This report Community Forest Network: A Consultation on the Eastport Peninsula is the result of many hours of work and dedication by too many people to mention individually. Obviously the efforts of the Model Forest and the Department of Natural Resources need to be recognized, as do the efforts of the report writers and dedicated individuals who took time out of their schedules to participate in the overall effort. That being said...where does it leave us now?
Although there were many 'somewhat unexpected' bumps and curves along the way, this report has made it into the hands of the people who originally petitioned the government for the halt to logging without fair and informed citizen input in and around their community. From here it will disperse to as many people as possible for review before our next community meeting which will hopefully be more open and informative than the initial 'circus' we saw from ill-equipped representatives of the Department of Natural Resources.
More to come in the following weeks...
Showing posts with label community forestry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community forestry. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
The Western Newfoundland Model Forest Comes to the East Coast
As a result of our communities commitment to stopping clearcutting in and around the local area by; publicly lobbying government through radio call-in shows, writing letters to the local newspapers / provincial government reps, and some creative legal fandanglinging on the part of a local community activist, we have been approached by the Western Newfoundland Model Forest (WNMF) as a potential Forest Community Network site for their 2007-2012 program.
From the WNMF proposal;
"Introduction: This initiative is designed to identify a Forest Community Network (FCN) site in cooperation with the Forestry Services Branch on the east coast of insular Newfoundland.
Background: In it's 2007-2012 proposal the WNMF identified four FCN's. A fifth site was discussed pending the availability of funds. Time did not allow us to define this site location other than to say it would be on the east coast of central Newfoundland.
In cooperation with the Forestry Services Branch, the WNMF staff are exploring the possibility of creating a FCN site (a network of small rural communities) near Terra Nova National Park.
Key Attributes: This yet to be named site would include a number of wholistic attributes that have come to define the WNMF program and our 2007-2012 proposal:
- Made up of a number of small rural communities referred to as a Forest Community Network (FCN),
- Strong buy-in and cooperation by community leaders acting as representatives of their communities,
- Local sustainable development, sustainable forest management and integrated resource management underpinning concepts,
- Explore a stronger link to values associated with coastal zone management,
- Buy-in by provincial departments of government and their regional/local staff,
- Proactive conflict avoidance/conflict resolution,
- Activities (projects) would have champions or active local chairs and working groups,
- Key values: water quality, aesthetics, tourism, wildlife, domestic cutting, agriculture, etc., and
- Linked to provincial, national and global network."
Now that's a mouthful, but overall a good way to start our little process here on the Eastport Peninsula. Lot's of openings in it to get people and groups involved on all sorts of levels.
By going this route the NL government has acknowledged there is a need for this type of community development in the province, and is willing to see what can come from our little group of concerned citizens with facilitation between 'us and them' provided by the WNMF.
From the way I'm looking at this there's a few reasons why government handed over the cash to the WNMF to come out and assess the situation here. First of all to pacify us and keep the waters calm, second to not be seen as totally giving us our way so that all the communities along the coast will want the same thing, and three to actually see if this is for real and not just a small group of loudmouths spewing off in the local and provincial media.
A little background on what has happened so far this year...
The local forest bureaucrats messed the process up back a couple of months ago by arranging a local meeting, intentionally not informing anybody on our committee of the date until two days before, and then showing up to the meeting here in Eastport with their sawmillers, harvesting contractors etc (who never opened their mouths at the meeting) to tell the people that it was better to let them harvest it than to let it burn. That scenario, once exposed, only convinced the local skeptics that government was going at this underhandedly, and ended up adding power to our cause. Oh, and by the way, two of the committee members phones went out the day they actually announced the meeting, and one of the phone lines had to be serviced by a regional phone guy from Gander it was so @#$%ed up. Quite the coincidence, no? and there's more...
After the meeting, and I'm guessing now, there was some 'discussion' amongst provincial bureaucrats about what to do with us. They settled on the Model Forest as a solution, since their old-school undemocratic tactics seemed to completely backfire, and it seems to have been a good move. We're happy and they're happy because we can get off their backs (for the time being anyway). Now, let's hope everything goes smoothly from here on in.
There's a provincial election coming up, a major review of the forest industry due out any day, as well as a 100 year tenure review on 1/3 of the provinces timber resource with hydro rights tied to it (Two BIG Montreal Pulp Companies are trying to muscle their way into the next level of resource development on our little Island paradise). Water rights is what they're really after (the pulp has been secondary for some time), and no one provincially wants to talk about it. Note: NL sits on a huge reservoir of fresh water that is feeding the pulp mills energy needs, and wouldn't they just love to sell that wholesale to the Americans later on?!
Now back to our story about the forests...The morning after the WNMF reps came down for their assessment of our 'committee and community leader buy-in', the area that is now proposed for cutting actually caught on fire and the water bombers had to be brought in! Another coincidence? Apparently a couple of kids had been smoking in the area the night before...
