Moose in our region continue to be a species at risk. How can we help?

Encountering moose sign in mainland Nova Scotia woodlands was an exciting, regular experience until the 1990s. In 2003 the population was declared a species at risk. In New Brunswick, I see tracks occasionally, but moose face habitat challenges. Other influences on moose populations are detailed in Saltscapes Vol. 20 No.2. Cape Breton moose, an introduced western sub-species, are not part of this article.

In recent times forest habitats have been steadily changing for moose in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Forest habitat requirements of this eastern moose sub-species, Alces alces americana, have been studied for decades. The many variables are complicated.At the same time, sufficient science exists to describe the general habitats they require in eastern Acadian forests.

The size of a draft horse, moose usually occupy territories that range in size from 24 to 40 square kilometres. Depending on habitat quality, they can cover more ground in search of food sources. Unlike deer, moose tend to avoid human encroachment and roads. With voracious appetites and nutritional requirements, their diet varies seasonally. They consume 40-60 pounds of browse daily—including leaves, twigs, grass and aquatic plants. For food and shelter, moose depend on mixed stands of hardwoods and softwoods, where deciduous (leafy) trees make up at least one quarter of the mix.

Reliant upon mature forest habitats, moose also need scattered patches of younger growth for food.

They tend to avoid clear-cuts until 15 to 25 years of tree regeneration has established on the site. Soils where forests have been harvested repeatedly over centuries often are nutrient-poor. Sprouts from clear-cut stumps offer less nutrition than trees grown from seed; another reason why they need to roam further and cover large territories.

Vulnerable to summer’s heat and late-winter’s winds and cold, moose seek the deep shade and dense shelter of mature hardwood/softwood and winter softwood forests. On mainland Nova Scotia and in much of New Brunswick, public lands with mature softwoods are a source of cheap fibre for forest companies. Clear-cut for quick profits, that disturbance favours softwood regeneration.

After several hundred years, former stands of mature hardwood and softwood species on leased public lands are now ecologically degraded by repeated harvesting in a short cycle that prevents trees from reaching maturity. Many tree species can naturally live for 200 years.

A female moose, known as a cow, feeds on browse on the outskirt of a bog.

Hardwood leaves sweeten the soil, but they are often eliminated with herbicides to favour shallow-rooted softwoods. However, those are ill-suited to withstand droughts and strong winds. Herbicides used to control hardwoods eliminate valuable moose food.

These forest industry measures severely diminish the diverse array of foods and shelter that forests formerly offered to moose.

Science tells us that moose require a forest buffer width of at least 50-60 metres between clear-cuts and waterways before they will travel them. They’re shy animals. Yet clear-cutting continues to within 20-30 metres of waterways, depending on the province. Politicians incorporate COVID-19 science but seem to be steadfastly ignoring biological science. 

Early commercial logging occurred on soils that contained nutrients accumulated over the 11,000 years since the last ice age. That logging sparked vast, young, second-growth forests. The result was a smorgasbord of tender leaves and twigs, similar to the “moose pastures” that appear in the north after wildfires. An abundance of wood ash and dead trees on sites, after a fire, promotes vigorous new tree growth.

That story’s changed. Dried soils on exposed clear-cuts have their nutrients flushed away by rains or blown away by winds. With few trees left to absorb rainwater, erosion from flash-flooding scours streambeds and banks. Logs, pulp and chipped tree branches containing scarce and needed nutrients are trucked away. Little organic material is left to provide nutrients for new forest growth. For example, Dalhousie University scientist Peter Ogden found that for every tonne of wood removed, six pounds of phosphates that are
critical for new tree growth and in low supply in many Maritime soils leave the site with the harvested wood.

On undisturbed lands, trees naturally fall down and their nutrients are recycled into the soil. The fact that nature needs decomposing tree material to grow new trees is ignored by industry and government. Forestry folk say they need markets for low grade wood to survive economically. It should be left to replenish the soils. Forestry machinery has recently enabled too much harvesting, too fast, for too long.

In 1981 a western Nova Scotia proposed mining road into public lands was halted by the Conservative government because it would open up traditional moose territory. They knew it would be detrimental to moose survival. Forty years later, with now-endangered moose still there, new taxpayer-subsidized roads are enabling a consortium of forest companies to cut these woods, leaving a sea of clear-cuts. Concerned citizens who wanted to protect the moose, and who blockaded the new roads to stop the harvesting in 2020, were arrested by the RCMP. In winter 2021-22 they are camped again on another proposed Crown harvest, surrounded by clear-cuts, hoping and fighting for wildlife that cannot speak for themselves.

In New Brunswick the watershed area that drains into the Big Salmon River to the Bay of Fundy, has an endangered Atlantic salmon population. Recently clear-cut harvests on Crown land there have expanded beyond the plans originally submitted by the pulp company. The effects and extent of the clear-cutting extend far beyond moose habitat. They drastically alter water flow rates; vital soil nutrients wash away; water temperatures become too hot; and the food chain is dismantled. The environment that young salmon need crumbles while provincial and federal governments stand by and allow the travesty to continue.

Two winters ago, a TV network featured a story about the plight of NB moose. Biologists from NB and Quebec had captured and radio-collared moose. Many moose were subsequently found to be in poor condition. The biologists, wearing forest company jackets, blamed climate change and ticks. Yet they stood beside softwood plantations that were being harvested every 40 years. Ticks have historically been a particular challenge for moose that are in poor condition in late winter. Climate change is no doubt a challenge for them, but moose currently range as far south as Massachusetts, so New Brunswick is nowhere near the most southern edge of North American moose range.

I foresee that moose populations in NB will decline as a result of repeated, massive clear-cuts that leave relatively sterile moonscapes behind. The extent of the landscape alterations can only be fully comprehended from the air or by seeing satellite images on websites like Global Forest Watch. Moose will not disappear because of ticks or being on the southern edge of their range. The main reason will be a lack of nutrition. Slowly and quietly, they will starve to death.

Human encroachment pushes moose into remote areas and habitats they normally would not choose to inhabit. Moose will vacate good habitats once road densities reach or exceed 0.6 km per square kilometre. How many “elsewheres” are left?

After 18 years, legally-required core habitats for mainland moose in Nova Scotia were announced in December, 2021 and delineated on maps in a new Mainland Moose Recovery Plan. Clear-cutting in the core habitats continues. Previous Crown leases need to be adjusted in light of the species at risk that are known to live there. When will real forest industry habitat accommodations find their way to the woodlands?

Cash-strapped, corporate-captured governments are willfully turning blind eyes to healthy habitats for moose and salmon. The environmental degradation continues. This does not bode well for any species.