Submission to Forestry Maps, Jan 15, 2021
The NSWFS requests DNR remove this 15.65 ha site from the harvest plan. Not only does tract PI204568 sit atop Dalhousie Mountain, the highest peak in Pictou county, but the abutting ecologically sensitive 46 ha on the same crown land block is already protected. We visited the site Jan 13. Like the neighbouring protected area, it is mature mixed forest and includes some super canopy conifers. A popular hiking trail to enjoy the viewscape bissects this block from the protected tract. This block also acts as an important buffer for hikers and the adjacent protected area from a very large windmill farm. Hazardous conditions due to flying ice from the windmill blades can carry at least 200 meters and the breadth of this site is not much more than that. Winter conditions meant we were unable to assess the block for species of concern but we know the habitat is the same as the adjacent protected area which is documented as refuge for at least six species of rare plants, including the extremely rare round-leaved hepatica, a rich woodland herb known to only a handful of locations in Nova Scotia.
With kindest regards
Mary Macaulay, P. Eng. on behalf of NSWFS (secretary)
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“Was highly hazardous getting this close to the block as ice was flying off the windmill blades and thsy weren’t even moving. The block is the forest on the right hand side behind the near windmill” – M.M.
Pic of same windmill from snowmobile trail with block and protected area behind. Views spectacular
