by: Dave Harris
SUMMER 1989
Every change in the forest helps some species and hinders others. As any deer hunter can tell you, cutting is good for wildlife. But, how much cutting?
Over the last 5 years in the glengarry and North Glen areas of Cape Breton's Richmond County, Stora Forest Industries have modified their cutting plans in order to benefit wildlife. Proposed cutting operations would have left little softwood cover in the area and stands of mature tolerant hardwood would have been pulped. When we first approached Stora in 1984, the Forest/Wildlife guidelines and Standards had yet to be established in Nova Scotia; but when we explained what we had in mind, they were receptive.
By reviewing proposed cutting plans, noting all unmerchantable areas and waterways, we estimated the impact on wildlife. Often sites which for economic reasons wouldn't have been cut made up enough of the area that the impact was minimal.
Sensitive areas like waterways needed protection from siltation and extreme temperature change. A belt of uncut trees left along the brooks went a long way toward alleviating these problems. Once all brooks were protected, wildlife had a way to travel to uncut areas. A few short corridors joining these areas produced a cut with little impact upon wildlife. for some species it even improved the habitat.
In some areas a cut could still be so large that wildlife would make little use of the area. In these instances a corridor was left. A 50 metre belt of uncut timber imitates an uncut area and the cover it provides. This belt or corridor maintains a path for wildlife to travel through the cut. As well, a great deal more of the cut is close to cover, providing important foraging areas and increasing the amount of forest edge. (Edge is where two different habitats meet, allowing wildlife to obtain optimal habitat requirements in a small area).
Driving along the new roads of the Glengarry area one can see newly planted cutovers broken by wildlife corridors of mature forest left by Stora. The region is a favoured hunting area for Cape Breton County. But, more meaningful to me is the number of other mammals and birds seen in the area. In spring, female deer with young fawns are often seen using the corridors. Hawks are always hunting the cutovers and roosting in the remaining forest.
As for appearance, the terrain looks like a series of small patch-cuts. Young stands of food are close to older stands of shelter. Older trees that will soon provide nesting and feeding sites for woodpeckers are seen near young regenerating stands of spruce and fir. There is more age diversity in the area now than before the cutting began.
To fully incorporate wildlife management in forest cutting plans, both Stora and ourselves need more planning. But the planning will pay off in a forest containing more wildlife habitat - a feature most Nova Scotians will be glad to see.