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The Borealization of Acadia

Due to climate change, warm weather-friendly trees should be dominating our forests; instead, cold-weather species are taking over. We now understand why — thanks to a phone call from the Irving company to lean on a professor's dean.

July 2, 2020 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

A new study shows that since European settlement, the rich mix of deciduous and conifer trees in the temperate forest — known by settlers as “Acadian” forest — of the Maritimes, New England, and southeastern Quebec has undergone “borealization,” meaning there has been “widespread replacement of temperate tree species by boreal species,” which are common […]

Filed Under: Featured, Investigation Tagged With: Acadian Forest Region, anthropogenic fire, boreal, borealization, clearcutting, climate change, Donna Crossland, ecological forestry, facebook, Faculty of Forestry and Enviornmental Management, forestry, global warming, Greg Watson, high production forestry, high-grading, industrial forestry, Jason Limongelli, JD Irving, JDI, Joshua Noseworthy, Lahey report, logging, North Nova Forest Owners Co-operative, temperate forest, Tom Beckley, University of New Brunswick, Van Lantz

The Climate Emergency

Part 4: Our current economy can't address the crisis; what are we going to do about it?

November 8, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 3 Comments

Previously in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. It’s not often that I root for the anti-hero in a book, but it seems that as I neared the end of Jeremy Lent’s latest book, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning — perhaps the longest book I’ve ever read at […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Anders Hayden, circular economy, climate emergency, Copenhagen Accord, GDP, green economy, green growth, greenhouse gas emissions, Jeremy Lent, John Gowdy, Kyoto Protocol, Lahey report, Martin Sers, NDP leader Gary Burrill, Paris Agreement, Peter Victor, Premier Stephen McNeil, Robin Wall Kimmerer, State of the World: Governing for Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals Act, Techno Split, The Energy Emissions Trap, ultrasociality, Worldwatch Institute

“Who speaks for the mainland moose and Canada warbler?” asks judge

September 24, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Christa Brothers will decide whether the Minister of Lands and Forestry has failed to live up to the obligations set out in the Endangered Species Act to protect wildlife in the province. “We seek the Court’s assistance as a last resort,” said lawyer Jamie Simpson, representing the Federation of Nova...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Bob Bancroft, Department of Lands & Forestry (DLF), East Coast Environmental Law (ECELaw), Endangered Species Act, James Gunvaldsen Klaassen, Jamie Simpson, Jeremy Smith, Justice Christa Brothers, Lahey report, Mainland Moose, Richard Beasley, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen

Iain Rankin promises big changes in forestry management, but the province is moving slowly

June 26, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson

Give Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin credit for trying. Last November, Rainkin accepted all 45 recommendations from Bill Lahey, a former deputy environment minister and university president hired to figure out how to make Nova Scotia forests healthier and more productive. Lahey’s recommendations were aimed at improving   biodiversity and reducing the amount of...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Andy Kekacs, Bill Lahey, Bill Oprel, Biodiversity Act, biomass, clearcutting on Crown lands, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), Emera, Forest Management Guide, Lahey report, Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Power, Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners & Operators Association, Port Hawkesbury Paper, Ray Plourde

Truth Be Told: Nova Scotia’s forest department hires a PR firm with forest industry ties to help it with transparency

May 10, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 5 Comments

Cover photo: recent drone shot of a clearcut located between Kejimkujik National Park and Lake Rossignol. Photo courtesy Jeff Purdy. The Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF) recently hired DG Communications, a public relations firm, to assess the department’s progress in meeting the recommendations of William Lahey’s Independent Review of Forest Practices, specifically […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House Tagged With: clearcut, clearcutting on Crown lands, DG Communications, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), Forest Nova Scotia, Forest Products Association of Nova Scotia, Harvest Plans Map Viewer (HPMV), Jeff Purdy, Keji, Kejimkujik National Park, Lahey report, Lake Rossignol, Lisa Jarrett, Mike Lancaster, Natural Resources Strategy, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Pam Davidson, Ray Plourde, St. Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association

“We are down to our last month’s rent”: naturalists say clearcutting is accelerating

April 8, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 1 Comment

“I worked at the Bowater-Mersey mill for 38 years, and our provincial government makes Bowater look like an environmentalist!” said Brian Muise. Muise, a member of the Queens County Fish and Game Association, made his comment at the annual meeting of the Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters in Truro on Saturday. Muise is […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Abraham Lake Nature Reserve, Biodiversity Act, biomass, Bob Bancroft, Bowater-Mersey mill, Brian Muise, Brooklyn Energy, clearcutting, Department of lands and Forestry, Donna Crossland, Endangered Species Act, Genuine Progress Index on Forestry, Global Forest Watch, Jonathan Porter, Lahey report, Mainland Moose, Minister Iain Rankin, Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters, Queens County Fish and Game Association, Ron Colman, Travis McLeod

Fixing freedom of information in NS (and jails), pulp mill politics, and plastics – all that, and more.

