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Public Reaction to IRMThe reaction of the public to the Integrated Resource Management (IRM) plan was overwhelmingly negative. The following newspaper headlines from across the province offer an accurate picture of how the public felt about the public consultation process and the IRM plan in general: "Land protection lacks firmness""With the growth of eco-tourism, the countryside, beaches, rivers, lakes, and mountains are important...yet it has not been recognized in a province where forestry and forest products are economically influential." Daily News, Sept. 1, 2000. "Plan angers Greens - Land-use policy doesn't go far enough, conservationists say""I see this [IRM plan], unfortunately, as leaving the door wide open for a lot of abuse." Daily News, Sept. 1, 2000. "Land plan lacks tourism foresight, industry says""We really should be having every piece of land that is on the coastline, that is Crown land, protected." Daily News, Sept. 1, 2000. "N.S. wilderness in jeopardy?""Conservationists and tourism officials...claim not enough land will be protected under the Natural Resources Department proposal." New Glasgow Evening News, Sept. 1, 2000. "IRM should favour preservation""Various groups in the province, including the Pictou County Naturalists, are reacting with disappointment to the proposed IRM plan" - New Glasgow Evening News, Sept. 2, 2000. "Public meeting leaves crowd crying fowl""Many members of the audience commented on the lack of public involvement in the process, and said that the interests of the public were taking a backseat to those of the forest industry." Bedford-Sackville Weekly News, Sept. 3, 2000. "Wanted: views on public lands""...it's the lack of a sound management plan, particularly on Crown lands that causes concern." New Glasgow Evening News, Sept.8, 2000. "DNR 'lowballing' - land advocates""Annapolis County Warden Peter Terauds - who attended the first public meeting in Lawrencetown ... grew so frustrated that Natural Resources officials weren't writing down public comments that he tossed a pen at them and instructed them to get to work." Daily News, Sept. 7, 2000. "Natural Resources plan panned""There is no public process here," said Sean Kelly, a board member of Climb Nova Scotia, a rock-climbing group advocating ecotourism. "They did not consult the people who use the land and do not destroy it," he said. Daily News, Sept. 13, 2000. "Critics loudly pan crown lands plan""...[IRM] has had no public input at this point" Annapolis Valley Mirror-Examiner, Sept. 13, 2000. "Concessions should not be made on protected areas of N.S. Crown lands""We've always felt that Crown land should be used in the best possible way. It should be an example of what should be done rather than what we've seen in this province over so much of the Crown land that had been clear-cut and turned into pulpwood plantations." Bridgewater Bulletin, Sept. 13, 2000. "Crown land a free-for-all - critics""The plan is taking 200 years of bad forestry practices and making a 20 year plan based on that," said one participant" Bedford-Sackville Weekly News, Sept. 13, 2000. "Wilderness plan turns critics wild""...critics turned up to object to a lack of public process..." Editorial - The Daily News, Sept. 15. 2000. "Crown land plan lacks protection""It is time that the government get out of the business of selling trees, and put its efforts into protecting the forests before they go the way of the fishery." The Digby Courier, Sept. 15 2000. "Critics say Crown land plan favours industrial interests""the composition of the planning team was too narrow to include a broad base of interests" Yarmouth Vanguard, Sept. 15, 2000. "Environmentalists pan D.N.R. Crown land management plan""Most of the audience members who spoke in Lawrencetown indicated the plan is not aggressive enough at protecting Nova Scotia's Crown land." Annapolis Spectator, Sept. 15, 2000. "The politics of darkness: Nova Scotia still lost in the woods""The problem [with IRM] was the process itself, which critics say is secretive and biased towards resource extraction, with rounds of public meetings meant only as window dressing." Chronicle Herald, Sept. 16, 2000. "Sessions on plan heated""How far [public] comments will go remains to be seen, the process is not designed for input" Digby Courier, Sept 20, 2000. "DNR 'lacks moral authority' to lead""We need a democratic land use process which is Earth-centered and people-centered, not industry-centered. There is little in the IRM plan that will serve the general good of society." Digby Courier, Sept. 27, 2000 "Companies rule Natural Resources""[DNR] has treated the public input in the IRM process with contempt. The widespread sentiment for non-industrial use of Crown lands has been essentially ignored." Daily News, Oct. 2, 2000. "Crown land use committee 'stacked' ""The future of Nova Scotia's public lands shouldn't be decided by a small committee of geologists and foresters that meets behind closed doors." Digby Courier, Oct. 4, 2000. Nova Scotia giving away Crown land store""The [IRM] plan ... promises to perpetually impoverish Nova Scotia's wild areas to tree plantations and open-pit mines at the expense of the ecological jewels that have helped shape us as a people." Sunday Herald, Oct. 22, 2000. "Hear the call of the wild - Preserving wilderness may be the future measure of success""...the cause of protecting land has created broader coalitions recently, and may be moving toward the mainstream." Daily News, Oct. 30, 2000. "Divvy up Crown land - who likes NSDNR's IRM process?""I see decisions being made by downtown DNR. Why is the public excluded from the decision making process?" "The general thrust of is to preserve access to the land for extractive uses such as forestry. By keeping lands from formal protection, the department ensures administrative control. Bureaucracy is trying to change policy by changing practice. They shouldn't be doing that." Atlantic Forestry Review, Nov. 2000. "Carving up the Crown""Where's the open public process here? They specifically said that the public would be involved in decision making, and as far as I'm concerned the process is flawed." Rural Delivery, Nov. 2000. "The canary just died - our wilderness in jeopardy from future development""Our land is too important to be divvied up without serious debate." Daily News, Nov. 6, 2000. "Land-use plan endangers animals, plants - scientists""[IRM] does not place enough emphasis on the protection of adequate habitat area and quality to protect viable populations of native species over time" Chronicle Herald, March 21, 2001 "Scientists urge government to scrap Crown land plan""We feel cheated because we had followed the process, understood that there would be additional protected zones, and there were none." Daily News, March 21, 2001 "Ecology Action Centre says plan fails""Critics say Nova Scotia has too little protected land to accommodate ecological and evolutionary processes and that any new plan needs to add large tracts of Crown land to the province's protected areas network." Yarmouth Vanguard, April 17, 2001. "NS land-use precedents aren't promising""According to a 1999 memo, public comments in favour of protecting areas in the central region of the province were removed from reports that Natural Resources staff sent up the bureaucratic ladder." Sunday Herald, June 3, 2001. "Tories seek balance for park protection scheme - minister""What government is doing is caving into big business. They've been receiving considerable pressure from big business to open up some of these sensitive areas for logging, and they're putting money ahead of the environment." Daily News, June 8, 2001. "N.S. reassesses off-limits designations for Crown land""Memos written by Environment and parks division employees show they're concerned their counterparts [at DNR] aren't putting enough emphasis on protection." Chronicle-Herald, June 8, 2001. "Deputies mount memo duel""Unfortunately, the materials recently reviewed by staff do not demonstrate a balanced approach in our view, and for the Department of Environment to suggest otherwise, particularly in light of recent public representations around this issue, would not be credible." Daily News, June 8, 2001 "Ecologists pan Crown lands review""The concern remains that the regional IRM plans in their current form do not demonstrate balance in regard to protected areas, parks, outdoor recreation, and nature tourism interests and values" The Regional, June 26, 2001. "Tinpot attitudes in Ernie Fage's shop""...for DNR even letting the Environment Department do its work is too much - it might open a chink in the subservient relationship of DNR to the pulp companies." Chronicle-Herald, July 28, 2001.
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© Nova Scotia Public Lands Coalition, Ecology Action Centre, 2006 |
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