The Truth Behind Ecological Forestry

The Wabanaki Forest and the Fight for True Ecological Forestry

The Wabanaki Forest, stretching across the Maritimes and into the northeastern United States, is one of the most ecologically diverse and culturally significant forest regions in Canada. Home to centuries-old trees, rich wetlands, and endangered species, it’s also a vital carbon sink and climate buffer. But in Nova Scotia, this rare forest is under threat, despite promises to protect it.

The Lahey Report: A Blueprint for Change?

In 2018, the Nova Scotia government commissioned an Independent Review of Forestry Practices led by Professor William Lahey. The result was a widely accepted report calling for a paradigm shift: away from industrial clearcutting and toward ecological forestry that prioritizes biodiversity, ecosystem health, and forest resilience.

Read The Lahey Report

Lahey Proposed The Triad Model

Conservation Zones (no logging)
Ecological Matrix Zones (low-impact forestry with strict biodiversity rules)
High Production Forestry Zones (plantations on a limited footprint)

Crucially, Lahey recommended no more than one-third of a forest be removed at a time in the matrix zone to maintain ecological integrity. This limit is supposed to protect shade-loving species, keep soils intact, and allow forests to regenerate naturally. Moreover, protected areas should be designated first so that areas are not cut that are most valuable for biodiversity and protection.

Whats Actually Happening

Despite accepting the Lahey Report “in full,” the Nova Scotia government has failed to implement its core recommendations:

There has been no significant progress on the designation of protected areas in the last several years. The province must meet a legal target of protecting 20% of Nova Scotia by 2030. It is currently at approximately 13.5% and holds significant proposals from community groups to protect valuable areas, but has failed to advance them in the past several years (including the Chain Lakes). Meanwhile it has proceeded to designate areas for high production forestry, including clear cutting and spraying of herbicides, to accommodate industrial forest companies. It is proceeding to approve the cutting of areas that are particularly valuable for protection

Logging operations on Crown land frequently remove more than 50% of forest cover, exceeding Lahey’s maximum removal threshold.
Roads and skidder trails, often 30 meters wide, are not counted in harvest totals—even though they result in 100% tree removal and cause severe ecological fragmentation.
The so-called “ecological forestry” being practiced often bears little resemblance to Lahey’s vision and instead continues the same high-intensity extraction under a new name.

As Nina Newington writes in Shady Accounting and Vanishing Forests, this “ecological forestry” amounts to little more than “rebranded clearcutting,” and the math used to justify it is deeply misleading.

What is Shady Accounting

“Shady accounting” refers to how the Nova Scotia government and forestry companies manipulate the numbers to appear as though they are following the Lahey Report—when they’re not. The shady part comes from what’s excluded from the calculations when they tally how much forest has been logged.

Roads Don't Count

When a logging road is carved through the forest, it’s often 30 meters wide and several kilometers long. That adds up fast. At Goldsmith Lake, for example, a 2 km road resulted in 6 hectares of clearcut forest. And yet, according to DNRR (the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables), this removal doesn’t “count” toward the harvest total. Why? Because “other contractors might use the road too,” so it wouldn’t be fair to assign the forest loss to any one logging permit

The result: 100% tree removal equals 0% harvest—a blatant mathematical trick. This omission lets forestry operations sidestep Lahey’s limits while destroying biodiversity-rich corridors. These roads fragment wildlife habitat, allow invasive species to spread, and even facilitate poaching

Extraction Trails Don't Count Either

“Extraction trails” are narrow corridors cut every 20–25 meters through a stand of trees, allowing machinery to access the forest. In Commercial Thinning operations, companies are permitted to remove one-third of the basal area (a way of measuring forest density) between the trails. But here’s the trick: the trails themselves, where up to 25% of the forest is removed, are not included in the math

Let’s do the math:

Say you remove 33% from the tree strips between the trails.
Then you remove 23% more for the trails themselves.
That’s 56% forest removal, but only 33% gets reported.

This is how companies stay under the supposed one-third harvest rule, while removing far more forest than allowed. In addition, the Nova Scotia Silviculture guide, which is supposed to be based on the Lahey Report, offers numbers of prescriptions for how much and how to cut depending on the terrain and forest make up. Only a few adhere to the one/third limit on cutting, and unsurprisingly, these prescriptions are rarely implemented over others that provide for higher percentages of cutting.

What This Means

These misleading practices allow the government and industry to claim they are following the Lahey Report and practicing “ecological forestry,” when in fact, they are exceeding the limits and degrading the forest. They get the public approval, the permits, and the timber, all while undermining biodiversity and misleading the public.

This kind of forest management is not ecological. It’s not sustainable. It’s creative bookkeeping with real-world consequences.

Why This Matters For The Wabanaki Forest

There is valuable Wabanaki Forest still found on Crown land. These lands represent our best opportunity to protect:

Old-growth forest remnants (less than 1% remain province-wide)
Critical wildlife habitat, including for endangered species
Soil carbon stores that take centuries to rebuild
Cultural and spiritual landscapes for the Mi’kmaq

When this forest is logged under false pretenses, it’s not just the trees we lose, it’s also biodiversity, climate resilience, and trust in government transparency.

Learn More About the Wabanaki Forest

What Needs To Change

Pause further cutting in proposed protected areas until the protected areas are designated and the province meets the 20% protection target.
Stop misleading accounting: Roads and extraction trails must be included in harvest totals.
Enforce Lahey’s 1/3 limit: Ensure that ecological matrix harvests don’t exceed this threshold.
Protect what’s left: The Wabanaki Forest, including areas like Chain Lakes, must be designated as protected Wilderness Areas before it’s too late.
Support Mi’kmaq leadership in forest stewardship and conservation.

Why It's Urgent

Nova Scotia has pledged to protect 20% of land and water by 2030, but progress has been slow, just 13.7% is currently protected, and key areas of the Wabanaki Forest remain under logging threat.

We have the knowledge. We have the legislation. What we need now is action—not just better policies on paper, but better practices on the ground.

Let’s stop calling clearcuts “ecological” and start protecting what truly matters.

Learn More About the 20% by 2030 Goal

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