Morning File, Wednesday, January 16, 2019

January 16, 2019 By Joan Baxter 7 Comments

I’m Joan Baxter, filling in for Tim today. News 1. Freedom of Information in Nova Scotia – the failure and the fix As Tim wrote, yesterday Nova Scotia privacy commissioner Catherine Tully and auditor general Michael Pickup released their reports on the FOIPOP website security failure. Both painted damning pictures of how the government handled […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Commentary, Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Auditor General Michael Pickup, Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Act, Burnside jail, corporate welfare, forestry, Freedom of Information (FOI) website security failure, Information and Privacy Commissioner Catherine Tully, Lahey report, Minister Derek Mombourquette, Northern Pulp, NS Department of Energy and Mines, Pictou Landing First Nation, plastic bags, Premier Stephen McNeil, Public Accounts

Turning protesters into pets

How Nova Scotia's forestry regulators are already undermining the Lahey Report, and what we can do about it.

December 14, 2018 By Linda Pannozzo 8 Comments

Cover photo: a clearcut adjacent to the Old Annapolis Nature Reserve. The forest to the right of the clearcut is now being proposed as a second clearcut, which would create a total clearcut area of roughly 150 acres. Photo courtesy Mike Lancaster. In her eloquent and thought-provoking 2014 book, Capitalism: A Ghost Story, Arundhati Roy […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Allan Eddy, Allan Smith, Arundhati Roy, Bernie Miller, Brad Toms, Bruce Nunn, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), clearcutting, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Harry Freeman and Sons, JD Irving, Jonathan Kierstead, Jonathan Porter, Lahey report, Ledwidge Lumber, Louisiana Pacific, Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, Mike Lancaster, Minister Iain Rankin, Natural Resources Strategy, Nick Horne, Northern Pulp, Premier Stephen McNeil, Resolute Forest Products, Scotia Atlantic Biomass, St. Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association (SMBSA), Stephen McNeil's Liberals, The Washington Post Company, WestFor, William Lahey

We’re about to learn just how subservient Nova Scotia is to the forest industry

Morning File, Tuesday, December 4, 2018

December 4, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

1. Clearcutting “The McNeil government is promising less clearcutting on crown lands through new ‘interim’ harvesting guidelines introduced yesterday in response to a comprehensive report on forestry practices prepared by University of King’s College president Bill Lahey last August,” reports Jennifer Henderson: It’s unclear how much the controversial practice will be reduced until after permanent […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Art Bouman, Austin Hiltz, beg buttons, Brad Fougere, Canada Post protesters, Canadian Museum of Immigration, Cathy Valade, clearcutting, Councillor Lorelei Nichol, Councillor Stephen Adams, councillor Waye Mason, Crosswalk Safety Task Force, Darius Mirshahi, Glen Assoun, Ian Fairclough, Icarus Report Dec 4 2018, Jennifer Henderson, Justin Whitten, Ken Reashor, Lahey report, Linda Pannozzo, North Dartmouth, pedestrian walk signal, Pier 21, Rachelle Valade, Tony Tracy, Vincenz and Kristina Bogatin, YMCA asking for money, YMCA funding, Zane Woodford

Government takes tentative first steps to reduce clearcutting

December 4, 2018 By Jennifer Henderson

The McNeil government is promising less clearcutting on crown lands through new “interim” harvesting guidelines introduced yesterday in response to a comprehensive report on forestry practices prepared by University of King’s College president Bill Lahey last August. It’s unclear how much the controversial practice will be reduced until after permanent guidelines are introduced by the...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: clearcutting, deputy Minister Julie Towers, Lahey report, Lands and Forestry Department, Minister Iain Rankin, MLA Lisa Roberts, Ray Plourde, Tory Rushton

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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Mo Kenney. Photo: Matt Williams

Episode #18 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Mo Kenney’s new record Covers is a perfect winter companion — songs from across the rock spectrum that she’s pared down to piano or guitar and turned them into sad ballads. She joins Tara to talk about choosing and arranging them, and opens up for a frank discussion of the alcohol dependency it took a pandemic for her to confront. Plus: Movies are back (again).

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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Recent posts

  • The French Connection February 24, 2021
  • Not in their backyard: Halifax councillors throw out neighbours’ appeal of five-storey development February 24, 2021
  • Halifax councillors vote for $175-million capital budget, may add another million for traffic calming February 24, 2021
  • Nova Scotia’s COVID numbers are creeping upward, as likely community spread appears in two communities February 24, 2021
  • It’s official: New Scotland has a new premier February 24, 2021

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