Natural Resources Strategy Will Be Clear, Thoughtful, Informed, Op-ed

NOTE: The following is an op-ed piece by Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell.

Recently, I received a report recommending how the province should manage its parks, minerals, forests and biodiversity. The report, named A Natural Balance: Working Toward Nova Scotia's Natural Resources Strategy, was prepared by a panel of prominent Nova Scotians and gives us direction to write a new strategy to manage natural resources. It calls on all of us to be bold and courageous, because the status quo is not an option.

A Natural Balance acknowledges the consensus amongst Nova Scotians that there is a need to change the status quo, and to do better. Our natural resources strategy must be balanced, the report's authors say, between the economic gains of resource consumption against the intrinsic, hard-to-measure benefits offered by a healthy natural environment. The new strategy must protect our natural resources for future generations.

Today, we have an opportunity to make changes, and we need to make good, commonsense changes to ensure our goals of sustainable natural resources are reached. At the same time, we must find new ways to balance diverse and often competing interests.

Some of the recommendations in A Natural Balance may seem controversial, meaningful change often is. I expected some forest industry concern with the recommendations in the report. I heard some of those concerns when I spoke with woodlot owners at the annual meeting of the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners. Woodlot owners and others in the forest industry have contacted me to express their feelings about the upcoming strategy.

There seems to be an organized assault on the recommendations in the strategy by having private landowners believe that recommendations are regulations.

Some woodlot owners have raised concerns that they won't be able to harvest on their land without a management plan. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Some were concerned that we will force them to sell their timber. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, I'd fight any government that tried that.

Other woodlot owners thought we would tax them if they didn't follow certain rules. Nothing could be further from the truth.

At this point in time, I can tell them two things I'm quite certain will happen: there will be a reduction in clearcutting and no whole-tree harvesting.

For centuries, the government and industry partnered to manage Nova Scotia's natural resources for the province's economic development. From this single perspective, their relationship worked very well.

Today, perspectives have broadened. When it comes to natural resources policies and practices, the status quo is just not an option. It is clear that citizens and technical experts want a more balanced approach to resource consumption and conservation.

For the most part, the forestry industry's response reflects an understandable concern for its future autonomy and prosperity. But this strategy is about more than forestry, and some of their recorded comments do not reflect an accurate account of the strategy development process to date.

Let me make it clear -- the strategy has not yet been written, and no decisions have been made. Department of Natural Resources staff are working through a comprehensive review and analysis of the recommendations from A Natural Balance. Various options are being considered and the most reasonable, balanced approach will be selected for those most affected by changes to forest practices. In short, a commonsense approach will be applied to land owner issues.

There are very important decisions to be made, including forest policy and practices in the areas of clearcutting and biomass. I call on all Nova Scotians, including the forestry sector, to take responsibility to ensure that discussion and debate around A Natural Balance is indeed balanced, so all four focus areas -- parks, forests, minerals, and biodiversity -- receive the attention they need.

We're all in this together, and with clear, thoughtful and informed thinking we'll write a natural resources strategy that our children, and our children's children, will be proud to inherit.