Jim Guy

SYDNEY, N.S. — A visit to the woods nowadays occasionally produces unwanted surprises as privately managed land can reveal some of the worst examples of what clearcutting can do to our forests. It’s easy to see that the land and animal life are ravaged and some protected species are taken with ignorance without much of a thought. The science is firm on what unregulated clearcutting will do to any forest: Continuing an exploitive rationale to meet market pressures for wood supply is simply not sustainable in the 21st century. It confirms the law of diminishing returns in a small province with shrinking natural resources. …Many private woodlot owners are protective of the resource that brings them an income. But there is a need for a more comprehensive regulation and a control strategy to protect this important provincial resource.