Latest news with #NaturalResourcesDepartment
Global News
30-05-2025
- Climate
- Global News
Cape Breton wildfire near Framboise being held: municipality
Municipal officials in a remote corner of southeastern Cape Breton say a wildfire that broke out near Framboise was being held as of late Friday afternoon. The Municipality of the County of Richmond issued a statement saying the fire was not fully contained, but firefighters were setting up hoses around its perimeter. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Meanwhile, some roads in the area were closed to help volunteer firefighters do their work. At one point, the provincial Natural Resources Department had 20 firefighters at the scene, and they were joined by firefighters from Framboise, Grand River and L'Ardoise. The fire started around Thursday at 5 p.m. near Three Rivers Road in Framboise and grew to consume about 0.15 square kilometres of woodlands. As of Thursday night there was minimal damage and no homes or businesses were evacuated.
Hamilton Spectator
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Nova Scotia chiefs say province needs to improve consultation on natural resources
HALIFAX - A representative for the Nova Scotia Assembly of Mi'kmaw Chiefs says the provincial government needs to do a better job of consultation as it seeks to develop the province's natural resources. Chief Tamara Young, of Pictou Landing First Nation, told a legislature committee today that the province's duty to consult with the Mi'kmaq needs to be more than an afterthought or a 'box to be checked.' Patrick Butler, the senior Mi'kmaq energy and mines adviser, confirmed during the hearing that chiefs were not consulted before legislation that was passed in March lifted a ban on uranium and a moratorium on fracking for natural gas. Butler says they also weren't consulted when the Natural Resources Department said it was issuing a request for proposals for uranium exploration at three sites in the province earlier this month. He described the relationship with the department as 'rocky and inconsistent' and says it's always better when the Mi'kmaq are informed as early as possible when it comes to natural resources development. The department's deputy minister, Karen Gatien, says the government is committed to consultations, but she agrees that it should be done earlier where possible. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Nova Scotia chiefs say province needs to improve consultation on natural resources
HALIFAX – A representative for the Nova Scotia Assembly of Mi'kmaw Chiefs says the provincial government needs to do a better job of consultation as it seeks to develop the province's natural resources. Chief Tamara Young, of Pictou Landing First Nation, told a legislature committee today that the province's duty to consult with the Mi'kmaq needs to be more than an afterthought or a 'box to be checked.' Patrick Butler, the senior Mi'kmaq energy and mines adviser, confirmed during the hearing that chiefs were not consulted before legislation that was passed in March lifted a ban on uranium and a moratorium on fracking for natural gas. Butler says they also weren't consulted when the Natural Resources Department said it was issuing a request for proposals for uranium exploration at three sites in the province earlier this month. He described the relationship with the department as 'rocky and inconsistent' and says it's always better when the Mi'kmaq are informed as early as possible when it comes to natural resources development. Wednesdays A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future. The department's deputy minister, Karen Gatien, says the government is committed to consultations, but she agrees that it should be done earlier where possible. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Whose responsibility is eastern Oregon flooding?
An aerial image taken on Sunday, March 30, 2025, documents flooding impacts to the Burns Paiute Reservation. (Photo courtesy of the Tribe's Natural Resources Department and Trey Wall.) Possibly no place in Oregon has a more rugged, individualistic, even anti-governmental attitude than Burns, a small city in the middle of the state's southeast desert country. This is an area of old-style ranchers and resource industries, or at least has been. It votes as conservative and Republican as it can, and political people who argue for smaller government and less by way of cooperative efforts are those who get the votes. It's a cowboy ethic kind of place. The recent big event in Burns might not demolish that world view. But there's a fair chance it could generate some second thoughts. An absence of government action, regulation and ownership and of a strong mutual cooperative effort among people locally -— in contrast to what one person called 'kind of a group-hug scenario' — is why, in late March and early April, a lot of Burns was overrun by a flood. Such a disaster might have been notable in other places, but it overwhelmed Burns. According to the American Red Cross, the flooding abated only after several weeks, affected 952 homes (some of those may have been on Burns Paiute Tribe lands), and the flood area ran through most of the downtown area. Burns is home to just 2,736 people as of 2023, and there are just 1,438 total homes. The city reported 'a complete sewer failure' from the Paiute Reservation to the Triangle Park, and other infrastructure was hit too. Evacuation orders affected almost half of the people in town. This was not damage to only a small part of the community but, directly or indirectly, to all of it. And it happened in a place more than an hour's drive from any other city as large, and two hours away from any that are larger. Help is not close by. Beginning the task of making sure this doesn't happen again starts with understanding why this flood hit so hard. Its natural causes are clear and not unusual. Although the Burns area is arid, heavy rains occur periodically, and the right timing for snowpack melt in the region can cause the Silvies River, which flows from the mountains to the north, to run high. The river borders a residential area on the northeast side of town, and high flows