NOVA SCOTIA REPORT:
Promoting Uneven-Aged Forest Management: Dollars and Sense
by Mike Hutchinson

At the year’s end, there were some positive developments in Nova Scotia’s silviculture industry. After years of lobbying and proposals by several woodlot owner and environmental groups for more support from the forest industry and the provincial government in the promotion of uneven-aged forest management in the province’s silviculture program, the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources has recently allotted $443,000 for Category 7 treatment funding, and $70,000 for a one-year, educational outreach program for contractors and woodlot owners on uneven-aged forest management practices.

The funding portion of the new program for on-the-ground work is being administered by the Association for Sustainable Forestry. Woodlot owners and silviculture contractors can apply for the funding on a per-hectare basis to help offset the costs of stand improvement work included in the Category 7 treatments. The educational outreach program is being administered by the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association, and implemented by private forestry consultants. Some outlined objectives of this program are: to educate woodlot owners and contractors on techniques and logistics of performing uneven-aged management treatments; distributing information material throughout the forestry community with regard to the benefits of Category 7 treatments; and compiling feedback from woodlot owners and contractors on challenges they face while performing these treatments.

The provincial silviculture program (Registry of Buyers Program) is divided into seven categories, including regeneration surveys, site preparation and planting, manual and chemical competition control, pre-commercial thinning for natural and planted stands, commercial thinning, and finally, Category 7 treatments which include (a) crop tree release, (b) crop tree pruning, and (c) selection management. Since the beginning of this program in 2000, Registered Buyers (any person or business acquiring more than 5,000 cubic metres of primary forest products per year) have been responsible for administering a silviculture program on private land, or paying into a provincial fund, in proportion to the amount of purchased forest products the year prior. 

To date, the lion’s share of treatment funding has been spent on plantation establishment, chemical weeding, and pre-commercial thinning, all of which promote the cycle of even-aged management. In many areas of our province, there are few options for regenerating mature softwood stands of balsam fir and/or white spruce. Pure stands of white spruce are often of old field origin with shallow root systems and susceptibility to red heart. Natural stands of white spruce and balsam fir are often mixed with intolerant hardwood species such as red maple, white birch, or trembling aspen. Mature forest stands with these compositions are not well suited to intermediate harvests and are best managed using even-aged techniques. 

Conversely, much of the province is blessed with our unique Acadian Forest type that extends into New Brunswick, PEI and the northern areas of New England. We enjoy a diverse mix of shade tolerant, deciduous, and coniferous species that have been historically managed with some form of selection harvesting. (Unfortunately, much of this has been high-grading). The push for more education and general acceptance of uneven-aged management practices in Nova Scotia’s forest industry stems from the realization that this forest type cannot be sustainably managed using the final harvest, plant, and spray model. Thirty years of rampant industrial forest management has displaced thousands of acres of Acadian mixed wood stands with softwood plantations where fiber production to feed pulp mills has been the main objective. As the industrial forestry sector continues its downward slide, woodlot owners are becoming increasingly involved with the conservation of their woodland, and many have realized that there are more opportunities available from their land than simply growing fiber. 

It’s all about using the right tool for the job. If woodland is of abandoned farmland origin and naturally grows short rotation softwood and low quality hardwoods, final harvesting of mature timber with artificial regeneration is likely the best management tool. In a mixed wood forest of shade tolerant hardwoods (sugar maple, yellow birch, white ash) and softwoods (red spruce, black spruce, white pine, eastern hemlock), maintenance of stand composition should be considered when planning a tending or regeneration treatment. 

Tools for tending treatments could include crop tree release or crop tree pruning, which significantly increases the potential log value component of the stand while largely conserving species and age composition. Regeneration harvests have numerous forms depending on treatment objectives, but should always focus on naturally regenerating species present in the stand. One available tool for this type of treatment is selection management. Treatment criteria in our present program are designed to favour single-tree selection methods of harvesting, which is why the educational outreach program is so important. 

Single tree selection harvests are difficult to master, both silviculturally and financially speaking. The treatment can easily turn out as a high-grade, while still passing post-treatment quality criteria for basal area and species composition. The landowner and/or contractor needs to have a clear understanding of the treatment objectives and expected revenues before commencing work. Logistical details such as choice of extraction method, product marketing, working conditions, and weather are all factors to be considered when planning a selection harvest. Consultants from the outreach program will be able to provide a second opinion and some experienced guidance over the next year, which will be a certain benefit to interested landowners and contractors. It will also help to protect and enhance what’s left of our Acadian forest.

Mike Hutchinson is a forest technician and silviculture contractor/consultant in Nova Scotia, currently an interim board member of the Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners, representing western Nova Scotia. For more information concerning the Registry of Buyers Program or any other woodlot management issues in Nova Scotia, please contact our office at (902)639-2041 or email to info@fnswo.ca