Managing for Healthy Forests with Bob Bancroft

Shared Ground

During this episode, we meet with wildlife biologist, writer, and media communicator, Bob Bancroft. He is a wealth of information about ecology, forest health, and what has been going wrong in forestry systems, as well as methods that help in the face of climate change, benefit nature and forestry, too. We learn what is possible when one “tickles the forest” with a view to management for wildlife and ecological forestry. He talks about considerations and realities of buffer zones around waterways, the mainland moose, and many current challenges, including a very clear picture of what happens to the animals of a clear-cut forest.

For 48 years, Bob has nurtured former pasture land in eastern Nova Scotia back to ecological forest health. The 56 acres now have 52 tree species and many restored wildlife habitats. A former FSC assessor, he stepped down as president of the Nova Forest Alliance, the Model Forest for Nova Scotia and PEI, after a contractor clear-cut a neighbor’s land and two provincial, as well as one federal department would not enforce environmental laws that had been broken. Bob is the current President of Nature Nova Scotia, a group of individuals and twenty-five organizations attempting to raise a stronger voice for nature to counter the gutting of Nova Scotia’s forests and habitats.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Nature Nova Scotia

• Save Our Old Forests website , Facebook and Instagram hashtag #saveouroldforests

• Global Forest Watch interactive forest and tree cover change data

• Things suggested in this episode to write your politicians about: stop clear-cutting(it doesn't matter what you call it, it is still happening), the needs for wider buffers around riparian zones, landscape level planning, and better wildlife regulations