Fond memories
AFR: I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of my good friend Les Corkum in April 2020.

Seven years ago, while searching for information on American chestnut, I came across Les’s name in some published articles on the topic. On a whim, I called Les at his home in Falmouth. After introducing myself, I asked Les what he did for a living. True to form, he replied, “What do I do for a living, young man? I’m 90 years old!”

I asked if he was still involved with American chestnut trees. “A bit, I suppose.”

I said I’d like to drive down for a visit. Would that be okay? “Yes, but call ahead to make sure I’m home.” So started a friendship based on common interests – grounded in the love of trees.

In subsequent months and years, I travelled to Falmouth every three or four months and visited Les. As time went on, I don’t know who enjoyed the visits more. Arriving mid-morning, I would sit at the kitchen table, often piled high with forestry books and Les’s notes recounting his life adventures. I would ask a forestry question, and Les would recount his experiences on the topic. Hours would pass and it would be hard to leave, since Les had so many more stories to tell!

Les had quite a green thumb, and planted an extensive assortment of trees in his backyard in Falmouth. During one of my visits he took me for a tree-by-tree tour of his arboretum – Les riding his lawn mower, and me on foot. Stopping at each tree, he proudly told the story of its origin and when it was added to his collection of rare tree species. Back in the kitchen, Les would ask his caregiver Paulette Wallace to open the fridge and find a specific ziplock bag of nut tree seeds – stratified in soil and kept at the right temperature in preparation for planting in the spring.

Les talked proudly of having been part of the first graduating class at the Maritime Forest Ranger School in 1948. He spoke about his work with the Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forests (1948-1982), the early days of Wajax fire pumps, relocatable fire towers, the Corkum sawmill, interests in all things mechanical, designs for his wheelchair-accessible backyard greenhouse, and a fascination about trees.

During one visit, Les spoke about the early days during the establishment of the Provincial Wildlife Park in Shubenacadie, N.S. Les was sent to Great Village, where a local service station owner had two domesticated Black bears that needed relocation. Les was supposed to bring the bears back to the Shubenacadie Depot. He arrived in a government station wagon, and managed to load both bears in the back seat. He had read that bears liked sugary drinks, so each animal was given a bottle of soda pop, which they held up to their mouths as they lay in their seats. Not far down the road, Les noted that he was low on gas. Stopping at a roadside service station, he pulled up to the pumps. An attendant came out to the car, spoke briefly to Les, and started to pump the gas. When the attendant glanced into the back seat of the car where the two bears were stretched out, each cuddling their bottle of soda, he jumped back and stared at Les in bewilderment. Les had quite a laugh as he retold the story to the crew back at Shubenacadie.

Early in our friendship, I made the error of referring to “Horse chestnut” as one of the varieties of chestnut trees. Les, never shy to express an opinion, proceeded to set me straight that Horse chestnut was an imposter and not an actual chestnut. Les had spent considerable time inventorying the last of Nova Scotia’s remaining chestnut trees (Castanea dentata – a deciduous species that is part of the beech family, native to eastern North America). Travelling around Nova Scotia, he catalogued these remnants of days gone by, and helped gather nuts to foster a new generation of American chestnut trees.

At the end of each visit, Les would ask, “What trees can I give you?” I’d leave Falmouth with a cab full of seedlings – American chestnut, heartnut, Ohio buckeye, multiple species of oak, Dawn redwood, Silky lilac, Paperbark maple, Red cedar, etc. Les was always experimenting with new species. One day he asked if I had any Striped maple on my woodlot. On my next trip, I brought some potted Striped maple for his arboretum. His passion for trees never ceased. He continued planting trees with the assistance of Paulette and her husband Roddie.

I will miss Les’s many stories about Nova Scotia forestry, his sharp sense of humour, his eagerness to explore new topics, and his endless sense of wonder about trees. Fortunately, his legacy will live on through the American chestnut trees he grew, planted, and gave others to plant throughout the Maritimes.

Farewell Les, and thank you for your friendship.

