Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners
Truro, N.S.
   We’ve been enjoying fantastic summer weather over the past several weeks. Unfortunately, the extended dry spell has resulted in an extreme fire hazard across most of the province. Many woodlot owners and contractors are exercising caution by restricting work hours and woods travel until conditions improve. Several forest fires are currently active, with conditions drier than they’ve been for the past 15 years.
   In 2011, FNSWO began our FSC certification program with our partners MTRI (Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute), and financial support from DNR. We are now preparing for our five-year FSC re-certification audit, scheduled for late September. In an effort to reduce costs, and improve the efficiency and delivery of services to woodlot owners, we are in the process of moving all of our CSA members over to our FSC program. This year’s silviculture program for certified woodlots is well underway, and we look forward to assisting our members with their woodlot improvements.
   The 2015 Registry of Buyers (ROB) Report is now available on the FNSWO website. It contains a lot of statistical information on harvesting and silviculture that should interest woodlot owners. The provincial harvest was approximately 3.7 million cubic metres, of which 64 percent came from private woodlots. This represents in excess of $200 million of raw material provided by family forest owners – the core resource of our forest economy. The FNSWO will continue to encourage our fellow woodlot owners and organizations, and work together to affect positive change that benefits the economic, social and environmental interests of family forest owners.
   We’d like to thank Northern Pulp for agreeing to host our quarterly board of directors meeting at the mill in Abercrombie, Pictou Co., giving us an opportunity to meet with management and staff, and to tour the new precipitator. Northern Pulp plays a major role in the forest products supply chain, and is critically interconnected with sawmills, harvesting and silviculture contractors, truckers, woodlot owners, and small businesses that service this sector.

John MacDougall
Executive director, FNSWO
1-844-966-3568 or email: john@fnswo.ca

North Nova Forest Owners Co-op Ltd.
Wentworth, N.S.
Hi, I’m Greg Watson, the new manager of North Nova Forest Owners Co-op Ltd. in Wentworth, Nova Scotia. I have worked with the Co-op since 2008 as operations supervisor, but the Co-op had many years of history before my time. It started out in 1976 with one major landowner, followed soon after by a half dozen more dedicated and interested landowners. Over the years the Co-op has grown to 250 or so members who, collectively, have land holdings in excess of 50,000 acres.
I’ve often thought about the reason for the Co-op’s continued success after government funding was cut in the mid 1990s, and what strikes me is the Co-op’s adaptability. North Nova has been fortunate over the years to have had forward thinking landowner directors, as well as capable management.
This is North Nova’s 40th year in operation, which is no small feat for a forest management company, given the volatility of the forestry sector. I hope to continue that success well into the future. A celebration to mark our anniversary will be held Oct. 2, 2016, with a live forestry event at a Wentworth area woodlot managed by North Nova. We hope to see lots of local landowners from Colchester, Cumberland, and Pictou Counties, as well as our forest industry partners. If you would like to attend, please contact our office for more information. Call 902-548-2400 or email north.nova@northnovaforestry.com.

Greg Watson
North Nova Forest Owners Co-op Ltd.