there are intended to be contained by an old and informally developed system of levies. Actually, there is no system in a comprehensive sense. The 2.4 miles of levees — barriers against the water, to keep it channeled — stretching across the north and east side of town apparently were built not by a government or formal organization but by local residents, and the approach was not thoroughly organized. Even the history is foggy: There are no clear records of when the levees were built, or exactly by whom. A 2019 report submitted to Harney County officials warned that the levees needed upgrading and repair, but that didn't happen. One reason is that no one specific person or group had the specific obligation to respond: No federal, state or local agency or private entity, and none had the specific authority to enter the private property along the river to make improvements. Everyone could pass it off to someone else. The do-it-yourself approach remains in place today. During the flooding, a public notice from the city asked residents to stop diverting water onto other properties. 'Do not erect barriers in the streets to divert the water,' the city's notice said. 'This can be a hazard as these are evacuation routes and you could be charged with disorderly conduct in the 2nd degree in addition to being liable for any damages to the neighboring property or properties by that diversion. We understand that these are very scary and unsure times and people are wanting to save their homes and property, but please do not put yourself or other people in danger or damage someone else's property by trying to do so.' This isn't unique to Burns. Colin Rowan, planning director for the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District in Portland, told Oregon Public Broadcasting that the kind of levee system Burns has had can be found in many places all across Oregon including the Willamette Valley, many built a century or more ago. 'There's not clear responsibility,' Rowan told OPB. 'There's also sometimes unclear funding. How would you actually pay for it? Even if it was privately-owned land or publicly-owned land, they might not even know that repairs are needed.' Sometimes organized and expert help is what's needed. Even in communities like Harney County. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
CBC
27-04-2025
- General
- CBC
Meet Root, the turtle with a mobility aid made of Lego
He doesn't live in a sewer, his name isn't Donatello and he doesn't ride a skateboard. But little Root the turtle does get around on his own set of wheels. The wood turtle came to live at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax last September. Unlike most turtles, Root is missing his right front foot. Heather McKinnon Ramshaw, the museum's animal care specialist, says she doesn't know how he lost the foot, but he's been that way for a long time. She says he was originally collected from the wild by Natural Resources Department personnel and brought into captivity 20 years ago — possibly because of his missing foot. Root spends most of his time in his enclosure, which is filled with wood chips and has a container of water that he can swim around in. But three times a week, staff at the museum take him out on a little stroll. Early on, they noticed that as Root was tootling around, he was scraping his plastron, or bottom shell, on the floor. "Because one leg is essentially shorter than the other one, we found that he was kind of clunking his shell down," McKinnon says. "There was some wear on the shell and we didn't want it to get worse, so he needed something to lift him up." Leg up on other wood turtles Enter Tessa Biesterfeld, a naturalist interpreter at the museum. The museum had a Lego exhibit in December, and Biesterfeld had the idea to create a platform with wheels out of Lego pieces to lift Root up higher so his shell wouldn't get damaged. The first incarnation used medical adhesive tape and a bandage to attach some wheels, but staff didn't want to have to stick something to his shell every time he went out for his constitutional. So Biesterfeld came up with the idea of using a removable dog harness along with the Lego platform and wheels. "We thought that'd be so great because we know it's non-toxic, we know that we can replace the parts as we need, and should his shell change or grow, we can change the shape and size of that. It's very modular," says Biesterfeld. The first day, Root had an unexpectedly speedy slide down a ramp, but quickly became accustomed to using the contraption. "Now when I snap his harness on, it's like when he hears that snap, he's ready to go," says Biesterfeld. With the help of his wheels, Root enjoys exploring different areas of the museum, and may even have a leg up on other members of his species. "We didn't want to make a skateboard or make anything that would just have him zooming too unnaturally fast, but he's clearly going a little faster than the average wood turtle but he seems happy to do so. He's getting lots of great exercise," Biesterfeld says. Threatened species Root has spent most of his 20 years in captivity at the Oaklawn Farm Zoo in Aylesford, N.S., and, after the zoo closed at the end of 2023, at the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park. But staff at the wildlife park decided he needed a new home because he was being a little too assertive with the other turtles, standing in the food dish and intimidating others, preventing them from eating. So he ended up at the museum. McKinnon describes Root's personality as "very bold, brave, I don't want to say overbearing," but also a bit timid around people. Root and Gus, the museum's famous, beloved centenarian gopher tortoise, have not met, partly because they may not get along, but also because turtles can pass diseases to each other. But with Root's fancy wheels, it's possible the museum could have another shell-ebrity on its hands. Wood turtles are a species at risk in Nova Scotia, so having one is special because the museum would never collect one from the wild, McKinnon says. Wood turtles can live for 50 to 80 years. "We may have him for a while, so we want to make sure he's comfortable," McKinnon says.
