It has provided Nova Scotian’s with a long history of not only a quality of life but also a livelihood and the Department of Natural Resources through Voluntary Planning invited communities and businesses to join them in a conversation about Nova Scotia’s natural resources.

About one hundred people from in and around Queen’s County showed up including residents and businesses with direct links to the forest industry.

The meeting focused on discussions of four categories of natural resources and included biodiversity, forests, minerals and parks.

The room was set up in a circle and everyone got a chance to speak out about their concerns and wishes.

The meeting was peaceful but passionate and the conversation concerning the issues discussed spilled over into the rest of the week.

Danielle Robertson, a resident who attended the meeting was disappointed to see that the majority of people attending the event were in the forest industry.

“I would have liked to see more people there who viewed the forest as anything other than a place to make money,” she said. “I have a lot of interest in the natural world.” Many of Robertson’s jobs have included working in parks and her current business is giving guided hikes.

Robertson is unhappy with the extreme clear cutting being made in the county by forest industry companies.

“I am not against cutting trees,” she explained, “just about the way they go about doing it.”

“If things aren’t curbed there will be no woods left so people won’t have to worry about it,” she stated.

Robin Anthony, Communications Director for Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited also attended the meeting.

“We have an invested interest in the care and health of the forest and of managing it for multiple values,” she said.

She said the meeting offered many different perspectives from the community.

“Personally, I saw it as an opportunity to speak to the importance of our lives,” she said. “It is important we understand the value it plays to the province for both quality of life and as a significant generator of wealth and economic development.”

David Dagley, an employee of Bowater, Fish and Games agreed that it was more of a forestry focused meeting than anything else.

Although conservation issues were voiced as well.

“Science and sustainability were two words used often,” he said.

He agreed there are other methods better for the forest than the clear cutting being seen in the area.

“It is necessary in some cases but far overused,” Dagley said. “It is important to this end of Nova Scotia but there is room for improvement…we have to maintain sustainable economic activity and it is hard to balance that.”

He explained how clear cutting effected a forest and its habitat. It would lose all its wildlife in the 60 years it took to grow back to full maturity. If a clear cutting were to happen too close to a stream or river it would eliminate the shade, dry up the water and change the habitat for both the fish and the wildlife.

“There is a legislation of cutting no closer than 20 metres to a stream and Bowater will cut no closer than 30 metres but the difficulty is that one size does not fit all,“ he said adding that some areas would be effected more than others by the clear cutting.

“If everyone worked towards conserving the woodlands and habitat,” he stated, “at the end of the day we will all be better off.”

The meetings that were held across the province were part of a three step process to form a new natural resources strategy, by Dec Voluntary Planning will present its findings to an expert panel.

Phase II will be led by this panel in a more detailed analysis. Phase III will be using the values, findings, report and recommendations to write the final strategy.