KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – When in 1830 William Alexander MacDonald arrived in Pictou County, having traveled from Caithness, Scotland, to start a new life in a new country, he named the small community he founded Garden of Eden. The lake nearby was called Garden of Eden Lake, later shortened to Eden Lake.
It’s not a stretch to assume he called it that because in his settler mind it was just so pretty and pristine.
But pretty and pristine no more. Eden Lake recently became the umpteenth patch of forest to be clearcut to feed the Northern Pulp mill in Pictou, Nova Scotia.
This isn’t news. There is nothing special about Eden Lake, and there is nothing special about a clearcut in Nova Scotia. Go for a country drive and you will see clearcuts everywhere.
However, it’s news as far as the folks who know and love the area are concerned. “Used to be some beautiful trails and scenery through here,” writes Richard Fultz, who owns a cottage on the lake and provided the clearcut photos in today’s pictorial.
Clearcutting continues unabated in Nova Scotia, despite the fact that most Nova Scotians oppose it. Whether it’s through public consultation, as in the development of the quickly abandoned Natural Resources strategy document when the NDP was in power, or through public opinion polls, time and again citizens tell politicians that they don’t like clearcutting and they want stricter controls put in place on the practice, if not stopped altogether.
That too is news of a sort. Old news.
If you can, please support the Nova Scotia Advocate so that it can continue to cover issues such as poverty, racism, exclusion, workers’ rights and the environment in Nova Scotia. A pay wall is not an option, since it would exclude many readers who don’t have any disposable income at all. We rely entirely on one-time donations and a tiny but mighty group of dedicated monthly sustainers.
Dont they see this is why more and more animals are coming to town… you are taking their homes and the area that they once knew the boundaries too is gone! We need to stop clearcutting for no reason, we dont need these upgrades. So many areas are being clear cut and nothing is being done with them, and those that are, are useless. Let the animal habitats be and let the animals that are now scarce flourish again! Leave nature at its best!
We humans have become so “efficient”, at most things we do except of course saving nature. Just think if we put our heart, soul and mind into healing and fixing what we destroy what our world could be and look like. If we used the same amount of resources that we use to
clear cut the forests and building wide roads through those wilderness areas, think of what we could have. Money though trumps, oh
pardon the almost pun “Trumps”. Why does everyone who can afford it, need a home, and then another home on the shore of so many of the great lakes in this province. Why do we have to develop every piece of vacant property or natural wilderness, forest or lake and ocean front land? We should be looking at just the opposite and leave the natural places as much as possible to be natural for all living things, plants animals and other intricate organisms to properly manage the eco systems we have left. At least we should be saving a lot more of our forests, let them have a chance for regeneration, and just be more mindful of what we do in our wilderness areas .