Environmentalists decry clearcutting to produce biomass fuel

A Nova Scotiaenvironmental group is worried that the demand for more biomass to fuel pulp mills and power plants will lead to more clearcutting on a recreation area east of Caribou Mines in Halifax County.

Kathy Didkowsky, of the Save Caribou Committee, said she was stunned in May when a hiking trail to Rocky Lake was obliterated because the forest had been clearcut.

"Its hard to even find a stump. So, everything is basically torn, ripped, shredded. I call it purposeful massacre," she said Wednesday.

Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corp. owns the land in the Musquodoboit-Sheet Harbour area. The biomass will be used to fuel its pulp and paper mill in Abercrombie. It said it plans to cut more than 485 hectares in a lake-filled wilderness area east of Caribou Mines.

The branches and bark of the clearcut trees have been ground up and heaped into mounds that are three to four metres high. Pulp mills burn this biomass to reduce their energy costs.

Nova Scotia Power is looking at a new plant that would require cutting 50 per cent more wood in the province to produce more green electricity.

Ross Watson, also a member of the Save Caribou Committee, said its time that the provincial government took a stronger stand on clearcutting because the pulp mills are taking and grinding up more wood than ever to reduce their operating costs.

'Totally different'

"There's been clearcutting in this area for a lot of years, but this is totally different. Before we were used to seeing brush, tree trunks, some debris left. As you can see here, there is virtually no brush,"Watson said.

"I think that there has to be some guidelines in the province in regards to how much can be taken in these clearcuts. I think there has to be a certain percentage of the fibre left on the forest floor."

The province is reviewing a draft of new forestry regulations.

Didkowsky said she is even more worried about the size of the biomass mounds lining the logging roads.

"Well, these piles are heating up. This is compressed woodchips biomass and its hot. Like wet hay in a barn, it stands the risk of spontaneous combustion," she said.

In a statement, Northern Pulp said the company plans to eventually move the biomass piles. In the meantime, the company said the piles aren't large enough to be considered a high risk of starting a forest fire.