Introduction
Across the globe, forests have become a bigger issue with an endless ongoing debate regarding their management. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, about one-third of the globe’s landmass is covered by forests. This forest cover is what supports the livelihood of many millions of people around the globe. At the same time, the forests are considered habitats for many insects, plants, and animals and can combat climate change. On an annual basis, about 12 million hectares are destroyed, causing massive deforestation. Deforestation is influenced by other factors, including changes in land use and agriculture, contributing to about 25% of greenhouse gas emissions (Irland, 2013). The big deforestation contributor, according to studies, is slash-and-burn agriculture, accompanied by other practices such as land clearing and commercial logging. When this is the case, it is apparent that the globe’s croplands have adequate forest cover support, with some covered across boreal forests. Based on the research by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), deforestation rapidly grows at a rate of about 1.3 million km2 every 10 years (Steenberg et al., 2011).
The only thing that has contributed to the reduced prevalence of deforestation is enhanced forest management practices. However, some high rates are closely observed in the tropics where there exists a large distribution of forests. These areas are affected by hot and wet rainforests and are mainly affected by varying proportions of dry open woodlands and dry seasons. Across the Americas, Africa, and Southeast regions, deforestation practices have been mainly attributed to fire. This paper will discuss the Nova Scotia Restoration Plan by providing a plan for operations and sites for restoration. This is an important project that broadly looks at the issue of Nova Scotia Forest from the lens of reforestation and is vital for understanding the key issues behind deforestation, including endangered species and forest fires reforestation (Steenberg et al., 2011). Some of the areas that this paper will deal with include techniques in management, preservation, protection, and harvesting.
Background of Nova Scotia Forest
The Nova Scotia Forest is home to the globe’s biggest and most historic trees with a massive frequency of fires and other issues. Nova Scotia is a large forested landmass area in North America covering key regions, including Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick (See Appendix 1). The Nova Scotia covers an area of about 130 km across the Cape Breton and Nova Scotia peninsula and is only divided by Canso southwest narrow strait, with other adjacent islands. In Canada, Nova Scotia is among the nation’s top provinces, harboring more than 1 million people (Loo & Ives, 2003). The region is also home to more than 3,800 coastal islands and also has a political capital and large city connecting to the Atlantic Ocean gateway and some other ports (Global Forest Watch, n.d.) Historically, Nova Scotia came about due to the migration of people towards the country via seaway passage, making the area a significant Canadian immigration landmark. Irrespective of its existence in society, the big land mates date back its timing to the region’s original indigenous inhabitants who existed about 11,000 years back (Loo & Ives, 2003).
In this area, the Nova Scotian life are the individuals with greater significance to the Mi’kmaq First Nation, with the Vikings being the first Europeans to dominate the area. During this time, no person would gain control over the region until 50 decades later when the first Italian explorer, John Cabot, arrived in the region in 1497 (Global Forest Watch, n.d.). This means that the region of Canada was viewed as the key destination point for various destinations. When other regions, such as Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick, joined Canada’s dominion, Nova Scotia was still viewed as the haven for many cultural communities. In light of this, restoration and awareness play a fundamental role in forest cover. According to the Global Forest Watch (n.d), about 4.58 Mha of tree cover is comprehensively covered by Nova Scotia, which primarily extends to more than 83% of the area’s land (see Appendix 2). This finding, therefore, shows that the Nova Scotia Forest is home to many different animal species, and the ecosystem provides great attributes to its surrounding communities.
Problems and Goals
This project is based on the definitive choice of Nova Scotia Forest. This choice’s project was chosen based on the awareness and knowledge of the issue of Nova Scotia and its association with the historic forest. Globally, the harvest of forests is increasing at a rapid rate, leaving other regions with regeneration challenges affecting the productivity of the forests. Some of the serious concerns on regeneration tie back to hardwood contents and balsam fir, ericaceous ground cover, and even old-field spruce. Thus, the forest conservation problems are evident through the lens of history, which entails a strong focus on power mechanisms and their impact on the forest conservation management process (Brazner & MacKinnon, 2020). Historically, Canadian provinces are viewed as the domestic managers of resources. In reality, however, especially in “have not” provinces such as Nova Scotia, a lot of what happens on the ground is controlled by external forces.