And that's where we are now. Waiting for a letter of commitment from the provincial forestry department acknowledging our communities concerns and taking the five year plans off the table for the time being.
More to follow as the saga of one communities fight to regain control over its resources continues to unfold.
From the WNMF proposal;
"Introduction: This initiative is designed to identify a Forest Community Network (FCN) site in cooperation with the Forestry Services Branch on the east coast of insular Newfoundland.
Background: In it's 2007-2012 proposal the WNMF identified four FCN's. A fifth site was discussed pending the availability of funds. Time did not allow us to define this site location other than to say it would be on the east coast of central Newfoundland.
In cooperation with the Forestry Services Branch, the WNMF staff are exploring the possibility of creating a FCN site (a network of small rural communities) near Terra Nova National Park.
Key Attributes: This yet to be named site would include a number of wholistic attributes that have come to define the WNMF program and our 2007-2012 proposal:
- Made up of a number of small rural communities referred to as a Forest Community Network (FCN),
- Strong buy-in and cooperation by community leaders acting as representatives of their communities,
- Local sustainable development, sustainable forest management and integrated resource management underpinning concepts,
- Explore a stronger link to values associated with coastal zone management,
- Buy-in by provincial departments of government and their regional/local staff,
- Proactive conflict avoidance/conflict resolution,
- Activities (projects) would have champions or active local chairs and working groups,
- Key values: water quality, aesthetics, tourism, wildlife, domestic cutting, agriculture, etc., and
- Linked to provincial, national and global network."
Now that's a mouthful, but overall a good way to start our little process here on the Eastport Peninsula. Lot's of openings in it to get people and groups involved on all sorts of levels.
By going this route the NL government has acknowledged there is a need for this type of community development in the province, and is willing to see what can come from our little group of concerned citizens with facilitation between 'us and them' provided by the WNMF.
From the way I'm looking at this there's a few reasons why government handed over the cash to the WNMF to come out and assess the situation here. First of all to pacify us and keep the waters calm, second to not be seen as totally giving us our way so that all the communities along the coast will want the same thing, and three to actually see if this is for real and not just a small group of loudmouths spewing off in the local and provincial media.
A little background on what has happened so far this year...
The local forest bureaucrats messed the process up back a couple of months ago by arranging a local meeting, intentionally not informing anybody on our committee of the date until two days before, and then showing up to the meeting here in Eastport with their sawmillers, harvesting contractors etc (who never opened their mouths at the meeting) to tell the people that it was better to let them harvest it than to let it burn. That scenario, once exposed, only convinced the local skeptics that government was going at this underhandedly, and ended up adding power to our cause. Oh, and by the way, two of the committee members phones went out the day they actually announced the meeting, and one of the phone lines had to be serviced by a regional phone guy from Gander it was so @#$%ed up. Quite the coincidence, no? and there's more...
After the meeting, and I'm guessing now, there was some 'discussion' amongst provincial bureaucrats about what to do with us. They settled on the Model Forest as a solution, since their old-school undemocratic tactics seemed to completely backfire, and it seems to have been a good move. We're happy and they're happy because we can get off their backs (for the time being anyway). Now, let's hope everything goes smoothly from here on in.
There's a provincial election coming up, a major review of the forest industry due out any day, as well as a 100 year tenure review on 1/3 of the provinces timber resource with hydro rights tied to it (Two BIG Montreal Pulp Companies are trying to muscle their way into the next level of resource development on our little Island paradise). Water rights is what they're really after (the pulp has been secondary for some time), and no one provincially wants to talk about it. Note: NL sits on a huge reservoir of fresh water that is feeding the pulp mills energy needs, and wouldn't they just love to sell that wholesale to the Americans later on?!
Now back to our story about the forests...The morning after the WNMF reps came down for their assessment of our 'committee and community leader buy-in', the area that is now proposed for cutting actually caught on fire and the water bombers had to be brought in! Another coincidence? Apparently a couple of kids had been smoking in the area the night before...
And that's where we are now. Waiting for a letter of commitment from the provincial forestry department acknowledging our communities concerns and taking the five year plans off the table for the time being.
More to follow as the saga of one communities fight to regain control over its resources continues to unfold.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
So you want pictures eh?
On a recent trip to Content Reach I took a few snaps of what is going on up there in the way of forestry operations. It appears that the government forestry department has decided to allow the road building to start without permits. The roads depicted in these photos are not set to be permitted until January 2007, but here they are in the fall of 2006. What gives?
There were also a few skidders (timber jacks) out around so I decided to take a few snaps of them. Notice the balding tires? That's why the soil is so torn up in this area.I also took a few shots of an area that has been logged already to compare it to the area that has yet to be upturned by man. You can see the tracks through the bog area in the first photo, what will the second photo look like once they're done?
Not to be unfair, there are some nicer looking logged over areas out there, but I was not out there to showcase the forest industries good side. This is for the people of the NE Coast of Newfoundland to ponder. Is this what we want our forests to look like?
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