The Overstory. Message from the Executive Director. The Federation of NS Woodland Owner s Newsletter. March, 2016

Transcription

1 The Overstory The Federation of NS Woodland Owner s Newsletter March, 2016 Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners Board of Directors Chairman: Jim Crooker, South Brookfield, Queens Co, ljka@eastlink.ca Vice Chairman: John Roblee, Amherst, Cumberland Co., hunterinteriors@ns.sympatico.ca Secretary/Treasurer: Mile Penny, Linwood, Antigonish Co., mary.penny@ns.sympatico.ca Executive Director: John MacDougall, Bedford, Halifax Co., john@fnswo.ca Certification Coordinator: Tom Berry, Perotte, Annapolis Co., trberry@eastlink.ca Administrative Assistant: Wanda Hamilton, wanda@fnswo.ca Directors: Terry Pearson, Wolfville, Annapolis Co. Mike Gillis, Baddeck,, Victoria Co. John Theriault, Meteghan, Digby Co. David Wilson, Marshdale, Pictou.Co. David Fraser, Elmsdale, Hants Co. Ivan Aikens, Hopewell. Pictou CO. The Overstory Newsletter is published as a service to the membership of the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners (FNSWO). FNSWO is a non- profit organization providing FSC certification, woodlot management, extension services, independent support and advocacy to Nova Scotia s small private woodland owners. We are community members. We are families. We are individuals. We are stewards of woodlands that care deeply about the future and sustainability of the future forest and landscape. FNSWO represents the interests of our members within the Canadian Federation of Woodland Owners (CFWO). The CFWO makes those interests known to forestry ministers at both levels of government FNSWO professional staff reports to a nine member Board of Directors that oversees the activities of the Federation. Our board of Directors operates on a consensus basis and strives to reflect the ownership and diversity of Nova Scotia s woodlot owners. Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners PO Box 358, Brookfield, Nova Scotia, B0N 1C0 Toll Free: WOODLOT ( ) Website: Message from the Executive Director The environment that woodlot owners find themselves in today has changed significantly since the initial meetings of the FNSWO back in the year Despite many new challenges faced by woodlot owners and the forestry sector, the goals of our board of directors remains the same today as it did then to promote and support the economic and social interests of woodlot owners across the province. As woodland owners we all have a stake in ensuring the economic and social values of forests are maintained for the benefit of all Nova Scotians now and in the future. Private woodlots make up 60% of Nova Scotia s working forestland base (Crown land 27% and industrial freehold 13%) and supplied 63% of forest industries needs last year. Forestry continues to be the backbone of many of our rural communities and as a collective, woodlot owners have yet to realize our potential in this province, but by working together much can be accomplished. Whether you are a new woodlot owner or not I encourage you to become a member and attend our 16th annual general meeting on May 14 at the Holiday Inn, Truro, NS. If you are a current member of FNSWO you are already contributing to our organization s success. I hope you will take a moment to look though our newsletter and see what we have been up to lately. Our new website and Facebook page are also great ways to keep up-to-date on what is going on with our organization and in the forestry sector in general. The future success of FNSWO depends on our staff and directors continuing their hard work and woodlot owners staying involved. New voices are important to any organization to evolve and the more you get involved the stronger the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners will be. Review the information, programs, and resources we have to offer and let us know how we can improve. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any thoughts or questions. John MacDougall

