Andy Kekac at a Conform Limited/NSWOOA field day Oct 6, 2018
Finally some good news – if very modest from a financial perspective – for Ecological Forestry in Nova Scotia.
From Forestry trust fund doles out $12.4M to 2 projects by Michael Gorman for CBC News Oct 18, 2021:
The Family Forest Network is getting $9.8 million for a five-year pilot project that will involve ecologically sensitive forest treatments on about 200 small private woodlots around the province. The funding was announced last Friday.
Andy Kekacs, a member of the network’s steering committee, said the group will spend the next six to nine months reaching out to landowners and looking for people interested in participating.
“It really represents a new era for forest stewardship in our province,” he said.
“This is a departure from the practices of the last 50 years and a move toward saying that we can do economically viable forestry that also considers other values and protects them in the process of creating some income.”
A big part of the work will be exposing contractors to an approach promoted in the Lahey review of forestry practices, which called for a major reduction of clear cutting on Crown land.
The funding will help contractors become more comfortable with the costs of the work and how to make it financially viable, said Kekacs.
A “mini-forwarder” allows a more gentle touch on a privately owned woodlot
“Right now, Nova Scotia’s forest production system is built around clear cutting, and we’re suggesting that there’s a different way to do things consistent with what Bill Lahey recommended three years ago. And the number of contractors who are willing and able to do that at the moment is fairly small,” he said.
More details are available in the NSWOOA Newsletter, Legacy for Oct 2021
The newsletter cites Bill Lahey’s support of the Forest Family Network”
“[The FFN proposal] is, without question, the most exciting development I have seen in three years of watching unfolding responses to the Forest Practices Report, which have been long on verbal commitments and planning exercises but short on putting the recommendations of the report to the test in the forests.”
Also view
– Province announces $12 million for two projects aimed at developing a more sustainable forestry
Kevin McBain, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, LighthouseNOW Progress Bulletin, on yahoo.ca news Nov 3, 2021. More details than provided in rev stories and announcements,
– Provincial News Release: Two More Forestry Projects Funded; Next Round of Applications Opens (Oct 15, 2021)
– Gifts to a Future World: Conversations with Woodland Owners in Nova Scotia
by A. Kekacs (Thesis, 2017).
– Reconsidering Forest Practices in NS Part1. Part 2. Part 3
Presentation to Nova Scotia Institute of Science, fall 2021. “For 50 years, Nova Scotia embraced an industrial model of forest management, which emphasized the growth and harvesting of small-diameter softwood trees for commodity products such as wood pulp and small dimensional lumber. Andy Kekacs discusses the impacts of that strategy on Nova Scotia’s forest; the growing discontent among woodland owners; foundations of our current interest in ecological forestry; and following the path toward holistic forest management.”
Congratulations Andy Kekacs/NSWOOA