Some of these external forces include commerce policy, trade in the federal government, international investment, and foreign markets. In Nova Scotia, this is not a new thing because the external control over the fate of forest management has triggered external influences for the past 17th century (Oliva et al., 2018). In all the time, little focus has been directed to legislative initiatives and forest conservation policy, which primarily trace their history back to many decades ago. This has made Nova Scotia receive little conservation and management policies (Berry et al., 2018). This is because the history of forest cover, dating back to the 17th century, indicates that Nova Scotia was primarily impacted geologically and climatically (Oliva et al., 2018). The land, which was once free for agricultural production, was shaped by upper soil horizons, rock removal, compaction, and soil erosion. Thus, the goal of this project would be to pursue a reforestation mission that involves harvesting, protection, preservation, and management techniques.
Location and Challenges
The location of this project is set to Nova Scotia Forest. This is the project’s location based on the awareness and knowledge of Nova Scotia within its historic forest. From the start, the peninsula of Nova Scotia is reminiscent of the souring eagle and juts out into the North Atlantic Ocean. It is located east of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and in America’s state of Maine. The peninsula is connected to North America’s continent by a twenty-kilometre-wide isthmus called the “Chignecto marshlands.” The marshlands cover an area of 55,491 square kilometers (Global Forest Watch, n.d.). The Nova Scotia is located at the northeast of Cape Breton, forming an eagle-like wing appearance, joined by a causeway to Nova Scotia. Accordingly, the location of the forest indicates that its location is at most a 56-kilometer sea radius. The Nova Scotia sits on the North American continent’s edge and straddles more than 45 feet, making it geologically complex (Nature Conservancy of Canada, 2023). The forest also relates to the North American continent and Northwest African shores. The region’s soils are highly accident parent materials, predominant forest vegetation, maritime climate, cool temperate, and high rainfall (Steenberg et al., 2011).
Like other North American jurisdictions and forest covers, Nova Scotia is a big land mass area which is impacted by restoration challenges. The challenge of this forest area is tied to its rate of resettlement and natural cover caused by its forestry ecology (Nature Conservancy of Canada, 2023). In light of this, the natural forest processes and structure have raised an important concern on its management design, which paints a picture of what constitutes its disturbances. The Nova Scotia physiography is impacted by repeated and advanced glaciations, varying substantially in topography (Global Forest Watch, n.d.). When it comes to soil acidity, humid and cool summers, combined with precipitation, have triggered infertility around Canada’s coastal regions (Loo & Ives, 2003). During its existence, Nova Scotia has been affected by animal disturbances, soil subsidence, landslides, floods, drought, and ice storms. One important challenge that has mostly threatened Nova Scotia is the aspect of fire.
In the last glaciation, fire occurrence has been viewed as the most social challenge affecting European settlement. These fires are mostly evidenced to emerge during late spring when there is no high outcome of rainfall or low humidity (see Appendix 4). The thing about fires is that they have a significant impact on causing understory and overstory species, with a potential impact on the moisture conditions of the ground and forest floor damage. On an annual basis, the occurrences of fire in Nova Scotia have increased to about 100-900 fires annually (Global Forest Watch, n.d.). Because of these existing problems, it has been largely problematic to characterize natural, historic fire because of the ongoing suppression and human ignition facing the industries. Also, the rapid impact of climate change on tree performance is a big problem affecting the distribution of forests. This problem contributes to human drivers and climate change problems, including but not limited to management practices, disturbance suppression, and trade affecting different trade disturbance regimes (Steenberg et al., 2011).
The other key challenge that affects the deployment of Nova Scotia Forest management is limited resources (Nature Conservancy of Canada, 2023). For instance, the issue of timber shortage has been on the rise due to global forest fires, which could, in due time, not be extinguished (see Appendix 3). This has contributed to inadequate resources for forest cover and the need for more focus on productivity, diversity, and health to meet the goals of reforestation on management on harvesting, protection, preservation, and management techniques. In particular, ecological forestry involves appropriately managing the natural ecological conditions to attain human needs goals and attain significant good yields. This means that the overall goal of ecological forestry is shaped by functional processes and biodiversity, which are more likely to affect natural disturbance patterns (McGrath, 2018). Since the forests are considered a source of livelihood for some people, failing to protect them ultimately implies failure to address its existing challenges (Nature Conservancy of Canada, 2023). In turn, the fragmentation and forest loss will cause habitat loss for wildlife.
