Association for Sustainable Forestry
Truro, N.S.

We’re pleased to report that a new forest sustainability agreement is in place with Lands and Forestry, which will provide woodland owners with silviculture funding until July 2020. Because this is a critical time of year for getting work done in the woods, a minimum of lag time between agreements is an important consideration, which the department has recognized and which we appreciate.

Uneven-aged management continues to be a priority for the Association for Sustainable Forestry (ASF), and it is an important feature of the “ecological forestry” recommended in Dr. Lahey’s report. With increased emphasis on private-land silviculture, other funded treatments such as crop tree release and pruning, fill-planting, and pre-commercial and commercial thinning provide flexibility in the stewardship of private woodland.

Congratulations to provincial Woodland Owner of the Year (WOYA) for 2019: Spence Managed Forest! ASF has been able to provide funding to these owners for more than a decade, and the results are awesome! Be sure and check out the WOYA field day on Sept. 28 in Ellershouse, Hants County, for what is sure to be an eye-opening experience. While there, stop by the ASF exhibit for information and for a chance at prize giveaways. Congratulations are also extended to Cindy and Sherm Embree of Shelburne County, and Terry Cameron of Antigonish County, for being regional winners.

We look forward to contributing expertise to the further development of Nova Scotia’s Forest Management Guide, a central element in the pre-treatment assessments (PTAs) championed by ASF on private land. This endeavour will result in a world-class product, and has already proven to be a valuable tool in the stewardship of all forests in the province.

Please contact Ed MacLean or myself if you have questions about private land silviculture or funding, and remember – it’s never a bad day if you’re in the woods!

David Sutherland, RPF
Coordinator, Association for Sustainable Forestry
Phone: 902-895-1179
www.forestrynovascotia.com

Breton Forest Innovation Cooperative
Middle River, N.S.

As bees buzz around the purple and yellow flowers of the season, the hills are alive with vibrant greens of every conceivable hue. The surrounding forest ecosystem is ever predominant on the horizons of the Breton Forest Innovation Co-op as life here “opens for business.” Through the hands of active member carpenters and skilled volunteers, we are carving out our place in “ecotecture’’ with our “CB Pods.”

The word ecotecture is a combination of the words “ecology,” meaning the totality or pattern of relations between living organisms and their environment, and “architecture” the art and science of building. According to the Journal of Ecological Design, “This ideal must become the next paradigm or fundamental, coordinating world view for the design professions if our global civilization is to survive the 21st century.”

As we unfold our map and look forward as an innovation-incubation centre focused on ecological forestry practises and restoration, we are zeroing in on specific value-added forest products that truly build our local community.

Affordable housing is an international problem. Ecological building, founded on naturally-derived products and backed now by the “tiny house movement,” are at the forefront of our mission in moving ahead with our CB Pods. This remains the most effective way to attract new people to the area – as an incubation residence during their community integration – and we are very excited about it.

We are building a marketplace for a diverse set of products that can be created from our evolving forest ecosystem, showcasing natural building with locally grown products and specialty skills along the entire forest value-chain.

We will be displaying some of our designs, along with an array of other forest-based products, at our Forest Market Celebration on Oct. 13, during the Celtic Colours Festival here in Unama’ki, Cape Breton, at 2930 Cabot Trail, RR3 Baddeck, Middle River, B0E 1B0. This market will feature skills demonstrations and workshops, live music, and food. Mark your calendars; there will be something for everyone of all ages and interests.

If you would like to be a part of our ecological forestry ambitions, there is always room for one more. Please visit our evolving website, www.bretonforest.org, or email stacie@bretonforest.org. May the forest be with you!

Stacie Carroll
Business Development Coordinator, BFIC
Email: stacie@bretonforest.org
Phone: 902-957-2947
www.bretonforest.org

Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners
Truro, N.S.

As the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners is the provincial representative with the Canadian Federation of Woodland Owners, I would like to begin with an update of some things we are working on at the national level.

The Silviculture Savings Fund program, which is in progress, will allow woodlot owners to put some dollars back into their woodlots and reduce capital gains taxes payable.

We are also working on a national tree planting program called the Carbon Economy Fund. Planting trees has been identified as an effective way to improve the balance of carbon, thereby helping in the fight against climate change.

At the provincial level, we are currently working on trying to set up a service area for the central region of Nova Scotia. This would be based on the successful pilot of the Cape Breton Privateland Partnership. This would provide for increased and more streamlined services for the woodlot owners of central Nova Scotia, and would enhance services presently provided by existing groups in the central region.