2 Certification Update by Tom Berry Certification Coordinator Small Private Woodlot Certification Program Since 2009, the FNSWO with support form NSDNR has been building a Forest Certification Program for private woodlot owners across Nova Scotia. The program provides an opportunity for private woodlot owners to become certified to internationally recognized standards for forest management under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC SLIMF) or the Canadian Standards Association (CSA Z804) standard. In 2011 as part of our FSC program, we partnered with the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute (MTRI) to serve Woodlot Owners in Western Nova Scotia. The program has been a huge success and continues to grow. There are 162 woodlots in our program covering over 44,000 acres. Since February 2015, 14 new members have joined our FSC program. Changes are coming to our Certification Programs Over the years, experience has shown us that FSC and CSA certification for private woodlots are similar in many respects. We have also learned that maintaining 2 certificates, results in higher program costs, duplication of work for staff throughout the year "A few words about the certification program; I'm really happy about my involvement with the FSC and FNSWO. The knowledge I have gained and the advice I have gotten is first rate and has help me reach some of my personal goals for my woodlot. The plan and the treatments are just what my woodlot needed to become sustainable. The courses, field trips, and professional advice has helped me to overcome some of the stumbling blocks that small woodlot owners and operators encounter. This service that was once offered by the province has been missed. I feel that has been replaced by this much-improved program. I recommend that woodlot owner take advantage of this program and have a look at membership in FNSWO." Paul J. McDonald, Perotte, Annapolis Co. and especially during third party audits. In an effort to reduce costs, improve efficiency and delivery of services to woodlot owners we are phasing out our CSA program. All CSA members will have the opportunity to join our FSC program at no cost providing their annual dues have been paid up to date. The conversion of a management plan from CSA to FSC will require a short meeting with our staff, a woodlot cruise, and an update of each management plan to ensure compliance with FSC standards. To date, most of our CSA members have been contacted and the majority have agreed to move their management plans to the FSC program. 32 CSA woodlots have completed conversion of their plans to FSC and 26 more CSA members have agreed to join the FSC program over the next few months. I have been contacting all CSA members about this. If you have not heard from us, or if we have left you a phone message, please call us if you are interested in our offer FSC and CSA Audits Our annual Certification audits were carried out between May 25-29, 2015 resulting in the renewal of both our FSC and CSA Certificates and all around positive comments from the audit team from QMI global. Our CSA program had 2 minor non-conformances for harvesting carried out by a contractor who had hydraulic fluid spills with no attempts made to clean them up. Contractors are encouraged to carry spill kits to avoid this situation and a section has been added to our Best Management Practices course to address this problem. Our FSC program had one minor nonconformance for unauthorized use of the FSC logo on the FNSWO website. This issue has been corrected. 2 The Overstory - March, FNSWO Auditor (Francois Grimard) from QMI with Scott Maston of Century Forestry Ltd. inspecting a well-constructed bridge at Robert Frame s woodlot in Pictou County

3 2015 Annual Update Forms Annual update forms were mailed to members in December Annual updates allow us to monitor changes to your woodlot resulting from harvesting, silviculture, and other forest management activities. To date, we have received update forms from 75 members reporting 5,526 cords of wood harvested from June 2014 to December If you have not sent in your update form, please do so as soon as possible. If you have not received a form or need a new one it can be downloaded from our website under the Woodlot Certification/Certification Resources/ tab or call our office to receive one. A significant part of our program is dedicated to monitoring harvesting and silviculture activities. This often provides our members an opportunity to receive on the ground guidance and training. Before harvesting or starting silviculture work on your woodlot please call us so that we can arrange a site visit. Monitoring ensures that contactors are in compliance with FSC principals and allows us to check that FSC wood premiums if applicable are accounted for and paid to the landowner. Commercial Thinning in red spruce stand on Certified Woodlot of Five Islands Forest Management, Bill s Lake, Hants County, work funded through FNSWO Silviculture program Silviculture Program Members of our woodlot certification program are eligible for silviculture funding on their Certified woodlots. This program was developed through an agreement between our organization and the Association for Sustainable Forestry (ASF). Any silvicultural treatment carried out within our program should be done within the context of the Certified management plan. Treatments eligible for program funding include: Tree Planting, Fill planting, Manual Weeding of Plantations and natural stands, We are now accepting applications for our silviculture program. If you are a member of the Certification Program and would like to apply for funding complete the FNSWO Silviculture Funding Request Form (or download at Silviculture_Request_Form_ pdf) and or mail the completed form to our office. Pre-commercial Thinning (PCT) of Plantations and Natural Stands, Commercial Thinning, Crop tree release, Crop Tree pruning and Selection management of uneven-aged stands. To date our silviculture program has allocated funding of over $120,000. If you have an outstanding claim for , jobs should be completed and claim forms submitted for payment no later than May 1, The Overstory - March, FNSWO

