All is not Well in the Acadian Forest by Mark Brennan

Spring Breakup, The Acadian Forest from Mark Brennan on Vimeo.
Spring is a special time of year, a time of renewal and if we pay attention to its arrival by just watching and listening we can feel connected to the Earth, we slow down, we truly live.

In this short film March temperatures have warmed slightly and once frozen rivers begin to break up in the Acadian Forests of Nova Scotia.

There is trouble in the forests though, industrial forestry is changing eco-systems into tree plantations through clear cutting and herbicide spraying of the once great forests of Eastern Canada.

When an Acadian Hardwood Forest is clear cut, sprayed and replanted with a nursery grown hybrid, non-native tree species it is no longer a forest but a crop, a plantation, void of the biodiversity it once held.

Pulp companies are in the business of growing pulp this way, it looks like they are doing a great job growing trees, their pulp supply might be sustainable, but the Acadian Forest and the native species that dwell within it pays the price.
Mark Brennan