The Association for Sustainable Forestry
Truro, N.S.
   Fill planting is an increasingly popular silviculture treatment in the spring and fall, when seedlings have the best chance for survival. A number of nurseries in the province can supply softwood planting stock. While we have a few enquiries each year from woodlot owners who wish to plant hardwoods, the risk from browsing damage is usually too high to recommend hardwood planting on a woodlot. Some owners have found that diligently protecting the planted hardwood seedlings with wire mesh or tree tubes can allow some trees to survive.
   I have been trying to protect planted hardwood saplings on my own lot for years. This past spring a deer was brazen enough to browse the top from a planted Black ash sapling right in front of me!
   Fill planting can be used following harvest operations on small sites or on larger cutovers where regeneration has not provided adequate stocking of crop trees. To be eligible, the site must be less than 80 percent stocked with crop trees at 2.4-metre spacing. Nearly any healthy tree will serve as a crop tree, with the exception of species like Grey birch, Pin cherry, and other non-commercial species.
   More than 300 trees per hectare must be planted to qualify for ASF funding. There is much to be said for planting trees early in the spring: the hardwoods have not yet flushed and it is much easier to track your planting progress. Once raspberries, grasses, and other vegetation green up, seedlings can be difficult to find – as we’ve found in our monitoring activities.
   If you are interested in fill planting, please give us a call and we will help you with your application and follow-up. In the meantime, have a great spring, and we look forward to hearing from you.
David Sutherland, RPF
Coordinator, Association for Sustainable Forestry
P.O. Box 696
Truro, NS B2N 5E5
Phone 902-895-1179
www.asforestry.com

North Nova Lumberjacks Society
Truro, N.S.
   2018 is starting off quite busily for the North Nova Lumberjacks Society (NNLS), with planning for the 2018 Nova Scotia Lumberjack Championships and the inaugural Canadian National Axe Throwing Championships in full swing. Our organizers are working diligently to deliver two world-class events in Nova Scotia in 2018, and hope to see continued support from the local and regional governments, the private sector, and the provincial forestry community, all of which have made our events so successful in the past. Final venues have been set for both events. The N.S. Lumberjack Championships will be held June 16 at Wild Axe Park in Barrington, N.S., and the Canadian Axe Throwing Championships will be held Aug. 25-26 in Victoria Park, Truro, N.S. Both are scenic backdrops that are certain to attract fantastic crowds.
   Season 18 of the television program Lumberjacks, which includes three half-hour episodes from the 2017 N.S. Lumberjack Championships, is now airing nationally on a variety of networks including Game TV, Wild TV, and various regional affiliates of CBC, CTV, and Global. Check your local listings and set your PVR for some fantastic wood chopping and sawing action. Episodes are also available online at www.youtube.com/LumberjacksOnline.
   The 2018 intercollegiate lumberjacking circuit ended Feb. 10 in Truro with the Dalhousie AC Rams hosting some 200 college athletes at the 33rd annual Rick Russell Woodsmen Competition. Heading into the final competition of the 2017-18 season, the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton) holds a commanding lead in the Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association (CILA) points race in the men’s division, while McGill University (Montreal) holds the top spot in the women’s division. These college teams often train five days a week, two hours a day in all weather conditions to prepare for these competitions, so be sure to come out to support them in Truro on Feb. 10. To learn more, check out www.cilawoodsmen.ca.
   Stay sharp, folks.
Ryan McIntyre
President, North Nova Lumberjacks Society
902-499-2727
novalumberjacks@gmail.com

Registered Professional Foresters Association of Nova Scotia (RPFANS)
Truro, N.S.
   Last year was significant in the sense that it marked a fair bit of change in rank for the RPFANS. Our longstanding executive director, Ian Millar, stepped down, as did our president, Peter Francis. Ian continues to contribute with the Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board (CFAB), and is currently Chair of the National Accreditation Standards Working Group (ASWG) and a member of this year’s CFAB Audit Team. Peter made a significant contribution to the association prior to his departure, leading us, along with Kevin Keys and myself, to provide information to the NSDNR Forest Practice Review Panel. We spoke directly to the need for Right to Practice legislation for forest professionals, and anticipate that there will be details relating to such in their report.
   The Forest Professionals AGM is scheduled for March 22-23 at the Holiday Inn in Truro. As in previous years, it will be a joint meeting between the RPFANS, the Nova Scotia Forest Technicians Association, and the Nova Scotia section of the Canadian Institute of Forestry. The joint organizing committee has released the agenda, and while the speaker list appears very strong, we are very excited and appreciative that Dr. William Lahey will provide our keynote address. Registration for members and guests can be made by visiting www.rpfans.ca.
   Kevin Keys, as vice-president, moved quietly into the president’s position late in the year. Council continues to be very active each month, with making revisions to the website, with policies, and with ensuring compliance with the Fair Registration Practice Act. A new strategic plan is also in the works, and council is very appreciative of the many survey responses received by members with regard to a new communications component. The nominations committee is currently accepting expressions of interest in two available positions on council: vice-president, and councillor – both of which are three-year terms.
   Looking forward to seeing everyone at the AGM in March.
Rob Young, RPF
Executive Director, RPFANS
contact@rpfans.ca.