4 Jim Crooker Talks Woodlots with Scandinavian Foresters Jim Crooker, FNSWO director and Chairman was one of the woodlot owners representing FNSWO and the Canadian Federation of Woodlot Owners (CFWO) at a family forestry workshop in Norway hosted by the Norwegian Forest Owners Federation and organized by the International Family Forestry Association (IFFA). Representatives from four provinces as well as from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Germany attended. The purpose of the conference held last October was to provide a forum for woodlot owners to compare and learn from each other s woodlot organizations in terms of policies and programs that encourage production of timber from family forests. Topics discussed were: forest producer association services that support market access and value added production; extension tools to encourage small producers to become more involved in family forest management; how to involve more women and youth in small scale forest management; and finally a discussion on income and property tax policy and barriers to private forest A harvest site in Norway with the Glommen Skog forestry group; l to r, harvester operator, Gunnar Filtvedt, machinery owner, Bob Austman (MB), Peter demarsh (NB) and Jim Crooker (NS) management. CFWO members visited local woodlot owner groups to view forest operations and co-operatively owned mills in both Norway and Sweden Key learning highlights were: Income tax rules are very favourable to woodlot owners and revenues generated from woodlots can be treated as capital gains. Both Sweden and Germany have silvicultural saving plans similar to what the CFWO is proposing. In Sweden ~50 percent of all woodlot owners are woodlot association members Connections between woodlot owners associations and forest industry are very strong including co-operatively owned sawmills and pulp mills In Norway and Sweden there are outreach program for absentee landowners who live in urban areas, and in some areas up to 25% of members of woodlot associations are female. Norway and Sweden both have extensive training programs for machine operators who are highly regarded in society. 4 The Overstory - March, FNSWO At the Mellanskog Family Forest Association office in Torsby, Sweden. The Mellanskog group has members with 1,683,000 ha of forest land. L to R Peter demarsh, President of CFWO and IFFA, two Swedish woodland owners, Dr. Lennart Ackzell, Senior Advisor International Affairs, IFFA, Jim Crooker, Chairman, FNSWO, a Swedish woodland owner, Bob Austman, Manitoba, and Henrik Svensson, Mellanskog Director.

5 In Sweden the transport of logs by truck averages 100km, and trains are used for long distance transport Wildlife is considered property of the landowner and landowners and local associations control hunting. The Norwegian Forest Owners Association represents 43,000 owners of forest in Norway. The association assists the members, who are mostly farmers, manage their forest. This includes forestry plans, harvesting and negotiating agreements with lumber mills and pulp mills. The Norwegian Forestry Owners have approximately one third financial interest in the mills, which process their wood. There are seven organizations in Norway of which Glommen Skog is one. In Norway approximately 83% of all domestic timber is derived from the association. In Sweden four associations with 111,766 members own a total of 6,057,000 ha (averaging 54 ha or 135 ac. per member). The associations have qualified field staff that monitor harvesting and silvicultural services, and financial planning services. The staff ensures good prices and terms for the members. The forest owners associations have gradually become more involved in the industrial activity and control much of the saw milling industry. A harvest site near Torsby, Sweden; L to R Jim Crooker, three Swedish woodland owners from the Mellanskog Family Forest Association, Bob Austman, Lennart Ackzell, and Peter demarsh. It is encouraging to see the potential opportunities and benefits that can be realized by woodlot owners participating and working together through their organizations with cooperation from forest industry and governments. 5 The Overstory - March, FNSWO

6 West Nova Woodlot Services Aims To Support Woodlot Owners Woodlot owners marketing forest products in the seven western counties of Nova Scotia have had it tough during the last decade with the closure of the Bowater newsprint mill in Liverpool and sawmill in Oakhill, Irving s sawmill in Weymouth, and the closure of several other smaller but locally important mills. A new initiative is taking shape that aims to help landowners with resources and services needed to profit from their woodlots and at the same time increase the health of woodlots in a sustainable way. The Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners along with other forestry organizations, and individuals have been meeting on a regular basis to plan a woodlot management business specifically designed to help improve the economic opportunities for woodlot owners Western N.S. Last fall, community meetings were held in Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Digby, Annapolis and Kings Counties, providing a forum for woodlot owners and other stakeholders to voice their interests and ideas. These conversations guided the group in developing a business proposal named West Nova Woodlot Services Co-operative, their mission is to provide forest management services which meet the economic, environmental and social objectives of private woodlot owners throughout the seven western counties of Nova Scotia. Seeking support from DNR and other funding agencies, West Nova is proposing to offer FSC certified management plans, harvesting services, forest products marketing, silviculture and woodlot owner extension services to members. The Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners fully supports this ambitious new initiative with the potential to increase woodlot owner success and participation in the forestry sector in Western N.S. We also encourage DNR, municipal governments, and other community groups to support West Nova in their efforts as they continue to move forward this year. For further information on this initiative please contact Tom Berry of FNSWO at or one of the following organizations that participated in the Western Service Area Working Group. Harold Alexander, North Range Forest Products Patricia Amero, RPF, Picea Forestry Consulting Jane Barker, Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute Amy Berry, Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute Tom Berry, Federation of Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners Arcade Comeau, La Foret Acadienne Dr. Melanie Hobbs, P.Eng., RPF Selby Testing and Engineering Ltd. Andrew Kekacs, Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association Shawn Meisner, RPF (completed term on January ) Mary Jane Rodgers, Medway Community Forest Co-operative Ltd. Don Saulnier, Clare Woodlot Owners Studwood and pulpwood from a family forest operation sit roadside near Lapland, Queens County. A new woodlot group is hoping to improve economic conditions and support for woodlot owners in Western N.S. 6 The Overstory - March, FNSWO

