John Horton: Mink stink Song video debuts on YouTube.... A catchy ditty, Nobody's Listenin' written by John Horton and performed by Chett Buchanan and Family, appeared on YouTube Sunday.  The song is a light-hearted poke at the serious situation plaguing Tusket-area homeowners, as offal from up to one million mink appear to be fouling the region's waterways with blue-green algae. 
http://www.youtube.com/user/ShelburneNovaScotia#p/a/u/0/MT8fZZ1PuiY

Pictures from Lake  Fanning (Debbie Hall)   2008  |  2009|
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The problem is migrating downstream and will continue to expand.  Areas that were suitable for swimming for 100's of years are now closed and these areas are no longer suitable for normal human activity.  Areas around the source of this pollution have a myriad of environmental issues. 

Now these mink factories are expanding in our area.  One in the Carleton area another possibly in South Ohio, which  feeds Lake Milo & Doctor's lake area.  Possibly 10+ more  are slated for construction in South West Nova area. 

Personally I am not against agricultural expansion in the area, however with improper farming practices and antiquated regulations, that were never meant to deal with such large scale operations as factory farms, the result will be and already is disastrous. 

It is not fair to paint all mink ranchers with the same brush, but my position is: clean up the mess you already have before you expand.    It now falls on Municipal Council to ensure that no further expansion occurs until the present situation is fixed and new methods are implemented to ensure this dose not happen again.

Some of the members of Council are farmers and may feel a conflict of interest, but let me assure you their is no conflict.  You and your forefathers have farmed areas such as Chebogue and Chegoggin  for 100's of years and you have done it in relative harmony with nature.   What has gone wrong with some of the mink ranches is not characteristic of most farms in our area. However: if a solution is not found, the modest economic benefit of this industry will pale in comparison to the to the negative environmental, economic and social repercussions.

In all fairness to the mink industry, Mr Prime, admitted that their were some problems and that somethings had to be changed. 

A single mink consumes about 1.4 pounds of protein rich food per day.  It is unlikely that any person consumes more than 10 pounds of food a day.  Therefore, we can conservatively conclude that 10 mink are easily equivalent in waste production to one person.  Therefore, 1,000,000 mink create more waste than than 100,000 people.  Therefore, and this is a conservative estimate, one million mink produces more fecal waste than 10+ towns size of Yarmouth.  This is a staggering concept.  There are more than a million mink in the southwestern area of nova Scotia.  Perhaps maybe even ten million, which would equate to about one million people which is greater than the population of Nova Scotia.  The waste is being leached into our fresh water ecosystems.  If it were dumped the saltwater the effect would be bad enough, however allowing this to enter chemically sensitive freshwater habitats is ecologically insane.
 

Mr. Hamilton's chicken farm when compared to a mink factory has a relatively insignificant entity with regard to pollution. In fact there are probably few agricultural operations that could equal the   overall potential and actual environmental damage that factory farms pose. However: this chicken farm does create a diversion away from more serious problems.  If you take a look at Mr. Hamilton's property on google maps, it appears that he is nowhere near 500 feet of the brook behind his house, in fact that looks like is over 1000 feet.  I do not think that is fair to set the legal bar so high that industry cannot economically function within its regulations, but it is also not fair (or legal) to destroy ecosystems and  negatively impact the lives and communities in our area.
 

Some mink ranches are located near spring fed lakes.  The logistics of this escapes me, unless these lakes are being sacrificed and turned into holding ponds or settling ponds.  There is a kind of twisted logic to this I suppose.  At least for a time the material is confined to this area, but eventually it finds its way to the oceans and has an serious impact on everything in between.  The ground is like a sponge and it will for a time soak up chemicals such as nitrates and phosphates but eventually these chemicals will leach into the watershed area and will continue to do so long after the original source has been removed.

If you or I were in business, our bottom line would probably be profit, and most of us would probably not feel obligated to go past the legal restraints that governed our operation.  Some of us might do a bit more, some of us might do a lot less.  Since we already have a situation where some individuals have done a lot less, where the ecosystem has been severely compromised, it is obvious that some regulations must be called upon  to clean up the serious situation existing in some parts of the Carlton water system.  We must not be stymied by ridiculous point source arguments, when it is obvious where serious situations have developed, and these are not in Mr. Hamilton's backyard.

I've always been taught that the farmer is your friend and I believe this to be true, and I believe that we should do everything in our power to promote agricultural development in our area, but at what cost.  We do not own the land or waters, we stewards thereof.  We have a responsibility to the present and future well being, not just of our children and our children's children, but also of the habitats of animals, fish and plants. 

The butterfly effect  is a theory that states that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can possibly cause an effect in another,  or a small input at a specific point in time can have profound ramifications in the future.  This may be a metaphysical concept but the reality is that counselors have to decide on a very  important issue that will have profound effects on many aspects of our community including democracy itself.  Counselors had been democratically elected to serve the best interests of the community.  I hope our counselors have enough intelligence, and I believe they do, to differentiate between factory farms, ranches and hobby farms, and to distinguish truth and deception.  The decisions they make will affect the future of not just our area but,  the rest of the country. (I believe Yarmouth can make a difference) 
 

It rests on our shoulders to make decisions that positively affect the our future health, economically and ecologically.  We are all aware of the negative impact factory farms have had in other areas,  and as other areas of Canada are trying to rid themselves of factory firms, we are about to see them increasse in our area.  How can this be done without damaging our little corner the world?
 

