Public pressure bends policy

On May 16, you published two excellent letters urging government action on two aspects of forest policy.

Wendell Rogers of Camperdown wrote eloquently of the fragile biodiversity of the lakeshore at Minamkeak Lake and pleaded that the area not be destroyed through timber harvesting. Frances Baldner of Antigonish applauded an article by Dale Smith that advocated long-term planning for Crown lands.

Explicitly, or by implication, both encouraged other readers to write to the premier and our MLAS to take “the primary responsibility for forestry management” out of the hands of the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables.

As Wendell Rogers and Frances Baldner recognize, government will undertake forest policy reform only if pressed to do so by a convinced and committed public. For decades, environmental organizations such as the Ecology Action Centre and Nature Nova Scotia have pushed for ecological forestry, assisted by regional and specialist groups such as Eastern Shore Forest Watch and the Nova Scotia Bird Society.

In 2016, more than a dozen of these groups agreed to set up the Healthy Forest Coalition in order to actively advocate forest policy reform. Through the coalition, environmental organizations have been able to focus their message and their efforts on forest issues. Meetings, briefs, media interviews, even court challenges have kept forest issues in the news. Most of this has been carried out by volunteers, with the help of modest financial contributions from dedicated supporters.

The forest industry can afford to mount video campaigns and advertising in the mainstream media.

By contrast, Nova Scotia's environmental movement draws on the support of a great many committed members of the public who are determined to persuade the government to carry out genuine reform of our forest policies.

These volunteers have shown that a determined public can bring about change, even when faced by a well-financed lobby. During the 2017 election, they generated enough public opposition to clearcutting to persuade then-premier Stephen Mcneil to set up the Lahey review. The Lahey report recommended that ecological forestry replace the clearcutting that has degraded our forests since the late 1980s. Again, committed members of the public forced the government to begin implementing new forestry guidelines that may eventually bring about ecological forestry.

Recently, a new group, the Bridgewater Watershed Protection Alliance, has emerged to secure conservation of the Petite Riviere watershed. If it receives the kind of public support called for in the Rogers and Baldner letters, the alliance is bound to succeed.

Across the province, there are many other groups like the alliance. There are many potential supporters reading this letter. If they commit to joining those local groups, we can together ensure that Nova Scotia has an environment that we can be proud of.