De Woodz iz Cloze
Posted By Randy on August 10, 2025
The wildfire near Barrington Lake was the largest on record in Nova Scotia. The final size was 23,525 hectares. (Source CBC)
On 5 August 2025, the Government of Nova Scotia proclaimed:
“… a restricted travel zone in any area of the woods upon which no person shall enter for the purpose of travelling, camping, fishing or picnicking, or any other purpose, without a valid travel permit issued by the Minister, a conservation officer or other person authorized by the Minister during the period specified in the Proclamation ….”
You can read the full text in all its glory here. and watch Nova Scotia Premiere Tim Houston explain it badly here.
The day before this was announced, Mrs. LFM and I had all three No Longer All That Small Fierce Mammals and Ripley the Hunting Dog (currently getting schooled in finding Monotropa Uniflora by scent) on a day trip to harvest a share of the abundance of Huckleberries I knew from my own regular pass throughs to be ready and awaiting appreciative admirers like ourselves. Our presence caused no fires as our standards of conduct will not allow it, right down to the clothes we wear, for not a single bum was clad in corduroy trousers lest the friction of a brisk walk homeward at the end ignite the cordur upon the oy.
Seriously though …
As with all such actions taken in the name of the Public Good, this weighs most heavily upon an easily identifiable demographic. In this case that is those predisposed to find edification in Natural settings and from Natural sources.
We LFMs live in a Hemlock forest that includes an accompaniment of Balsam Fir, White Pine, Oak, several species of Maple, White Birch, and an assortment of representatives from the Spruce Tribe. Sharing that bounty with us, on the other side of an unbroken expanse of healthy forest, is a municipal beach that, while sporting Life Guards from the July 1st weekend to the weekend before Labour Day, lacks (and has lacked for years) any form of bylaw enforcement to ensure compliance with health and safety rules the ineffectual signage posted around and within its grounds would have users believe apply. While the beach and its grounds are well designed, maintained and equipped, the afore mentioned signage is a combination of too small, too busy, and/or too poorly placed to be as in your face as it needs to be if it’s to have any hope of giving a reasonable lie to anyone claiming they didn’t see the signs forbidding whatever they’re doing.
The three rules of greatest interest to us and this discussion are those prohibiting smoking and consumption of alcohol. Speaking as one who has built a career spanning more than forty years upon a foundation of people behaving badly, and has known more than my share of cigarette smokers, I expect more than anticipate the thoughtless flicking of cigarette butts out the window of a speeding car on the highway; and on the beach, into the woods behind rather than on the sand where one of the kids might step on it.
And today, with the woods closed against, to use the words of Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, “… travel and activities that really aren’t necessary for most of us (emphasis added). Hiking, camping, fishing … are not permitted ….”
At the same time, his advice to those indulging in the apparently necessary activity of smoking is, “… And if you’re a smoker, For God’s sakes, be mindful of where you’re butting out your butt. If you don’t and you cause a fire, we will hold you accountable ….”
Of course you will Mr. Premier. Of course you will.
Houston brings it all home with:
“We have a beautiful province. I know everybody wants to enjoy it, but we have to stay out of the woods. It’s a small price to pay right now to avoid the kind of devastation that we saw from the wildfires in 2023. Nobody wants to go back there. Nobody wants a repeat of that. And staying out of the woods is what’s necessary right now for the safety of your families, your friends, and your neighbours.”
No, good sir, we don’t. But not to be forgotten is that none of that devastation of which you speak was caused by people hiking, camping, or fishing.Rather, in the midst of a province wide ban on open fires, those who lit the ones you speak of did so intentionally notwithstanding. Most didn’t travel through woods to do it but rather stayed on their own properties where they set about the truly unnecessary activity of burning debris.
To aid you in your quest for what truly is and isn’t “necessary for most of us“, I would also remind you of a CBC article from 23 April 2022 titled Take 2 hikes and call me in the morning: ‘PaRx’ prescriptions come to Maritimes — Health-care professionals can prescribe time outdoors and issue national park passes under new program. It quoted Dalhousie University psychology professor and clinical psychologist Shannon Johnson whose research is, “… focused on the benefits of spending time in nature, as well as trying to understand what the barriers and facilitators are to that health behaviour.” as having this to say:
“‘I think a lot of people have thought of being in nature as a recreational activity, which it certainly is, but it’s also a health behaviour,’ she said.
“‘When we think about the key health behaviours that people encourage, you know, good sleep, good nutrition and exercise … spending time in nature is really that additional fourth pillar.’
“She added that health-care professionals across the world are starting to realize the importance of adding nature to their list of key health behaviours, especially when treating children.”
I don’t know about you and yours Mr. Houston, but certainly me and mine.
I understand that governing a wasteland eaten alive in 2023 by intentionally lit fires that ended up, again according to CBC, “… burning through more than 25,000 hectares of land and 200 homes across the province ….”
Where, “More than 150 homes were lost in a wildfire that started in Upper Tantallon, N.S., just outside Halifax on May 28…”
And, “On the province’s southwestern tip, about 60 homes and other structures burned in the province’s largest wildfire on record, which broke out that same weekend and affected 23,525 hectares.”
But still, Mr. Houston, I posit from observations on a number of fronts that much going awry in this province, the country, and the world in general, comes from attempts by present governments to rebrand and redefine the roosting chickens hatched through the actions and failed experiments of their predecessors without taking responsibility for any of their own. Because we have the burning of fossil fuels as the preset scapegoat for that, even absent a handy subset of the population bent on, “… travel and activities that really aren’t necessary for most of us.”
This is a tip of the iceberg moment.
More to come.
I am of about 3 minds on this one Randy, as a regular hiker I feel rather frustrated, but then I think they have to legislate to the lowest common denominator which isn’t the typical hiker who cares for the woods and wildcard. It is the moron smoking, having a toke, or lighting a campfire to have lunch or some drinks, these are the idiots we need to keep out of the woods. Unfortunately we cannot apply an IQ test or better yet a woods Q test to those entering the woods. I have also never seen so many fat asses that prior to the ban never walked further than the distance between their car and nslc, now claim to be avid hikers, whose rights are being trampled. The greater concern are the army of atv/utv/biker types racing through tinder dry woods with hot exhaust, no spark arrester, half drunk and tossing cigarette buts hell and yonder. I guess to be honest as much as I would like to be free to hike, there are a lot that don’t respect the land, if we can keep any of those out, I am happy to wait for rain.
Martin M
Yes, indeed, you hit it right on the head as usual and exposed the malevolence afforded to the voting constituency. Most poetic as well. A perfect example is the mob being only as smart as the least intelligent member. But, as we all know (those with self-starting functional brains), people will carry on in their grand fashion while completely following the prescribed requirement that further entraps and stifles their misunderstood well-being.
The response from Martin M also nails it.