7 H.C HAYNES INC. MARKET REPORT - MARCH 2016 An early spring/road closure has arrived. This may be a problem if you have wood trapped on closed roads however it is a benefit to the industry as most mills have an over-supply of inventory. Closed roads will thus help the mills reduce their inventory and guarantee demand through spring and summer Pulp Mills: Both Port Hawkesbury Paper and Northern Pulp have excessive amounts of softwood inventory and this is not going to correct in the short term. It is Haynes s prediction that Northern Pulp will be limiting deliveries or shutting off deliveries completely for some duration during the spring. Port Hawkesbury Paper has similar inventory problems so will also have to take some measure to reduce their wood volume. This over-supply could result in reduced prices and delivery quotas for all suppliers. All producers should attempt to reduce the amount of pulp manufactured by: 1) Increasing top size on your pulpwood to 3 ½ inches 2) Avoiding harvesting in high pulp stands 3) Redirecting grade #2 pulp to Scotia Atlantic, Taylor Lumber, and Group Savoie. Hardwood pulp is in strong demand at GNTI in Sheet Harbour. Sawmills: Large inventories have resulted in the tightening of specifications on all saw stock. Minimum top size, crooked wood, stain, excessive branches etc. are being closely monitored. The price of lumber has dropped significantly over this time last year, even taking into account the weak Canadian dollar. This reduction in the price of lumber has reduced the price of logs and studs. Although we do not want to see price drops in round wood, when to compared to prices in New Brunswick and Maine, we are still being treated very fairly in Nova Scotia. Deliveries for all saw stock should stay constant through Biomass Mills: Demand for biomass is relatively strong throughout Nova Scotia. There are many different markets for biomass including Nova Scotia Power in Port Hawkesbury, small hospitals, green houses, small universities and others. Prices are reflective of a low quality product. The forest industry in Nova Scotia is in far better health than that of New Brunswick or Maine. We must continue to work with all of our mills to keep them viable and ensure a long-term demand for our forest products. Note: For current pricing please visit our website at HC Haynes/ prices/canadian or check out the HC Haynes Market report at the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners website at Market Reports. 7 The Overstory - March, FNSWO

8 Message from the chairman: I would like to encourage members of the FNSWO to attend the AGM and bring along younger family members and or neighbours who might have an interest in woodland ownership. The strength and longevity of our organization is with the youth. Jim Crooker, Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners WOODLAND EVENTS CALENDAR April 02, 2016 CENTRAL WOODLAND CONFERENCE Oxford Regional Education Centre, 249 Lower Main Street, Oxford, NS To register call TOLL FREE April 6-7, 2016 CANADIAN WOODLANDS FORUM - Spring Meeting 2016 Spring Meeting & 97th AGM Delta Beausejour Hotel, Moncton, NB Visit to register April 16, 2016 EASTERN WOODLAND CONFERENCE St. Andrew's Community Centre 81 Pomquet River Rd, St. Andrews, NS To register call TOLL FREE May 14, 2016 FEDERATION OF NOVA SCOTIA WOODLAND OWNERS 16TH ANNUAL AGM Holiday Inn, Truro, NS Anyone interested in learning more about Nova Scotia s woodland owner community and woodlot management is encouraged to attend the FNSWO 16th Annual General Meeting. To pre-register wanda@fnswo.ca or call Membership Application 2016 Use our convenient online form and Paypal option at Or fill out this form and mail it along with a cheque. Membership fee 2016 $20.00 Renewal Fee 2016 $20.00 Is your woodlot currently being managed? (Yes / No) I am particularly interested in: FSC certification for woodlots Management planning Wood harvesting/timber production Land stewardship Recreation, ecotourism Maple syrup production Wildlife habitat enhancement Silviculture funding Woodlot taxation All of the above We encourage our members to receive event notices and newsletters by I don t have please mail the newsletter. NAME: ADDRESS: PHONE: Thank you for supporting Nova Scotia s private woodlots and family forests. Mail to : Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners P.O. Box 358, Brookfield, NS B0N 1C WOODLOT ( ) "I joined the Federation a number of years ago and placed my woodlot in the certification program. The Federation gives me a stronger voice to deal with government and industry on issues that affect private woodlands. The silviculture funding for certified woodlots and the price bonus paid by some mills are examples. The chance to network with other woodlot owners and Federation staff is a real plus" Alan Peveril, Lapland, Queens County 8 The Overstory - March, FNSWO