Breton Forest Innovation Cooperative

Middle River, N.S.

After a tremendously colourful autumn in the spectacularly dramatic foothills of the Cabot Trail, it has been on the blustery side here in Middle River, Victoria County, Unama’ki. Everyone seems to be looking forward to spring already, and we are almost back around to the time of year when days get longer – bring back the light!

Here at Breton Forest we have been renovating staff accommodations, assessing our three-phase electrical system, budgeting what we need to spend on infrastructure renewal, taking stock of leftover inventory, planning our kiln renovation to accommodate smaller loads, and looking at how we will divide our space to accommodate forest product-based incubator businesses.

Breton Forest has been contacting local landowners and forest-based creators, while searching out networks to link with more. We are making connections with local silviculturists to hand-select and fell high-value hardwoods – using one crew with a horse. We have jointly purchased, through an investment strategy, a chipper to begin to clear back access roads to members’ woodlots. This week we began purchasing a few live-edge slab boards from a local miller and forest owner to begin our cooperative marketing strategy, slowly, from the ground up.

We are looking at a “community supported agriculture” structure for utilizing fuel logs as we sort the saw-ables from the remainder. This service to our community will provide our members with seasoned firewood a year in advance, and allow folks to invest in a business model that supports smaller-scale forest management, which fits into the matrix branch of the “Triad Model” of forest sustainability.

We wish to continue to meet with anyone who has an interest in supporting our prototype of a collectively-run product chain that supports the health of rural communities and forest ecosystems. This is a unique opportunity here in Middle River, and we hope it grows beyond. What we need next is YOU: forest growers, basket makers, artisans, educators, crafters, silviculturists, architects, precision builders, and volunteers. By working closely together, we can build an incredible system that supports many levels of biota for generations to come.

As all small businesses quickly realize, obtaining capital investment is not easy for emerging ventures. We are seeking investors who are familiar with these hurdles but are willing to invest in us for things such as the purchasing of raw inventory to help propel the BFIC into production, and grow our own capital investment for our social enterprise. We are also seeking investment to help with the upgrade of our facilities and equipment.

If you wish to join us, share ideas, learn more, look for upcoming events, or find out how you can support our efforts through the Equity Tax Credit program we offer, please visit our website, www.bretonforest.org, or get in touch by phone at 902-957-2947 or email stacie@bretonforest.org.

Stacie Carroll

Business Development Coordinator, BFIC

Email: stacie@bretonforest.org

Phone: 902-957-2947

www.bretonforest.org

New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners

Fredericton, N.B.

Happy 2019!

As we enter 2019, it is a time to think about new beginnings and what it is that we as private woodlot owners want. If the government does open the Crown Lands and Forests Act, what do we want included in a new Act? What do we want changed? The N.B. Federation of Woodlot Owners is working to ensure that the voice of private woodlot owners is heard in the preparation of a new Act. It is important that we speak with a collective voice and in a way that offers solutions.

Our unique political situation offers a rare opportunity to potentially affect change. A more diverse legislature means more points of view are being expressed and hopefully heard. We at the Federation will continue to lobby for better access to the market through enforcement of proportional supply, and a long-term commitment to the private woodlot silviculture program. A long-term silviculture agreement would allow for better planning and increased efficiency.

Our Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) project will begin in 2019. This project will provide training opportunities for foresters, forest technicians, and woodlot owners to learn about the impacts of climate change and the best way to manage a forest to make it as resilient as possible. A heathy, resilient forest is better able to withstand the many challenges that will arise, and provides multiple benefits to society at the same time. Trees sequester carbon and produce oxygen. They provide flood mitigation by absorbing and holding water. Forest floors act as filters for water and help to hold soil in place, thereby reducing erosion. Forests also provide habitat for many other plants and animals, and offer us recreational and spiritual opportunities.

In order for a forest to be both healthy and productive, management is required. Good forest management is actually a lot like forest farming, where cultivation of the best trees encourages them to grow to their maximum potential. Weaker or dying trees or species that you do not want (weeds) are removed. Wood can be used as the basis for products that we need, and in many instances can replace fossil fuels as the source of carbon. Trees are renewable and can replace themselves in a human lifetime. Forests have been used for centuries to provide products for human consumption, and can continue to do so if we manage them in a sustainable way.

Marketing boards are uniquely positioned to help woodlot owners manage their woodlots in a sustainable way. The priority for marketing boards is to provide woodlot owners with the best possible advice on the management of their woodlots. They work on behalf of woodlot owners. Marketing boards are run by a board of directors comprising woodlot owners who oversee the policies and direction for the marketing board. Marketing boards can be powerful tools if woodlot owners work together toward a collective goal. There is a reason that the saying “together we stand, divided we fall” exists and is often cited. It is true. “Divide and conquer” has been a military strategy for centuries because it works. Now is the time to come together as a collective, if we hope to stand against the global move to increased corporatization. Support your fellow woodlot owners by supporting your local marketing board, or it may be you standing against a corporation on your own.

