Bring back the boreal

By the 1920s, moose and wolves had disappeared from Cape Breton Island as a result of European hunting and settlement. In the 1940s, moose were reintroduced and the new population took hold. Thirty years later, a spruce budworm outbreak – a natural disturbance in boreal forests – killed mature trees, but was so massive in scale it made way for an unprecedented amount of succulent new growth that moose prefer. A lack of natural predators, combined with low levels of hunting meant the moose thrived and the ecosystem suffered; moose ate young trees before they could mature, leaving behind fields instead of forests. A myriad of species in Cape Breton Highland National Park have been affected, including the threatened Bicknell’s thrush, which depends on forests to survive. Particularly hard hit is North Mountain, where grassland now covers two thirds of an area once forested. Biodiversity has been disrupted in an area where the Mi’kmaw people have been stewards of these lands since time immemorial.