We are also watching and participating in the Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry’s efforts to implement more ecological forestry initiatives, as they begin to enact recommendations from the Lahey report. We look forward to participating in helping to implement various projects that meet the goals of a more sustainable, ecological forestry future for Nova Scotia.

We would also like to thank and congratulate Stacie Carroll, who has stepped down as executive director of the federation. Stacie worked very hard for the woodlot owners of Nova Scotia during her time with the federation. Her drive and enthusiasm will be missed. Stacie has taken on the role of executive director of the Canadian Federation of Woodlot Owners. We wish her well in this capacity.

We are working for the woodlot owners of Nova Scotia. We welcome new members. There is strength in numbers, and we could use your help. If you are not already a member, please consider joining us.

Mike Gillis
Secretary, Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners
Phone 1-844-966-3568
www.fnswo.ca

New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners
Fredericton, N.B.

We live in the most forest-dependent province in Canada. That means more people in New Brunswick rely on forestry and forest-related jobs to feed their families than anywhere else in Canada. We are also one of the provinces most impacted by climate change.

Forests provide many services that help to mitigate climate change and its impacts. Carbon dioxide is one of the gases that contributes to a warming planet and a changing climate. Trees help to fight the buildup of carbon dioxide by sequestering or removing carbon from the atmosphere as they grow and store it as wood. Trees use the energy from the sun to transform the carbon dioxide from the air into wood. The energy of the sun is, in this way, used to create something new. If the energy from the sun is not used in some other way, its energy raises the temperature of the earth – and so trees help to keep us cool. As a result of the process that transforms carbon dioxide into wood, oxygen is created. This is another important contribution that trees and other plants make to our lives.

Trees and other plant roots also provide stability to soil and help to prevent soil erosion by providing cover to the soil. Leaves and needles also help to decrease the speed with which the rain impacts the ground, and this again helps to reduce erosion, as a rain drop is less likely to dislodge soil particles if it is falling more slowly when it hits the ground. Less erosion means less silt in streams and rivers. Plants also help to improve the porosity of soil, so more water is absorbed into the ground rather than running off into the streams. This has the double benefit of decreasing erosion and helping to recharge the groundwater. It also decreases the amount of water that runs immediately into streams, and thus helps to regulate water flow and prevent flooding.

The most impactful way that forests can provide these benefits is through good forest management. A well-managed forest can provide these benefits to society as well as a number of other benefits, while still providing timber for the industries that use wood. A well-managed forest is both resilient and healthy, and is an ongoing contributor to society, the woodlot owner, and the rural communities of New Brunswick.

Marketing boards support woodlot owners. They provide unbiased third-party advice for woodlot owners, and lobby through the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners for policies and regulations that work for woodlot owners – such as the tax relief available to woodlot owners at the time of intergenerational transfer, if they have been actively managing woodlots and have a management plan.

Support your marketing board and make use of its services. The boards are here to help you. Attend the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners annual general meeting on Oct. 23 at the Fredericton Inn and see what is new. Learn about climate change and participate in shaping the future of the organization. Any not-for-profit organization is only as strong as its members make it.

Visit our website, nbwoodlotowners.ca, and sign up to receive our blog. “Like” our Facebook page. Become engaged. There is power in a large, active membership. See you on Oct. 23.

Susannah Banks
Executive Director, NBFWO
Phone 506-459-2990
Email nbfwo@aibn.com
nbwoodlotowners.ca

Nova Lumberjacks Society
Truro, N.S.

This past July, the best lumberjacks and lumberjills in the northeastern parts of the United States and Canada converged in Barrington, N.S., for the 4th Annual Nova Scotia Lumberjack Championships. It was an amazing event! Maritime records were smashed in chopping and sawing events, and even new world records were set in double bucking and the hot saw! That doesn’t just happen, it takes top-level competitors and world-class timber – which was locally sourced White pine provided by WestFor Management. So, thanks once again to WestFor, and to all our generous sponsors in the forestry sector for supporting our event!

Next on the docket was the World Axe Throwing Championships. Our organization helped a team of 11 Canadian athletes from across the country raise funds for travel to Hallefors, Sweden, to represent Canada at the World Championships, which ran Aug. 9-11. The team worked hard on fundraising, and also trained hard for this event.

The World Championships were immediately followed by our second major event of the summer, the 2019 Canadian Axe Throwing Championships. Held in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, for the second year in a row, this two-day tournament, running August 24-25, featured more than 60 axe throwers from across the globe. Be sure to check Atlantic Forestry Review and our website for competition results!

If you’re interested in learning more about or our organization, our events, or how you can get involved in any of our initiatives, please visit our website or send us an email.

Stay sharp, folks!

