The review into the province’s forestry practices may spell good news for Midway Community Forest.
The co-operative came about through the “Buy Back the Mersey Campaign” after the closure of the Bowater mill and has access to around 15,000 hectares of forest.
Bill Lahey states in his report the community forest was given significantly less land than they applied for and that is affecting their viability.
The group applied to harvest on over 40,000 hectares of Western Crown land, which they said would help them to acheive economies of scale.
Mary Jane Rodger, general manager of the community forest, says she is pleased with that acknowledgement.
“We identified from the get-go from our original proposal for a community forest in Nova Scotia that we would need a larger land base as well as we would need a system in place to develop self-sufficiency,” says Rodger.
Lahey also says the group has been unable to practice the types of forestry they would like to do and have had to clearcut despite wishing to do so less often.
“It has also been hampered in its efforts to take a different approach to conducting forestry on Crown land by a bureaucratic attitude that is resistant to its desire to use clearcutting less often than the current (Lands and Forestry) ecosystem-based system prescribes,” reads the report.
Rodger says she’s happy to see emphasis on ecological and value-added forestry.
“Some of his mentions just in general including more values and multiple values within Crown management is a premise we are quite supportive of.”
Going forward, Rodger says they will be in talks with government for a long term licence and hopes that may mean access to more land
Like other companies accessing Crown land, the co-op has been operating on an extension of their licence agreement while the review was being conducted.
That extension will continue for now, but Rodger says they will be in talks with government this fall about what a long term agreement could look like.
She hopes Lahey’s report will be accepted as a whole and that the community forest may get access to a larger swathe of land.
Story by Brittany Wentzell
Twitter: @BrittWentzell
Email: wentzell.brittany@radioabl.ca
