The HFC started in 2016, protesting the rampant clearcutting of Nova Scotia’s forests and increased harvesting of timber for biomass. We wanted to halt these practices and to ensure that our government’s policies would foster restoration of the Acadian forest, protection of special places, and maintenance of biodiversity.

​To learn more about us and what we're currently working on please check out the links below and explore the site.
Public outcry necessary to protect land?
Recent logging near Rocky Point Lake, an area in southwest Nova Scotia that is known habitat for mainland moose, and the delisting of Owl's Head Provincial Park are but two of several provincial government actions that have sparked significant opposition from the public. The letter of offer to turn Owl's Head Provincial Park into a golf course was rescinded by the business owner likely due to public pressure. This begs the question, what does it take for the province to protect it's most biodiverse and ecologically important land?  See links below to learn more: 
Logging threatens mainland moose, say opponents​
​Nova Scotians defeat billionaire developers who tried to swoop in on park
'Not too many options left' for mainland moose, biologist says​
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Photo: Will McLernon, The Signal
The HFC is calling for a Singing Season, wherein no forest harvests occur during peak breeding season - May 15 to July 31. Check out our new video below to learn more:
New maps reveal dramatic changes in Nova Scotia forests. Click on image below to learn more:
All video shot by drone in the Province of Nova Scotia

Mainland Moose Postcard Campaign

We are asking everyone to please send Moose postcards to current Minister of Lands and Forestry; Derek Mombourquette.

Please contact Marilyn Cameron <[email protected]> to order a bundle of postcards.

​Send one in yourself and ask friends and family to do the same. Donations towards costs are welcome but not necessary.

​Premier McNeil’s Legacy: A Degraded Forest

Our new premier will confront many crises that have been growing steadily in recent years. The plight of our forests will be among the most urgent because the consequences of reckless overharvesting will be with us for at least a century.
  • The average age of our forests has been dramatically reduced, so that it is hard to find mixed-age stands, particularly on Crown lands.
  • Even-age harvesting practices have destroyed important animal and plant populations.
  • The Acadian forest which has given Nova Scotia a unique character is being systematically replaced, through government sponsored ‘silviculture’ programs, with boreal species like those found in the forests of northern Ontario and Quebec. Those species are preferred by the pulp and paper industry, but are unsuited to our soils and our native plants and animals.
  • All of this has brought us a biodiversity crisis that is increasingly difficult to address. As we have seen in the dramatic decline of the mainland moose population, which cannot be turned around unless we are prepared to set aside large areas as reserved habitat. Something that the forest industry has been unwilling to tolerate.
  • These radical changes adversely affect us. Rural economies are undermined by the loss of mixed-age, mixed species woodlands, and the growth of capital-intensive forestry which thrives only on low value wood that can only be used for biomass or for buiding projects using engineered woods. Traditional woodland recreation – hunting, fishing, hiking, camping – which also happen to be economically valuable – also suffers. The air we breathe, the climate itself, the water we depend on are all diminished.
You can see some of these effects in the following video prepared by Cliff Seruntine. It shows how forest interests are radically changing the natural features of south-west Nova Scotia, which was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2001. Changes brought about with the full support of LAF and our tax dollars.
None of these consequences of overharvesting has deflected the Department of Lands and Forestry from its mission – first laid out in the Forests Act of 1989 - to double forest production by 2025. Nor did two extensive public enquiries – the natural resource strategy consultation of 2008-9 and in 2018 Professor William Lahey’s critical review of harvesting practices - dent the department’s blind commitment to industrial forestry. Indeed, in 2019, the first full year after the government accepted Lahey’s report, some 12,395 ha. of Crown land were approved for harvesting (654 proposed cuts), and approvals for 2020 indicate that a larger area (15,343.9 ha. in 699 proposed cuts) will be harvested. An estimated 71.6 % will be ‘even aged’ treatments.

When you write to the press and the politicians, we suggest that you emphasize:
  1. The need for an immediate moratorium on all even-aged treatments on Crown land. This is urgently needed. It would not violate the Province’s commitments to companies granted cutting rights. It would force them to slow down their harvesting and to require their contractors to use harvesting equipment in an ecologically appropriate way. It would also be consistent with Lahey’s call for a return to uneven-aged treatments on Crown lands.
  2. Amend the objectives and purpose clauses of the Crown Lands and other forest-related acts to replace the current prioritization of timber production with a mandate to reflect the full range of values that the public attaches to our forests. This was recommended by Professor Lahey because the current wording legitimizes the harvesting practices that are destroying our forests.
  3. Appoint to key positions at LAF officials who understand the precepts of ecological forestry and are genuinely committed to implementing the Lahey recommendations.
  4. Ensure that LAF has the necessary resources and commitment to carry out the court-ordered implementation of the Endangered Species Act now and over the longer term.
  5. Insist that LAF comply with the government’s commitment to provide meaningful opportunities for peers and key stakeholders, including the general public, to be included in initiatives called for by Lahey. This would include the review and revision of the study of natural disturbance regimes.
  6. Mandate interdepartmental cooperation between LAF and the Department of the Environment, particularly re land use planning and synchronizing policies related to nature reserves, wilderness areas, parks, etc.
All photos and logos are the property of The Nova Scotia Healthy Forest Coalition except where otherwise credited and used with permission.
The time for change is now.