Biodiversity buffers: Nearly 40 years of lessons, limits and opportunities for conservation in Nova Scotia’s industrial landscapes
Mark Pulsifer1
1Edgewood Environmental Services Ltd., Little Bass River, Nova Scotia
Wildlife buffers serve as a stand- and landscape-level intervention intended to produce an ecological outcome. Over the past ~ 40 years, wildlife buffers in Nova Scotia’s forest and agricultural sectors have expanded conceptually from strips of land primarily intended to protect fish habitat, watercourses, and wetlands, to multi-function objectives that also include broader aspects of riparian biodiversity habitat structure and functionality. Most recently, with the release of the Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia, there has been an increased emphasis on the need for ecosystem-based management that addresses habitat fragmentation and connectivity, cumulative impact, species at risk, and climate change. Although the purpose for buffers has evolved over time, there is limited evidence to show that the design and approach to implementing buffers has kept pace. This presentation will touch on some of the lessons learned since the first application of riparian buffers in 1989 and suggest opportunities for future approaches to stand level functionality.
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