This is day 13 of Jacob Fillmore’s hunger strike. Here is his letter to Premier Iain Rankin: “I strongly believe that Nova Scotia could be a global climate leader. You have the power, and the responsibility, to lead Nova Scotia into a new era of climate action and respect for the natural environment. I hope you will do what must be done to protect future generations.”
Seven of the 14 members of the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Forestry (MAC) last year wrote to the Minister of Lands and Forestry to request a moratorium on clearcutting on crown land, according to a Freedom of Information request received by the provincial NDP Caucus.
A 1981 report “An Evaluation of Moose Habitat In South Western Nova Scotia” provides all the evidence one needs to understand that the area should not be logged, writes naturalist Bev Wigney.
A proposed Cape Breton clearcut within an area designated as a marten habitat management zone has been downgraded to a less impactful commercial thinning. “Nova Scotians should feel encouraged by this,” says Adam Malcolm, a Cape Breton naturalist who first raised the alarm. “Their voice really can in some cases make a difference.”
The Nova Scotia NDP is calling for an immediate moratorium on all harvests equivalent to clearcutting in the entire province. We talk with Lands and Forestry critic Lisa Roberts.
First the mainland moose, and now the American martens. Naturalists in Cape Breton are concerned that a proposed clearcut within an area which the Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF) has designated as a marten habitat management zone will further threaten the local marten population.
Moose need healthy, contiguous, and biodiverse forests to thrive. In Digby County that connectivity between the Tobeatic Wilderness Area and the Silver River Wilderness Area is being steadily eroded by even-aged harvests. Now a map,created by conservation GIS expert Shanni Bale clearly shows why so many people are raising the alarm.
Bev Wigney: “It’s just incredibly pathetic that the people of this province are so at the end of their rope about the way wildlife and forests are being mistreated that they are compelled to camp on a muddy road in early winter, in order to protect what should have been properly protected all along (but wasn’t).”
A peaceful occupation of the Lands and Forestry office in Halifax in support of the threatened mainland moose was abruptly ended by Halifax police after two hours. Their only demand was for the minister to meet with a group of people who are camping out in order to protect mainland moose habitat from clearcutting.
The lobby of Minister Derek Mombourquette’s office was taken over this morning by a group demanding that the Minister of Lands and Forestry meet to address the clear cut logging currently taking place in the habitat of the endangered Mainland Moose.