When we don't hear the whole story

I have received two worrying posts via Facebook in the last 24 hours.

The first was a link from an acquaintance of mine who traps and does everything he can to promote that activity. He was interested by an article Biodiversity benefits from new snaring scheme - National Park agrees about how black grouse conservation in Scotland is being aided by trapping predators such as foxes and weasels. Which is no doubt true, but if one looks a bit deeper into the story, the RSPB are the other lead body working on black grouse conservation. Their emphasis is very much on habitat management, and "reducing fox and crow predation where essential". Notice the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust never mentioned crows. By cherry-picking at bits of the whole story, they have come up with an article that shows how wonderful snaring is.

Perhaps more worrying, because it is about something I agree with, is this video made by Hellmans in support of food security.



The problem here are the numbers they quoted for blueberry production in NS: "NS production in 2007 was half what it was in 2003". Now, this is actually true, 13500 tons, down from 29300. And if this were a trend, yes, we should be worried, but it is not born out by the statistics. One could equally have compared 2008 with 2007 and said that harvest is up 54%.

Take a look and you will see that 2003 saw an abnormally high production, with an unprecedented yield of 0.77 tons/acre, while 2007 was low at 0.34 tons/acre. The ten year average was 0.49 tons/acre (my maths). No doubt yields vary considerably according to the weather and other factors.

What should be noted from these figures is that the acreage under production has risen fairly steadily in the past 10 years. Totally counter to the argument that the video is making, and however much one wants to support a cause like food security, one has to wonder just how reliable all their other numbers are.

Enlightened thinking on coyote control

Broomfield, Colorado, has just launched their draft Coexistence with Wildlife Policy, which uses two levels of hazing of coyotes to discourage them from coming into contact with humans, in an effort to avoid the use of lethal control.

Full story. A shame the Nova Scotia government is not so enlightened.

Snow and steam

I remember the winter of 1963. School was closed for time when the outside toilets froze up. We thawed our 1/3 pint bottles of milk around the stove in our classroom.

On 1 February, 1963, Geoffrey Jones began filming "Snow" which was to win 14 major awards and an Oscar nomination in 1965. Jones was already working on a film for the British Railways Board when he had the idea of making a film contrasting the comfort of the passengers with the efforts of the workmen to keep the trains running during this abnormal winter.

The footage we see is mostly from the Western Region. There is also a tantalising glimpse of a Somerset and Dorset freight train as well as some archive pre-WW II shots of Jubilee class locomotive 'Barbados'.

The state of journalism in Canada?

National Post columnist Don Martin wrote at length about the mistakes made by the Green Party in the last election. None of this is news, and pales into insignificance alongside his remark that he, and possibly other reporters in Ottawa, could not name another Green candidate.

I could excuse this ignorance if it came from Joe Public, but not from a journalist. Surely they should keep themselves better informed than this? It doesn't take long on the internet to find out who the candidates are, who the deputy leader is, or to answer most other questions that an inquiring mind might ask. Has Mr Martin already forgotten the name Blair Wilson? And does he live in one of the few ridings that didn't run a Green candidate?

If this really is indicative of the intelligence of the people in the media whose job it is to keep the public informed, then Canada is in real trouble.

Picnic in the Forest

Picnic in the Forest happens tomorrow, October 18, 11am-2pm. It is hosted by Friends of Redtail Society to launch their campaign to save forest lands from industrial clear cutting.

Redtail Nature Awareness is a nature retreat and experiential education centre located in a semi-wilderness region of northern Nova Scotia, Canada. It offers year round camps for youth and nature retreats for adults that help participants explore the richness, mystery and sacredness that is inherent in nature.

Friends of Redtail Society have concluded negotiations to purchase land comprising approximately 313 acres near Scotsburn, Pictou County that had been slated for clear cut. To complete this purchase the Society has until December 2009 to raise upwards of $250,000. For more information please call (902) 485-4688



Google Map. 400 MacBeth Road

Fair Votes

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• Turnout hits an all-time low of 59.1%.
• The only major party to persuade more people to vote for them than in the previous election was the Green Party, yet they won no seats. The Conservatives got 168,737 fewer votes and gained 19 seats. The NDP got 72,522 fewer seats and gained 8 seats.
• There were numerous calls for tactical voting and vote swapping to prevent a Conservative majority.

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