The Department of Natural Resources and Renewables has published a new Old Growth Forest Policy. The province is asking for public consultation on the policy until December 8, 2021. 
Please read the report and submit your comments to the province. Nature Nova Scotia has compiled a list of key feedback you may wish to incorporate into your submission: 
  1. Agreeance that, as the policy states, protected areas are not enough to adequately safeguard old forests, requiring greater measures on other crown lands
  2. Concern that the conservation of biodiversity is not a goal in the current draft, as stated in the 2012 policy
  3. Concern over the short consultation period and lack of opportunities for Nova Scotians to get involved
  4. Concern that the old growth forest scoring protocol, the pre-treatment assessment (PTA) protocol, and the monitoring protocol, are not included with the policy, limiting public consultation
  5. Concern over the raising of the minimum tree age for some species to 140, and that the minimum forest size must be 1 ha
  6. Concern that working lands cannot be considered old forests, despite tree age, simply because they are working forests
  7. Concern over the fact that the Minister can still remove old growth forest areas from the policy’s protection if a development project is proposed
  8. Recommendation to prohibit crown logging old forests
  9. Recommendation to have a third-party oversee the identification and mapping work, to avoid a conflict of interest where the same department in charge of harvest activity is also in charge of old forest protection
  10. Recommendation to include clauses around repercussions for failure to follow the policy, to act as an enforcement measure
  11. Recommendation to make (an improved) Old Forest document into law, rather than policy

​There have also been several stories published on the issue:As always, NS Forest Notes is a great forest resource, click here.