Reference Conditions
The project’s main focus involves research on credible sites such as the Nova Scotia local government and forestry organizations. From the start, the local government is a credible trustworthy site with reliable information. Also, the local government sites produce data that can only be accessed by top high-level associates who are trustworthy for managing government-related content. Also, some important local, new articles will be examined. However, its credibility does not guarantee its inclusion in the paper. The articles’ insights are wholly significant for research methods, community resources, and locating the forest problems. Since The Nova Scotia Forest is in Canada the challenges of finding more reliable sources may take more time and effort (Global Forest Watch, n.d.).
Plan and Operations
Deforestation is a big problem affecting Canada’s Atlantic forest. The forests are also negatively affected by invasive species, which have the potential to cause loss of habitat, coupled with the risk of climate change (Steenberg et al., 2011). In totality, the forest’s resilience is weakened by many threats, influencing animals and native plants’ extinction. In a broad sense, the reforestation challenges are a result of a failure to tailor research efforts to current and future management requirements, as well as a misapplication of available technical data. These issues affect forestry everywhere, but they may impact forestry in this region sooner than in many others due to the region’s extreme variability in soil, climate, and history, which makes it difficult to isolate a single issue that, if addressed, would significantly improve reforestation practices. In a broad sense, the reforestation challenges are a result of a failure to tailor research efforts to current and future management requirements, as well as a misapplication of available technical data on reforestation (Steenberg et al., 2011). These issues affect forestry everywhere, but they may impact forestry in this region sooner than in many others due to the region’s extreme variability in soil, climate, and history, which makes it difficult to isolate a single issue that, if addressed, would significantly improve reforestation practices.
Some examples of lead agencies who play critical roles in the Nova Scotia Restoration Plan include the Department of Natural Resources, environmental protection agencies, conservation organizations, local organizations, government departments, and wildlife agencies. From the start, the natural resources department plays a fundamental role in forest conservation by providing well-being, medicine food, shelter, and energy (McGrath, 2018). The goal of forest resource management is to manage, protect, and develop several forests via stewardship (Brazner & MacKinnon, 2020). Secondly, environmental protection agencies work to promote environmental safety by enforcing key primary environmental regulations, research conduct, sponsors, and health risks. This environmental protection agency helps sustain the earth’s ecosystem, promotes global preservation, and supports sustainable practices and voices (Nature Conservancy of Canada, 2023). This is the same role performed by conservation organizations. Conservation organizations, like environmental protection agencies, help to mitigate climate change efforts and, at the same time, promote sustainable land use (Steenberg et al., 2011). These organizations, in particular, take an active role in water infiltration, increasing aeration, and stabilizing soil erosion.
Cross-work cooperation for Sites for Restoration
The agencies on restoration plans and duties will play a fundamental role in the restoration plan of Nova Scotia Forest. The agencies, in totality, would help promote good soil health by setting legislatures and policies to conserve soil nutrients, help establish root systems, and purchase point soil microorganisms for boosting fertility and decomposition (McGrath, 2018). These agencies would promote forest management via cross-cooperation with other agencies, including establishing cross-forest health and productivity, protection of unique forest types and forest conservation, economic aspects of forests, forest conservation, conservation strategies and rehabilitation, degraded lands restoration, maintaining forest cover, sustainable forest management, and international cooperation and forest biological diversity (Brazner & MacKinnon, 2020). Before the agencies operate together, the agencies need to facilitate decision-making and commitment, submit coordinated proposals, foster increased sectoral cooperation, share data on activities, programs, and policies on members, and conduct joint activities (Berry et al., 2018).