Ryan McIntyre
Vice President, Nova Lumberjacks Society
novalumberjacks@gmail.com
www.novalumberjacks.com

Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association
Truro, N.S.

One year ago, William Lahey released his groundbreaking “Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia.” The review called for sweeping changes in the management of Nova Scotia’s forests.

In it, Lahey said that future forest management decisions should be based on ecological considerations, not economic ones. Natural processes in the native Acadian Forest should serve as the model for our actions, according to Lahey.

“I have concluded that protecting ecosystems and biodiversity should not be balanced against other objectives and values as if they were of equal weight or importance to those other objectives or values,” he wrote. “A number of reasons are given for this conclusion, but the primary reason is that ecosystems and biodiversity are the foundation on which the other values, including the economic ones, ultimately depend.”

The Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association (NSWOOA) believes Lahey’s recommendations offer the best chance for the province to restore and enhance the economic, ecological, and social values that well-managed forests can provide. On Aug. 9, the association announced plans to establish a Family Forest Centre to help woodland owners learn more about the principles of ecological forestry.

The need for the Family Forest Centre is clear. As the province considers how to engage more than 30,000 woodland owners in better forest management, there is obvious value in having a single point of contact for landowners who want to adopt the Lahey recommendations on their own lands.

NSWOOA is starting the Family Forest Centre with an achievable set of goals that recognize the need to move forward with limited funding to promote ecological forestry on small, privately-owned woodlands. Although it has no guarantee of provincial or federal financial support, the association has committed to take the following actions during the next 18 months:

1. Create a guide to ecological forestry, biodiversity, and climate change. The guide will address the following questions:

What did the Lahey review recommend?

What is ecological forestry?

How is it different than the old way of managing Crown and private lands?

What do the recommendations mean for family forest owners? How does it change what they do?

What services and funding are available to help implement ecological forestry? (Resources and activities; funding; and referrals to professional services)

2. Develop an online tool about ecological forestry, modelled after our current Landowner Goals Self-Assessment. To view the self-assessment, visit https://us.opinio.net/s?s=4280.

3. Produce a brochure on service areas and landowner cooperatives in Nova Scotia – who are they, and what do they offer to family forest owners?

4. Create a Facebook page and website with resources built around ecological forestry. The online tools will offer: videos about ecological forestry techniques, success stories, etc.; print resources; information about field days, workshops, and other events for small landowners; and explanations of how to get help.

5. Host or promote workshops and field days for small landowners throughout the province.

6. Publish a digital newsletter about ecological forestry and other issues of importance to small, non-industrial forest owners.

Implementing ecological forestry across the varied woodlands and regions of Nova Scotia won’t be easy. That’s why the Family Forest Centre will also host a provincial steering committee that meets from time to time to discuss the significant challenges faced by family forest owners, and develop ways for organizations to work together to address those issues. All of the organizations that provide services to non-industrial woodland owners in Nova Scotia have been invited to participate as equal partners, and the project has already received strong support from many of them.

Creation of the Family Forest Centre is also the first step in achieving a long-term goal of the NSWOOA: to build a national Centre of Excellence in Family Forestry, based in Nova Scotia. Unlike the rest of Canada, forests in the Maritime provinces are largely owned by individuals and families, not the government. The Maritimes are home to many of the nation’s small, privately-owned woodlands, providing a strong rationale for locating a publicly-funded centre here that would explore the significant opportunities and tackle the unique problems of non-industrial forest management in Canada.

If you would like to learn more about the activities of the new Family Forest Centre, sign up at www.nswoods.ca/family-forest-centre.html. You are also invited to “Like” our Family Forests Facebook page.

Andy Kekacs
NSWOOA
902-817-4763
Phone 1-855-NS-WOODS
www.nswooa.ca

Registered Professional Foresters Association of Nova Scotia

While the summer months are often quiet for our association, we are attempting to offer forestry learning opportunities. Recently, a visit to Brian Edie’s woodlot on Brown’s Mountain, in Antigonish County, was attended by a small crowd that gained insight into a manually-cut hardwood thinning, which took more than three years to complete. Many thanks go to Trent Dort of Kat Forestry for the tour, which generated some very interesting discussion about strategy, and lots of stories.

In an effort to connect forest professionals and anyone interested in learning about unique commercial harvesting techniques, a series of lunch events are being scheduled during the coming year across the entire province, hosted by RPFANS members. It’s a great opportunity to have friendly conversation, meet some folks, and learn about innovative ways of achieving long-term objectives on your woodlot.

Please feel free to get in touch to find out about our next visit.

Rob Young
RPFANS
P.O. Box 1031
Truro, NS B2N 5G9
contact@rpfans.ca