Susannah Banks

Executive Director, NBFWO

Phone 506-459-2990

Email nbfwo@aibn.com

www.nbwoodlotowners.ca

North Nova Lumberjacks Society

Truro, N.S.

Season’s greetings from the North Nova Lumberjacks Society! It is with sincere gratitude that we thank the 60-plus organizations that supported our society’s efforts through 2018, as well as all the athletes, volunteers, and spectators who took part in our events. More than 100 competitors and 3,000-plus spectators attended our events in 2018, making it our most successful year to date. Our society was even recognized this fall in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly by Queens-Shelburne MLA Kim Masland for our efforts in hosting the inaugural Canadian National Axe Throwing Championships in Liverpool this past August. We are very humbled to have been recognized for our contributions to the communities along the South Shore in 2018, and are thankful for the overwhelming support we received from the Municipalities of Queens, Shelburne, Barrington, and Argyle.

We are very excited to announce dates for our 2019 premiere events. The 4th annual Nova Scotia Lumberjack Championships will be hosted July 6-7 in Barrington, N.S., and the 2nd annual Canadian National Axe Throwing Championships will take place Aug. 24-25 in Liverpool, N.S. We are looking forward to returning to Nova Scotia’s beautiful South Shore, which was so incredibly inviting in 2018.

In addition to our two premiere events, some key initiatives that our society will work towards this year will be to add additional axe throwing events under the NNLS banner, as well as offering paid NNLS memberships to competitors for $20 ($10 if part of another lumberjack sports organization) in an effort to grow our society and the broader lumberjack sports community.

In other news, our organization held its annual general and business meeting on Nov. 4. Burlin Nickerson has taken over the responsibilities of president and chair of the society, and his wife, Kendra Nickerson, has joined the board and will act as secretary and treasurer. I will continue as a board member and support our new president in my new role as vice-president. Remaining board members include Suzy Atwood, Darren Hudson, Geoff Larkin, and Janet Walker.

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, North Nova Lumberjacks Society

Phone: 902-499-2727

Email: novalumberjacks@gmail.com

www.novalumberjacks.com

Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners

Truro, N.S.

On the cusp of a New Year, we tend to fall into the wonderment of where we have been and where we are going. We reflect on what has made us proud. We contemplate the times in which we could have helmed the skidder a little further port or starboard. Forests grow in a manner so diverse that one must regularly keep in touch with all the bionetworks – including one’s own. No matter if our ambitions are in growing intensively, solely for conservation, or somewhere in the biodiverse, mixed-matrix of other objectives, we as forest owners are continually working towards improving our forest’s health, while maintaining our economic security. This mixed-value system is often why we invest in land: to have the opportunity to work it, work within it, and continually improve its health. It is a balance not easily achieved in our current market structure, nor most obviously in our current political atmosphere.

The Federation is embarking on our 20th year of working to address pertinent issues on behalf of woodland owners, and we continue to learn. One could say we will never stop learning and evolving. Following the release of the Lahey report, we will be proactive in strategic implementation of ecological forest management under the Triad Management System – from the ground up.

We continue to work collaboratively within the Nova Scotia Association for Woodland Certification (along with the Nova Scotia Landowners and Forest Fibre Producers Association, and the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute) and will continue to reach out to forest land owners and managers and other potential partners. What we need next is YOU. The more the community of forest growers and forest-product producers work together, the brighter our future becomes ecologically, socially, culturally, and economically.

We are hosting three information sessions across the five central counties: Halifax, Hants, Colchester, Pictou, and Cumberland from February 21-23 to talk about forest certification, land management delivery, our communications campaign #ForestsProvide, the Triad Model of Ecological Forest Management, and the importance of connecting the forest community inclusively under all three branches of sustainability. We welcome landowners small, large, young, old, new, and veteran. There will be something for everyone, and we wish to tap into your experiences, knowledge, and ideas to be as inclusive as possible. If you know of anyone, please invite them.

We currently have been collaborating as a sector to support one another. We have been consulting our landowners and silviculturists to ensure we are not losing any more marketplaces within our province. We will do what it takes to ensure we are supporting local economies and improving our ecosystems. Forests continue to provide for flora, fauna, and folks in a network of biodiverse production and utilization. We as a forest community need to work together to solve issues that arise, for the betterment for all. This is our pledge to sustainable forest management. The Triad Model encompasses all schools of forest thought. We are here to help you manage yours. Please reach out by phone to Stacie Carroll, executive director, 902-957-2947 or by email at stacie@fnswo.ca. If you would like to talk to one of our local directors in your neck of the woods, all their contact information can be found on our website: www.fnswo.ca. In this time of rest and renewal, we wish you the best of health and happiness.

Let this be the best season yet.

Stacie Carroll

Executive Director, FNSWO

Phone: 902-957-2947

Email: stacie@fnswo.ca