The sites that need the first emergency restoration in Canada include Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and Canada. According to the Global Forest Watch (n.d), “Cape Breton lost 24.6 kha of tree cover, equivalent to an 11% decrease in tree cover since 2000.” These areas have mostly been affected by fire, lightning, windstorms, hurricanes, and even other disturbances such as drought. The maintenance of forest areas is thus an important step that begins with the identification of suitable land for forestry. The agencies need to work on a biophysical classification for nonagricultural land. These classifications are essential for planning, logging, and reforestation. Land of low productivity with severe reforestation issues can be identified and taken out of consideration as fertile forest land, and work can be put on more suitable sites. This step involves harvesting regeneration practices in light of the regeneration (Nature Conservancy of Canada, 2023). Cutting old-field spruce is an important step for addressing seed fall and wind direction and considers exposure with regards to clear-cuts microclimate, seed production control, and seedling establishment (Irland, 2013). The other steps that need to be taken on these sites are to control natural regeneration and post-harvest treatments. The agencies should work towards promoting harvest via natural regeneration. When this is pursued, the goal for forest harvesting, protection, preservation, and management techniques. Primarily, the current methods of thinning natural regeneration are either not selective or labour-intensive.
In some cases, selective chemicals or biological agents can help. With a trial-and-error approach, development along these lines can handle a lengthy and expensive research program. Therefore, the objectives need to be carefully considered for potential future changes in harvesting techniques. Some of the proposed plans for addressing the causes of deforestation around Nova Scotia Forest include contacting the local community, wildlife organizations, and government entities to determine the pros and cons of reforestation (Irland, 2013). From the start, the objective of reforestation is to promote sustainable growth, and restore balance in the environment (McGrath, 2018). Some of the reforestation benefits include mitigating climate change, improving the quality of air, restoring wildlife habitats, maintaining water quality, enriching soil fertility, preventing floods, and revering desertification. In contrast, some of the key problems of reforestation include the young trees’ low carbon uptake, increased decomposition rate, and even tree diseases.
The second step is determining the amount of seedlings or other sources that would be needed to produce plant life. In the past, direct seeding was an area with little to no research, but harvesting techniques have evolved, resulting in varying surface conditions at many locations (Nature Conservancy of Canada, 2023). The same goes for adjuvants and fungicides, as well as bird repellents and other materials that are now widely available and will need to be tested. Improving seedling quality requires many agencies and experts. Additional research is needed on seedling nutrition and container systems, especially in areas including weed control, foliage disease epidemiology, and root and seedling disease control (Nature Conservancy of Canada, 2023). Some of this research should involve changing known practices to suit local conditions.
Thirdly, it is important to prepare the determined soil by mowing or any other preparation methods and resources and gather all the equipment and organizations needed. Across Canada, about 80% of its National Forest System suffers from increased risk of wildfire, disease, and insects, leaving about a third of its lands at significant risk. Governments across the goal should be driven by the motive to improve the condition of those lands through active management using every tool at our disposal (Berry et al., 2018). Active management includes wildfire nature ignitions, burning, pasture management, timber sale, and mechanical treatments. Government entities, wildlife organizations, and the local community need to utilize these tools to improve landscapes’ ability to withstand stressors like wildfires, insect diseases, and drought (McGrath, 2018). Other important actions should include conducting planting operations through the proper steps, providing any protectors for the newly planted trees, providing prevention methods, and maintaining the planting process with appropriate maintenance.
Outcomes
The project of Nova Scotia Forest has been a significant case study with a special focus on harvesting, protection, preservation and management practices of forests. First and foremost, multidimensional forestry is a prescriptive approach that implies a broad socio-economic function for the forests. As a prescription, multidimensional forestry guides decision-making by monitoring, selecting management approaches, and setting output targets and outcomes of forest management (McGrath, 2018). In this project, multidimensional forestry is primarily used to define criteria to evaluate the influence of ecocentric decision-making on forest management. Some of the anticipated outcomes of the reforestation project will be to reduce air pollution and the greenhouse effect that has been contributing to global warming, help establish and preserve wildlife ecosystems that have been impacted by deforestation, and restore, recover, and maintain the historic trees within the forest (Brazner & MacKinnon, 2020). Also, this project expects to achieve an outcome of helping to promote inclusive employment in the local communities. The importance of forestry in Nova Scotia is proportionally higher than the average for Canada. Forests are an important source of employment in Nova Scotia, particularly in rural areas. While Nova Scotia has less than one million jobs directly dependent on forestry, an additional 5,000 jobs are indirectly dependent on forestry, whereas 11,000 are created by the forest directly.
