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____________________________________________________________________________
.
BlankFor Immediate Release:
February 19, 2005
Bay of Islands Center
Contact: Gail Martin
www.bay-of-islands.org
1-902-347-2602
Liscombe, Chignecto Game Sanctuaries on the Chopping Block
Stripping of Sanctuary Status Deadline Looms
Less than 10 days remain for public input into the stripping of the
'sanctuary' status from Liscombe, Chignecto and other game sanctuaries.
At 4:00 p.m. on February 28th, the Nova Scotia Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) will close the books on public input on the future of 26
large areas of Protected Crown Land. Some of the last wilderness treasures
in Nova Scotia are being put through a review and evaluation process by DNR
as part of their ongoing Integrated Resource Management Program (IRM).
Local Example
In the Bay of Islands region on the Eastern Shore , for example, the two
affected areas are Liscombe Game Sanctuary (est 1928) and the Eastern Shore
Islands Wildlife Management Area (WMA), established in 1977.
It's not all bad news. DNR proposes to expand protection in the Eastern
Shore Wildlife Management Area (WMA), with the addition of several islands
in Clam Bay and Tobacco Island and the Sugar Islands in Chedabucto Bay.
The WMA, which straddles Halifax and Guysborough Counties scored a high 22
points in the DNR review, largely because of its breeding colonies of
waterfowl, some of which are endangered species.
On the other hand, the 60,000 hectare Liscombe Game Sanctuary will be
stripped of its 'sanctuary' status and will revert to 'Crown Land'. What
this means is anyone's guess but the DNR proposal suggests that Liscombe,
Chignecto and other 'game sanctuaries' will become subject to whatever
present or future plans DNR has in store for any large tracts of publically
owned land.
According to the Public Lands Coalition (www.publiclands.ca) that lists
Liscombe as one of 18 "endangered spaces" in Nova Scotia, the Province's
Integrated Resource Management (IRM) process is "only a departmental policy,
and regardless of the fact that it is biased towards resource extraction
(keeping almost 80% of our Public Land open to be mined, logged or developed
), IRM does not have the authority or mechanisms to legally protect Public
Land in Nova Scotia."
The Liscombe Sanctuary has been subjected to large scale clearcutting in
recent years, a factor that has had a huge impact on wildlife habitat. In a
recent letter to the newspapers, Richard Hurlburt, the Minister of Natural
Resources states only that " No habitat protection was included [in the
Sanctuaries] because it wasn't considered necessary when the areas were
established". (The Chronicle Herald, Sunday, February 13, 2005).
The fact is that Liscombe was not cut in 1928, nor was it cut fifty years
later in 1978. The 'game sanctuary' was denuded of its trees within the last
two decades.
The Department is late getting the word out and its public relations methods
have been largely ineffective, hence the Minister's public letter to the
media two weeks before the deadline. No public meetings were scheduled
since the announcement on January. 17, 2005, decision period of only six
weeks.
In 1998, commenting on its commitment to complete 'a comprehensive system of
parks and protected areas' the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and
Labour states that citizens "will play an important role in managing
Wilderness Areas, as will shared environmental stewardship. Partnerships,
especially at the community level, will be encouraged for the planning,
development, and ongoing management of these areas."
Yet clearly, this mandate is not being honoured. In 2002 MLA Bill Dooks
submitted a petition in the Nova Scotia legislature supporting a proposal
for a newly defined Liscomb Wilderness Area. The petition was signed by over
2,000 local residents.
Review and Evaluation Process
The DNR review and evaluation was conducted by a team of biologists employed
by the Department. The basis of their point system evaluation was on a
series of questions posed with regard to each of the 26 game sanctuaries and
wildlife management areas under review.
Based on the answers the biologists arrived at, points were given for
potential opportunities in research, conservation, education and whether an
area is of regional significance (recreation, community development, etc).
