PRESS RELEASE

Forest talks collapse as groups walk out

Excerpts from group letter to the Nova Forest Alliance Management Committee

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

On 25 February, the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association, the Nova Scotia Environmental Network's Forest Caucus, the Ecology Action Centre, and the Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association announced their withdrawal from the Nova Forest Alliance (NFA). The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq suspended its involvement with the NFA three years ago.

As one of their key reasons for withdrawal, the groups cited the misrepresentation of the GPI Atlantic report The Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index Forest Accounts by the NFA Chair, Dr. Eldon Gunn.

The following is excerpted from a statement of withdrawal signed by Tom Miller – President, NS Woodlot Owners and Operators Association, Susanna Fuller and Peter Austin-Smith – Co-chairs, Ecology Action Centre. and Pam Langille Interim Chair, NSEN Forest Caucus:

"As outlined in the recently released Genuine Progress Index (GPI) Forest Accounts report, the condition of Nova Scotia forests has been greatly degraded by 400 years of timber harvesting and human development. Over the past two decades, the rate of cutting has doubled by volume, and in the last decade alone, the area clearcut annually has doubled. In Nova Scotia, almost all harvesting (98.9%) is accomplished by clearcutting or similar even-aged management systems.

"The widespread and indiscriminate use of highly-mechanized, liquidation-style forestry has taken a tremendous toll on Nova Scotia’s forests. The situation has not gone unnoticed, with many Nova Scotians deeply disturbed by the over-cutting they see throughout the province. The Nova Forest Alliance’s own public opinion poll found that 91% of Nova Scotians believe the present rate of timber harvesting is too high to sustain the forest for other values or uses, and 85% do not agree with the use of clearcutting as a harvesting method in central Nova Scotia. Most Nova Scotians see clearcutting as destructive to wildlife, forests, soils, and aesthetics and they want it stopped.

"In November, 2001, GPI Atlantic released a comprehensive 2-volume report, entitled "The Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index Forest Accounts". Many individuals and groups who have been dismayed by forestry practices in Nova Scotia have recognized and welcomed the GPI Forest Accounts as a landmark document in the effort to restore Nova Scotia's degraded forests. Like the professed aims of the Model Forest program, GPI Atlantic "understands that a forest is much more than trees" (CMFN 2002).

"We woodlot owners and environmental groups consider the GPI Forest Accounts report to be based in sound science, and highly valuable in charting a new course towards sustainable forest practices in Nova Scotia. The GPI Forest Accounts use official sources (NSDNR forest inventories) to document the dramatic loss of forests greater than 80 years old, and the sharp increase in clearcutting over the last 10 years. The GPI report cites dozens of published, scientific analyses to demonstrate that this decline has seriously compromised the capacity of the forests to produce high-value lumber for the forest industry, to provide vital ecosystem functions, to protect soils and watersheds, to sequester carbon, to sustain viable populations of many forest dependent animals and plants, to support the tourism industry, and to provide recreational value to Nova Scotians.

"The carefully documented "leading edge" case studies in Volume 2 of the GPI Forest Accounts demonstrate a sustainable and economically viable way forward to manage our forests more responsibly. It shows how we can begin to restore some of the lost value of Nova Scotia's badly degraded forests, providing valuable information that, given the mandate and purpose of the Model Forest program, should contribute to the direction, activities and goals of the Model Forest Network and the NFA.

"The GPI report has been praised by Judith Cabrita, Managing Director of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia (TIANS):

"The Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia welcomes the release of the GPI Forest Accounts for Nova Scotia, and we hope it produces positive action to protect a natural resource of vital importance to our industry.

"The...GPI Forest Accounts clearly express...concerns of the Tourism Industry...that clearcutting and poor forest management undermine "the province’s ecological, social and economic fabric", "depriving future generations of their natural inheritance."

"From Leslie Hauck and Darren Brown of the Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association (ESFWA):

"ESFWA has reviewed the GPI report on forestry and believe that it is credible, deserves careful consideration, and has very positive and forward-looking recommendations which will benefit the forests and inhabitants of Nova Scotia, and the larger ecosystem."

"Given the similar goals of the NFA and GPI Atlantic, one would have expected the management committee and the partners of the NFA to embrace the GPI Forest Accounts report, and to examine in detail how it could be used to help shape the future direction of the NFA program. In fact, the exact opposite occurred. Following the release of the GPI Forest Accounts report in November, 2001, the Chair of the NFA, Dr. Eldon Gunn, made highly disparaging comments to the media, dismissing the report in its entirety. He also indicated that there was nothing useful to learn from the "best practices" case studies in the report’s second volume.

"Mr. Gunn failed to acknowledge even the most basic realities that are carefully documented for the first time in the GPI report, and he deliberately misrepresented what the report actually said. His comments were biased, irresponsible, and misleading.

"In response to Gunn’s public comments and misrepresenting his views as those of the NFA partnership, the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association suspended their membership in the NFA.

"Gunn appears to represent only a very narrow set of interests, i.e., the forest industry and the upper management levels of the NSDNR. He has ignored the concerns of the tourism industry, environmental, wildlife, nature, sports and other groups, many woodland owners, and the views of most of the general public. Indeed, many retired and practicing foresters and forest technicians in Nova Scotia express, in private, their reservations with current forest management trends in the Province. Mr. Gunn's failure to acknowledge the most basic realities documented in the GPI report, and his long-time association with the NSDNR, in particular his involvement with their wood supply forecasting activities, indicates a bias that calls into question his position as the official representative of a supposed multi-stakeholder consultation.

"Until last week’s partnership meeting (Feb.5/02), neither the NFA management nor Gunn had done any ‘damage control’ around this issue. In December, the NFA management committee met and discussed the concerns raised in three letters to the committee from the ESFWA, the EAC, and the NSWOOA about the appropriateness of Gunn’s comments. The committee opted to keep Gunn as chair, and made no attempt to distance itself publicly from his comments or to recognize the merits of the GPI report in any way.

"Gunn’s original comments have been disturbing, but so has the lack of appropriate response from him, the Board, and the NFA management. Were the NFA genuinely interested in improving forest practices in NS, they would have welcomed the publication of the GPI report, recognized its worth, and initiated efforts to address its many recommendations. Instead, they have asked that the NFA be removed from the report’s acknowledgements and Gunn himself ignored invitations from Dr. Ron Colman of GPI Atlantic to meet and discuss the findings.

"The NFA partners have finally endorsed a dialogue with GPI Atlantic on the GPI Forest Accounts findings, which we welcome. We will wait to see whether this dialogue leads to genuine changes in actual forest practices along the lines recommended in the GPI report."