Monitoring and Success
This policy proposal is an important attempt to address the acrimony and organizational complexity that defines the Nova Scotia forestry industry. Its fate remains to be seen; however, it moves on to provide a critical analysis of its proposals based on this restoration plan. If the proposed solutions align with the decision-maker’s fundamental ideological stance, the likelihood of adoption increases (McGrath, 2018). Issue information plays a critical role in the policy adoption process, as it supports or challenges the proposed forest restoration plan. Its proposed initiatives are clearly aimed at improving forest conservation practices rather than simply focusing on cutting-edge restrictions (Brazner & MacKinnon, 2020). The proposed monitoring plan would include a series of different organizations that help provide balancers and checks from different angles, including government and private agencies. Every two weeks have a detailed progress meeting with all lead agencies to discuss the progress and any potential issues. Measuring success will be a long-term evaluation. After a few years, new statistics can be taken and compared with the before restoration (Irland, 2013).
Conclusion
Forests are considered habitats for many insects, plants, and animals and can combat climate change. However, about 12 million hectares are destroyed, causing massive deforestation (Steenberg et al., 2011). The only thing that has contributed to the reduced prevalence of deforestation is enhanced forest management practices. Nova Scotia is a large forested landmass area in North America covering key regions, including Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick. Globally, the harvest of forests is increasing at a rapid rate, leaving other regions with regeneration challenges affecting the productivity of the forests. Nova Scotia is a big land mass area that is impacted by restoration challenges, including repeated and advanced glaciations, varying substantially in topography, and even timber shortage. In a broad sense, the reforestation challenges are a result of a failure to tailor research efforts to current and future management requirements. Some examples of lead agencies that play critical roles in the Nova Scotia Restoration Plan include the Department of Natural Resources, environmental protection agencies, and conservation organizations. These bodies play a significant role in facilitating decision-making and commitment, submitting coordinated proposals, fostering increased sectoral cooperation, sharing data on activities, programs, and policies on members, and conducting joint activities. The outcome of this restoration plan will be to establish and preserve wildlife ecosystems that have been impacted by deforestation and address the concerns from different angles, including government and private agencies.
References
Berry, A., Lavers, A., & Mitchell, L. (2018). Old forest policy and regulatory frameworks in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with a comparison to British Columbia. The Forestry Chronicle, 94(01), 13–19. https://doi.org/10.5558/tfc2018-003
Brazner, J., & MacKinnon, F. (2020). Relative conservation value of Nova Scotia’s forests: Forested wetlands as avian diversity hotspots. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 50(12), 1307–1322. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2020-0101
Global Forest Watch. (n.d.). Nova Scotia, Canada deforestation rates & statistics | GFW. Forest Monitoring, Land Use & Deforestation Trends | Global Forest Watch. https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/CAN/7/?category=undefined
Irland, L. C. (2013). Extreme value analysis of forest fires from New York to Nova Scotia, 1950–2010. Forest Ecology and Management, 294, 150–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.09.004
McGrath, T. (2018, February 2). Nova Scotia’s Forest Management Guide. Government of Nova Scotia. https://novascotia.ca/natr/forestry/programs/timberman/pdf/fmg.pdf
Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). (2023). Restoring Atlantic Canada’s forests. www.natureconservancy.ca. https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/where-we-work/nova-scotia/our-work/restoring-atlantic-forests.html
Loo, J., & Ives, N. (2003). The Acadian forest: Historical condition and human impacts. The Forestry Chronicle, 79(3), 462–474. https://doi.org/10.5558/tfc79462-3
Oliva, F., Peros, M. C., Viau, A. E., Reinhardt, E. G., Nixon, F. C., & Morin, A. (2018). A multi-proxy reconstruction of tropical cyclone variability during the past 800 years from Robinson Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada. Marine Geology, 406, 84–97.
Steenberg, J. W., Duinker, P. N., & Bush, P. G. (2011). Exploring adaptation to climate change in the forests of central Nova Scotia, Canada. Forest Ecology and Management, 262(12), 2316–2327.
Taylor, A. R., MacLean, D. A., Neily, P. D., Stewart, B., Quigley, E., Basquill, S. P., Boone, C. K., Gilby, D., & Pulsifer, M. (2020). A review of natural disturbances to inform implementation of ecological forestry in Nova Scotia, Canada. Environmental Reviews, 28(4), 387–414. https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2020-0015
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
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