New Brunswick
Federation of
Woodlot Owners
Fredericton, N.B.
   It is that time of year again. The 2017 harvesting season, which ends on March 31, is drawing to a close. This means marketing boards will be holding district and zone meetings. District meetings are your opportunity to network with other woodlot owners, learn about your marketing board, bring forth new ideas, and become involved. If you are concerned about the private woodlot sector, participate. Inform yourself, get the facts, and form your own opinion. Share the facts with others; sit on your local marketing board; attend meetings and provide constructive ideas on how to better meet the needs of private woodlot owners.
   The people working for your marketing boards are some of the most dedicated people that I have ever had the good fortune to work with. These people need your encouragement and support. They are overworked and underpaid, yet they work diligently in support of private woodlot owners. Rather than focusing on what is wrong, let’s recognize the good that is being done and provide suggestions and ideas to move the sector forward.
   We constantly search for new ways to add value to our membership and the sector. We are continually working towards the implementation of new ideas and solutions to help address some of the challenges that private woodlot owners face.
   The Federation is working more collaboratively with everyone involved in, or interested in, private woodlot forestry within the province, the Maritimes, and the country. We are fostering relationships and sharing ideas.
   We have hired a communications firm to help us get our message out and keep our membership up-to-date and informed. The pace of change is rapid, and we are trying to keep up. You can “like” our Facebook page; follow our website; get added to your marketing board’s distribution list so that you have the most up-to-date information. Let’s think positively, develop new ideas, and move forward.
   Private woodlots contribute significantly to the provincial economy and especially to the economy of rural New Brunswick. Be proud of your contribution to the sector and to society as a whole. If you are not proud of what you contribute, how can others respect your contribution? Let’s share the good-news stories and project a positive image.
Susannah Banks
Executive Director, NBFWO
506-459-2990
nbfwo@nb.aibn.com

Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners
Truro, N.S.
   I woke up today with Bo Diddley’s lyrics in my head: “Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.” The state of mind that we face as forest growers in this province has almost come to a point of embarrassment for some. The constant diatribes against forestry that are covered by the Chronicle Herald have my head spinning. I am so very confused about how folks can turn a blind, almost well-shut pair of eyes to the solutions that forest products offer, as well as to their own daily consumption of these products. There is absolutely nothing we can do about a growing population, nor about the trend towards consumption. The world’s non-renewable, finite resources continue to pollute, and are quickly dwindling.
   This province can utilize our prolific woodlands to help lessen our dependency on fossil fuels and proudly support our local forest farmers, and at the same time raise many generations of flora, fauna, and folks. The first mill was installed at Port Royal in 1612; we have been a sustainable industry for 406 years (of recorded history) and counting. We have been using trees for shelter, food, and medicine since the beginning of our civilization. We now know that trees offer endless possibilities in fuels, clothing, packaging, paint, soap, dyes, and chewing gum. They still offer us shade, habitat, and clean air and water, and they combat erosion.
   At the Federation we are doing our best to rebuild morale and educate folks to lessen their emotional responses, breathe deeply, and see the whole picture. Forest systems are complex ecosystems that can give even more accessible output when managed intensively. This has been proven in Finland and Norway – countries that hold their silviculturists and forest farmers in the highest regard. There is room for all things; we have protected spaces (31.3 percent of all Crown land); we too have forested parks (one percent of all Crown lands) that could actually benefit from some forest management – to maintain safe trails, employ due diligence in fire safety in our warming climate, and familiarize folks with forest management so it does not seem so foreign to them. Only 28.4 percent of Crown land is classified for general resource use.
   The Federation has been proudly representing private woodland owners provincially for 18 years – promoting and supporting their economic and social interests, all while deeply understanding that the forestry sector in this province needs to work as a system. We are forging partnerships with other organizations, hosting mentorship field days, and collaborating with anyone with a vested interest in forests and forestry. In 2017 we were proud to have a part in the formation of the Nova Scotia Private Woodland Certification Program, which unified the existing Forest Steward Council (FSC) certificates of the Nova Scotia Landowners and Forest Fibre Producers Association, the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners, and the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute. We are emerging as the greenest industry that exists here, and folks everywhere should wear that badge of pride.
   Forest growers are forest farmers, working with hands and minds to nurture the forest for many purposes; cultivating ecosystems that better society and our natural world. We make long-term business plans and are continually regenerating, maturing, perpetually re-foresting. We work environmentally every day, boots on the ground, sweat on our brow, supporting rural community and creating economics that support social programs. The time is now to understand and support our local growers and the ecosystems they maintain for the betterment of all life. Be proud, support local.
   So, with Bo Diddley’s lyrics in mind, I must ask, what have you done for your forest today?
Stacie Carroll
Executive Director, FNSWO
Phone 1-844-966-3568
Email stacie@fnswo.ca