Bernie LeBlanc
Baddeck, N.S.

AFR: When I graduated in 1990 as a professional forestry worker, Nova Scotia had invested millions of dollars in silviculture, promoting uneven-age forest management that promoted long-lived species. We had some of the best stands of timber, and forestry companies were paid to cut the pulpwood and short-lived species to promote Red spruce, Yellow birch, Sugar maple, etc. Silviculture money paid for the careful harvests. Workers were being trained to manage our forests at the technical school level. We were managing our forests sustainably; then along comes John Savage’s Liberal government and this all came to an end. Today, with so much interest in our Acadian Forests – we had this 30-plus years ago. All those stands and all the silviculture money wasted – we clearcut it.

My job in forestry was essentially over. I could have continued on clearcutting, progressing from a chainsaw to a processor, but why? The clearcutting application part of forestry to remove unwanted species – fir, Red maple, etc. – became the end-all.

Another blow to the forest industry of Nova Scotia was Kimberly Clark’s takeover of Scott Paper. These people operated like no others in our province before, clearcutting everything; they picked up Scott and its properties and extracted every dollar they could. Scott Paper previously was in the pulp business. They had some beautiful stands of Red spruce that were of no interest monetarily. I wrote an article for the newspaper, “Cut and Run.” I could see it as plain as the nose on my face: as soon as they liquidated every last stand, they would be selling. And they did just as I predicted.

Another issue was that Lands and Forests at the time employed “yes” men for the government, and still do – no free thinkers there, all trained at the same place and who parroted clearcutting as a viable way of managing Nova Scotia’s forests. We all know how that turned out. What a mess our forests are in, but time and again we have seen them defending the practice. Not so much now with public pressure, but what is there to manage? The only good stands are in the wilderness areas. Just think, 30 years ago we had lots of these stands and there were hardly any wilderness areas.

Today another Liberal government, a pulp mill closed, loss of jobs, price drop in wood sales, a could-not-care-less attitude, a domino effect of lost revenue and lost jobs on our forestry industry so vital to us landowners and country dwellers.

I have about 150-200 cords of pulpwood and some studwood which needs to be cut – the remnants of my forests, which are now all healthy and vigorous except these old stands, which were left to break up my woodlot and in order to diversify my age classes. I left these stands to be harvested in future, once the other stands grew up, and now’s the time, but the price fell after the loss of the pulp mill, and it is no longer feasible to harvest my land. Just another casualty of another Liberal government. My job in oil and gas is gone also. When will we learn?

Kevin Clattenburg
Tangier, N.S.

AFR: Regarding Gary Saunders’ shagbark hickory seedlings (AFR, May 2020, pg. 9), I have seen Shagbark hickories growing wild on Montreal Island, so temperature should not be a problem. Gary needs to find a spot where his seedlings could sink their tap roots and be protected from those cold, freezing, raw, and damp winds that come off the Minas Basin during the winter. Also, they should be protected from bunnies and deer with chicken wire. Good luck, Gary!

Tom Smith
Roseneath, Ont.

AFR: As a lad I can remember going up on Moose Mountain with my father and my uncle. At about age 10 or so, they showed me that I could (quickly) take the boiling kettle off the fire (using a glove because the bail would be hot) when it was at a full rolling boil and put my fingers on the bottom for a (very) few seconds, and the bottom of that kettle would be cool as a cucumber! As the boiling stopped, it’d get very hot very quickly, but you’d feel the heat in time to remove your fingers.

I worked years ago with the Exploration Geophysics and Geochemistry branch of the Geological Surveys of Canada out of Ottawa, with a physics graduate from McGill University who was headed to M.I.T. for advanced studies. Even he couldn’t figure out the principles behind that. I have demonstrated it at elder hostels, libraries, Girl Guides, Cub Scouts, and even at woodsmen competitions. (Be very careful if’n you decide to try it.)

And while around the “boiling-hole” I’d listen to their stories, such as the one about the stranger with the double-bitted axe.

D.C. Butterfield
Kilburn, N.B.