Godfrey LeBlanc

1.   Archives:  Information and pictures from April 15. to October 2009  LINK  to 

2.   Links to information of importance to our situation  by Debbie Hall

3.   Municipality of the District of Yarmouth Council 
      Set Back Limits | Council Votes

4.   What should the setback limit be.  ( Theoretical analysis: Problem overview,  solutions & pitfalls) 

5.   Contact List: Provincial GovernmentMunicipal Council 

6.   Misc. Correspondence

7. Pollution in the Tusket Mink Stink by John Horton

 8.  The 500 ft limit ( appeals)..
 

At the MODY mtg last evening (25 Nov 09), Councilor Trevor Cunningham reported on SWSDA activities / priorities. 

I don't think it was made clear that SWSDA as it currently exists is to stop effective 31 March 2010. Please see the attached a 26 May 2009 letter to SWSDA from the Deputy Minister, Economic & Rural Development. 

Community involvement is going to be crucial in setting the direction for future economic growth in our area, and such involvement is protected under the Regional Community Development Act. We're all living with the consequences of past championing of the expansion of the mink fur farming industry by SWSDA under the umbrella of economic growth. 

Regional Community Development Act:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/legc/statutes/regioncd.htm

/Debbie

Below are 25 Nov 2009 community meeting notes from Shelburne, as an example of community involvement in regional development. 
 Community members... 

http://www.shelburnecountytoday.com/communityforum/ ) Feel free to print, forward or otherwise pass along the notes. Notes from Nov 19 and other docs are also on web.

As only one elected official out of 20+ attending the Nov 19 meeting asked to kept informed of our progress, you may want to get in touch with your mayors, wardens, councilors, etc. prior to the December 1 meeting they have convened to discuss the RDA and make your thoughts/feelings about this up-coming decision made known to them.

Also on the web above are some documents you might find interesting about the growing movement in Canada (and USA, Australia, etc) towards considering the impact of the "creative economy" in the development of community planning and strategies.

Best,  /Timothy G
 MORE..................

Note: Comments have been made that the Nov 19 meeting did not focus enough on the strengths or value of the current RDA in the region. All comments and points of view about the future of enconomic development in the county will be welcome at the meetings.  Maintaining the current RDA structure, organizing a Shelburne County RDA or organizing an RDA for portions of Shelburne County are all options available to residents, according to the RDA Act. 
 

/ Debbie

Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, Environmental Performance of the Agricultural Sector in Nova Scotia in 2009

http://www.novaknowledge.ns.ca/media/documents/2009_NSFAReportCard.pdf

Pg 1 - "...The industry, through the leadership of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture...has worked with government and researchers to develop programs and initiatives to assess and address concerns of agro-environmental risk. Nova Scotia's farmers have a vested interest in being environmental stewards. They are continuously implementing positive on-farm environmental practices and it is a sense of stewardship and sustainability, as well as a desire to limit risk, that have led farmers to adopt new practices to protect air, soil and water resources..."

Pg 1 - "...Nova Scotia's environmental acts and regulations support these changes by encouraging compliance and by establishing a culture of self regulation, minimizing the need for a harsh regulatory approach..."

Pg 8 - "...Digby, Yarmouth and Shelburne counties have the highest concentration of animals per acre of cropland; however, Shelburne has both few animal units (87) and not much cropland (64 acres). Both Yarmouth and Digby Counties have significant mink production and, at the time of the 2006 Census, Digby County had several sizable hog farms. Relative to their land base, both Yarmouth and Digby Counties have significant animal agriculture, creating manure management challenges..."

Pg 20 - "...Manure Management...manure management in areas of livestock concentration has to be improved..."

Pg 21 - "...The mink and poultry sectors are concentrated in relatively small areas, which increase environmental risks. The mink sector, in particular, is primarily located in an area whith a small cropland bse, reducing alternatives to effectively manage mink manure and other wastes close to mink farms..."

Pg 24 - "...Recommendation 2: Manure inventory. Industry and government need to conduct an inventory of manure based on geographic location. Potential risks and new opportunities will be better identified with current, accurate data. The inventory will help industry stakeholders develop programs to manage manure as both a nutrient and potential energy source..."

Pg 25 - "...Working Within the Watershed...That means careful attention to details and working with nature to ensure that farming methods are appropriate for the environment... uses mulch to reduce erosion and runoff, and plants buffer zones along streams to improve habitat and protect waterways..."
 

1.   Archives:  Information and pictures from April 15. to October 2009  LINK  to 

2.   Links to information of importance to our situation  by Debbie Hall

3.   Municipality of the District of Yarmouth Council 
      Set Back Limits | Council Votes

4.   What should the setback limit be.  ( Theoretical analysis: Problem overview,  solutions & pitfalls) 

5.   Contact List: Provincial GovernmentMunicipal Council 

6.   Misc. Correspondence

7. Pollution in the Tusket Mink Stink by John Horton

 8.  The 500 ft limit ( appeals)..