Forest Protector Blockade In Digby County

Who are Nova Scotia's forests to benefit? 

Only humans? 

If so, which humans? The ones that want to recreate in large stretches of old forest, or just know that they exist? Or are they to benefit the few from cutting those same forests down?

If our forests are also for the many other things that live in this special ecosystem, which other living things? How about the endangered mainland moose? 

Will we save enough for them to continue in perpetuity? 

If not, which species are we willing to let go extinct so that some humans can benefit from taking their homes?

"Members of Extinction Rebellion and other concerned citizens were served an injunction Dec. 11 against blocking access to Crown land in Digby County designated for logging by the provincial Lands and Forestry Department.

The Extinction Rebellion-led group had set up the blockades nearly two months earlier as a protest against clearcutting and an effort to draw attention to Lands and Forestry’s failure to uphold the provincial Endangered Species Act and to protect the mainland moose habitat."

Read more here. 

Nova Scotia Big Tree Site

Our remaining old growth forests are worth more standing,
 and have a right to exist in their natural state.

With the state of old growth forests anywhere in Canada, it is good to see people that are striving to save what is left. The Nova Scotia Big Tree site reflects this important pursuit.

This site was "created to help preserve our old trees and forests in Nova Scotia", a goal that I support 100%, and wish that more people did. 

Once these places are gone, they are unlikely to be seen again, unless a zombi apocalypse finally halts the greed and mismanagement of one of our most valuable assets - original, pristine forests.

The NSBT site states that they would like to help preserve old trees and forests "by displaying information about big trees naturalists have found and measured. 

They hope "admiration of these giants hopefully will develop an appreciation for our forested landscape."

At the site one can go to the "Big Tree List" which highlights big trees that have been measured. Images of these beautiful trees are included.

Site administrators "encourage everyone to look for and identify other big trees of any species and in all the counties of Nova Scotia.  Measure and take pictures of the tree and submit the results to this site."

There is a challenge for you! 

Are there any Nova Scotian big tree hunters out there? If so, this is a great project to support, in support of the trees and forests we love. 

I can think of a few giant trees in the woods behind my home that I would like to measure, including some impressive Eastern Hemlock, and old growth maples.  

Visit the Nova Scotia Big Tree site by clicking here. 

Acadian Forest Maple Syrup

Yes, please!

In my last post I wrote about it being time for tapping sugar maples in the forest. The season traditionally runs through March and April, making it the earliest agricultural product in North America.

Here we are a little later, and the maple syrup is ready. 

The sugar maple (Acer saccharum) tree is a beautiful hardwood species found in the Acadian Forest. Its sap contains about 2-3 % sugar, which is boiled down until it is syrup containing at least 66% sugar. It takes 40 parts of sap to make 1 part syrup.

When these trees are healthy, they can live up to an amazingly long-lived 400 years old. It is a shade-tolerant species found in mature forests. If a forest is cut over, more opportunistic species replace it. This has caused an overall decline in the number of mature trees.

Climate change is affecting the growth of the sugar maple since they require cooler temperatures. Over time, their range will be pushed farther north.

100% natural sweetener. I wanted to buy it all. 

Unlike more invasive forest activities, the trees in a tapping operation are in no way damaged or harmed. Compare that to the clear cuts that blight Nova Scotia forests, and we can see how working with nature is so much better than working against it.

"Being a wildcrafted product, pure maple syrup acquires tastes, flavours and aromas from the surrounding natural environment.  

During the spring melt, water runs over different rock and vegetation on its way to the tree roots and it acquires a host of varying tastes and flavours distinct to each individual sugaring operation."

Yesterday I road my bike down the road to a neighbourhood farm to pick up a jar of local maple yumminess. The price is comparable to the grocery store, and I get a canning jar that is reusable for so many things. No plastic here.

Even better, my money helps support a local family rather than going to a large corporate interest in some other province.