The Liscombe Sanctuary, for example, came in low with a score of 9 on a
scale from 1 to 25. Based on the results of the evaluation, DNR biologists
"determined that removing the sanctuary designation will have no negative
impact on wildlife populations".
Deadline Extension
What I am suggesting is a bid for more time for Liscombe, Chignecto and
Cumberland. After almost 75 years, would another 10 months for public input
and possible reconsideration by DNR biologists make that much difference?
The people of Nova Scotia need more time to determine the fate of their
remaining natural areas.
Red Flag
Finally, I've attached a US newspaper article (February 14, 2005) that
reports the results of a survey of 200 gov't employed scientists.
"More than half of the biologists and other researchers (U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service) responded to the survey said they knew of cases in which
commercial interests, including timber, grazing, development and energy
companies, had applied political pressure to reverse scientific conclusions
deemed harmful to their business."
While I'm not suggesting that DNR biologists succumbed to political pressure
in their evaluation, I have to ask whose decision it was to allow Kimberly
Clark, Stora Enso and other multinational corporations to conduct wholesale
clearcutting in the province's game sanctuaries in the first place?
Remediation
More importantly, what should now be done with the mess they've created -
surely not to remove the 'sanctuary' status, as ineffective as it may have
been, and forget that it ever existed.
I personally have a problem allowing the Province to sweep the debris under
the carpet by removing the last vestige of 'protected' status on these large
tracts of public land. The review and evaluation process, the Minister's
weak justification of the forest devastation, and the province's apparent
bid to play ostrich and hope February 28th passes quietly is starting to
smell rather badly. Sadly, it's not the scent of spruce, pine and lush
forest floor.
In my opinion, the protected status of our sanctuaries should remain as
preserved green space and at the very minimum, be established as new
Wilderness Areas for a defined number of observation years. Furthermore, the
province should be held accountable and responsible for the remediation and
restoration of the clear cut areas and for implementing conservation and
sustainable ecology education programs in the sanctuaries.
10 Months Extension
To that end, I am proposing a further minimum evaluation period of 10 months
for community consideration and recommendations for the areas negatively
affected.
This will only come to pass if there's a lot of public noise.
Online Form Letter to the Politicians
With that in mind, I have written a letter to our political leaders to
request a 10 month postponement of the February 28th deadline for the game
sanctuary decision. The letter, available on the link below, can be used as
is or adapted accordingly and automatically sent to Premier Hamm, the
Ministers of Natural Resources and Environment & Labour and the MLA you
designate:
www.bay-of-islands.org/issues/sanctuary.html
To learn more about the 26 regions of Nova Scotia, the review process
scoreboard on the Department's website and the results of the DNR
biologists' evaluation for your region, please go to:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/wildlife/
To respond to DNR's proposal:
please email: sanctwma@gov.ns.ca
fax: (902) 679-6176
write a letter to:
Sanctuaries and Wildlife Management Areas Review
Wildlife Division, NS Dept Natural Resources
136 Exhibition Street, Kentville, NS
B4N 4E5
To contact the Ministers:
Honourable Richard Hurlburt (PC)
Department of Natural Resources
3rd Floor, Founders Square
1701 Hollis Street
P.O Box 698
Halifax, NS B3J 2T9
Phone: (902) 424-4037
Fax: (902) 424-0594
min_dnr@gov.ns.ca
Honourable Kerry Morash
Department of Environment and Labour
Terminal Road Building, 6th Floor
5151 Terminal Road
PO Box 697
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
B3J 2T8
Phone: 902.424.6647
Fax: 902.424.0575
E-mail: doehlfx.baidenls@gov.ns.ca
Or, if you agree with me that the Nova Scotian public needs an extension of
the deadline and the opportunity to be consulted on the proposed decision,
please visit www.bay-of-islands.org/issues/sanctuary.html and support a 10
month stay for the sanctuaries.
Gail Martin
Secretary-Treasurer
Bay of Islands Center
www.bay-of-islands.org____________________________________________________________________________
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