
changes will require great conviction and political will. Please know  
that I support these changes.

Now is the time to chart a new, ecologically sustainable course for  
Nova Scotia’s forests and forest industry for the sake of current and  
future generations.

Thank you,

Your Name
Your community, Nova Scotia


CC: Premier Darrell Dexter
Office of the Premier
7th Floor, One Government Place
1700 Granville St
PO Box 726
Halifax, NS, B3J 2T3

Telephone: 902-424-6600
Fax: 902-424-7648
Email: premier at gov.ns.ca