Take a jar, leave your money in the container - the honour system. Would it work in the city?
The label reads, "Made by hand by real flannel-shirt-wearing farmers".

The syrup I bought is different from the last store bought syrup I got. It is a beautiful golden colour, meaning it will have a lighter taste than the more robust mapley flavour of darker varieties.

I am looking forward to trying my first jar of local syrup made from the forest that surrounds my home.

Yum.

The sugar maple is one of the most colourful trees
in the forest when fall comes.

"We must keep these waters for wild rice, these trees for maple syrup, our lakes for fish, and our land and aquifers for all of our relatives - whether they have fins, roots, wings, or paws."
- Winona LaDuke

Goodbye Pacific Rainforest, Hello Acadian Forest

Large Douglas fir tree near my previous home on southern Vancouver Island.

In 2014 I moved from the coastal rainforest of southeast Vancouver Island to the Acadian forest of southwest Nova Scotia. It was sad to be leaving the Pacific giants, but exciting to get to experience a totally new forest on the east coast.

For 9 years I enjoyed exploring the wet, mossy forests of the Pacific coast. During that time I created a blog, Vancouver Island Big Trees, and published over three hundred posts sharing my big tree experiences.

Since arriving in the Acadian forest I have been learning about this unique and stunning ecosystem. 

Initially we had to adjust to the size difference between Pacific and Atlantic forests. The forest in Nova Scotia seemed so... small.

After a while my eyes adjusted, and I could see that what my new forest lacked in sheer size, it easily made up for in diversity and beauty.

There was also an age adjustment to be made. The oldest trees on the west coast can be over 1000 years, while an ancient on the east coast might get "only" get to  see 400.

While I look forward to having many more experiences in the Acadian forest, I already have seen enough to know that this is one of the most incredible forests I have ever had the pleasure of exploring. 

What I like, is that this is not like the boreal forest to the west, nor is it like the northeastern coastal forest to the south. It is a small patch of something unique and wonderful.

Acadian Forest Big Trees will share some of the beauty I see, and the things I learn while out and about in the forest around my home. It is my hope that the posts in this blog will demonstrate why the Acadian forest is worth saving and protecting.

Big tree in the Acadian Forest near my new home in southwest Nova Scotia.

Lament For My Forest Refuge

"Machinery in the middle of the forest can only mean one thing: clearcutting."

The following sad letter is reprinted from The Chronicle Hearld, November 18, 2017.

LETTER OF THE WEEK: Lament for my forest refuge

It’s 12:48 a.m. I lie awake.

My brother said he heard machinery near the old hunting camp located up the Ohio Road, past Indian Fields on Black Lake, Shelburne County. Machinery in the middle of the forest can only mean one thing: clearcutting.

I go on Google Timelapse, zoom in to the camp and stare at my computer screen that flashes aerial images from 1984 to 2016. First, I see green forest. Then it turns into degraded patches of brown. The word that comes to mind as my stomach turns sick is “leech” — just sucking the life force out of the land and scarring it. It is the death of an Acadian Forest.

When I was a child, I’d escape to the forest at the back of the camp. The huge trees were magical and nothing like I’d ever seen before, reaching towards the sky. My little arms would embrace their trunks; I was never able to grasp around and lock my fingers. I’d lay my cheek on their bark listening to my heart beat.

The thick moss comforted me and I’d drift asleep while seeing the dancing branches and clouds way up above me. This was my sanctuary.

The camp is leased from the province and is located on Crown land. It’s a small plot that, to me, was at the edge of the Earth.

Machinery has changed. As a child, I remember thinking that this place would be left untouched. At age 49, I lie here awake, thinking about those trees that gave me life and peace. They will crash towards the earth en masse. Not selectively. Not in a sustainable way. But in a way that saves companies money.

My throat tightens. Tears fall down my cheeks. I grieve.

Shelly Hipson, Atlantic,

Shelburne County