In an earlier post I had remarked on the apparently low wood volumes harvested from Crown land compared to private land in Nova Scotia, and that I had submitted a request to NSDNR for an explanation.
I received this explanation from Bruce Stewart, RPF, Acting Director, Forestry Division Manager, Forest Research & Planning, Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources on July 27:
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“How do we ensure that the last bits of mature forest in the province are managed sustainably for a variety of purposes other than the single-minded interests of fiber production?”
Cutting immature red maple to make logs for growing shiitake mushrooms on private woodland in Nova Scotia
I have provided some excerpts below with links to the posts. I will add more as they might arise and are pertinent.
On a related note, I have heard that “the NS Government is changing the land taxation for forest lands: unless doing active forestry with a management plan in place, woodland owners will pay much more than 25 cents/acre. There seems to have been no announcement about this change.” Note (July 29): I have been unable to confirm or not confirm that such a change is in the works.
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Multi-aged, mixed Acadian forest on a private woodlot in Nova Scotia provides many ecosystem services
GIFTS TO A FUTURE WORLD: CONVERSATIONS WITH WOODLAND OWNERS IN NOVA SCOTIA
By Andrew W. Kekacs
Abstract:
Private, non-industrial woodland owners provide more than half of the timber used by Nova Scotia’s forest products industry. Research, however, suggests many of these owners do not consider income from timber sales to be their primary reason for owning woodland. This study aimed to reach a holistic understanding of their attitudes and motivations using walking interviews on the owners’ woodlands and a grounded theory approach to analysis, in which explanations of the phenomena under study are induced from the data rather than being based on responses to survey questions or derived from a priori hypotheses. Forest landowners interviewed for this research were most concerned with the conservation – and ultimately the conveyance – of values that provide them with no immediate economic returns. The high value placed on these “gifts to a future world” offers a new way to think about the design of programs meant to encourage active management of private forestland.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017 @ 10:00 A.M.,
Room 5001, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building
6100 University Ave., Halifax, NS
From Andrew Kekacs LinkedIn profile (publicly available)
– Executive Director of NSWOOA Mar 2012-present
– Communications Director, Small Woodland Owners of Maine, 2007-2010
… University of Connecticut, BA in Journalism (1982); graduate level studies in economics at Trinity College, Hartford
“The [MES degree at Dal] builds on 30 years of experience in natural resources and sustainability issues. My thesis looks at the changing beliefs and motiviations of people who own small forested parcels in Nova Scotia. Other areas of study include environmental and social impact assessment, biodiversity conservation, and environmental informatics.”
In an opinion piece in the CH, Donna Crossland bemoans the destruction of bird habitat by clearcutting noting that
May-June are the most critical months for many forest songbirds, though most of us remain unaware of the rather frantic lives these tiny forest dwellers conduct, mating and raising families. No other habitat provides the particular insects these birds require.
The handsome wood warblers, such as blackburnian, northern parula, and black-throated green, cannot adapt to foraging in fields or dried up clearcuts, as they’re programmed to know only how to glean insects from a forest canopy.
How much wood? Plenty, but not on 50-year rotations!
With promises of “the right balance” at some time in the future, clearcutting on Crown land continues unabated including cuts close to Protected Areas. The latest announcement cites plans for 48 parcels, 32 of which are 1-stage clearcuts, 15 are partial cuts. As usual, they include at least one cut on the border of a Protected Area, the one I viewed abutting Tidney River Wilderness Area in Queens Co. in southwest Nova Scotia. It is described as a Partial Harvest. (Most Partial Cuts in NS are shelterwood cuts which are considered 2-stage clearcuts by the feds; it’s possible this one is a selection cut – you have to request the PTA to find out).
In my last post, I cited some wood volumes for Nova Scotia and other provinces, and wondered about the exceptionally low volumes of wood harvested from our Crown lands in 2015 (77 m3/ha compared to 123 m3/ha on Private lands in Nova Scotia and values for Crown lands in other provinces in the range 107-319 m3/ha, BC highest).
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Low wood volumes from N.S. forests reflect short rotations
“The Municipality of Barrington would like to extend an invitation to you to attend our Canada 150 event, The Great Canadian Lumberjack Celebration. Put on your Lumberjack red plaid as we celebrate the importance of the lumber industry and our local lumberjacks and how they have helped shape our Nation and community. Nova Scotia has always had a rich history and culture in the logging industry, including the Municipality of Barrington. The Barrington River was used for log driving, sending logs down the river to be milled in large part for the shipbuilding industry in Nova Scotia.”
It begins on Friday, July 28 – 7PM with a Screening, Stories and Songs of The Last Log Drive
Donna Crossland, a co-author with Bob Bancroft of Restoring the Health of Nova Scotia’s Forests (2010), will be talking about forests and forestry in Nova Scotia in the Community Room at MTRI (Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute) on Thursday July 20th at 4 p.m.
Donna Crossland was interviewed recently by CBC Halifax Information Morning in the 4th of a series on the state of forestry in Nova Scotia, and in particular controversies surrounding cutting on the Western Crown lands by the WestFor consortium.
Markus Zwicker, General Manager of WestFor Management Inc. who was also interviewed in the CBC series has been invited to talk about his perspectives sometime in the following weeks.
MTRI is a “non-profit co-operative with a mandate to promote sustainable use of natural resources and biodiversity conservation in the Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve and beyond through research, education, and the operation of a field station.” It is located near Kejimkujik National Park. View directions on the MTRI website for how to get there.
Stockpiles at the Biomass plant in Lower Sackville, N.S. Courtesy of Mike Parker.
CBC Halifax Information Morning has carried several lengthy interviews recently to do with the state of forestry in Nova Scotia, and in particular controversies surrounding cutting on the Western Crown lands by the WestFor consortium.
On June 27, Colin Hughes, owner of G&C Hughes Enterprises Ltd. and Colin Hughes Forestry, was interviewed. Hughes contended that cutting on Western Crown lands by the WestFor consortium is creating a fibre glut which is severely impacting smaller private owners and operators.
On June 28, the WestFor General manager was asked to respond. He defended WestFor’s forestry practices,
On June 29, Nova Scotia Natural Resources Deputy Minister Julie Towers was asked about the NS government’s stand on these issues. She said that Nova Scotia was harvesting only half of the trees that could be sustainably cut.
Today (July 11) forest ecologist Donna Crossland was asked to comment. For the record, an “abbreviated transcript” of the interview (posted online) is given below. I have appended some comments at the end.
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“Join three champions of intelligent forestry – author Jamie Simpson (“Restoring the Acadian Forest”), forest ecologist Donna Crossland, and forest carbon sequestration pioneer Dale Prest, for a weekend addressing the many ways forests benefit society – while absorbing practical knowledge for understanding and managing your own woodlot. Small class limited to 15. A few seats left.”
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“Participants in this year’s Backyard Forestry workshop will learn about basic forest ecology and how to work with a piece of land to encourage ecological and economical value. Topics covered will include: Identifying tree and shrub species, and their ecological roles in the forest; choosing which trees to cut and which trees to leave; how to promote wildlife habitat; what landowners can do to increase forest carbon storage; how our forests have changed, and what we can do to promote natural forests; what we can learn from natural disturbances in the forest; where to obtain funding for silviculture activities; legal issues such as wood theft and capital gains tax, and, the virtues of a “messy” woodlot.” Read more on HFC Website
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