See you at the Heavy Equipment Show!

Transcription

SYRUP CO-OP SUCCEEDS . . . ISLANDERS ORGANIZE . . . WOODSMEN (AND WOMEN) COMPETE . . . MINI-MAPLES GET RESPECT . . .
Atlantic Forestry
Volume 20 #4, March 2014, $3.95
Review
See you at the
Heavy Equipment Show!
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March 2014
ATLANTIC FORESTRY REVIEW
PAGE 1
PAGE 2
March 2014
Atlantic Forestry Review
Volume 20 #4, March 2014
Published by
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INSIDE
Editorial..........................................................................................David Palmer 4
AFR Letters...........................................................................................................6
Chips ’n’ Slabs.....................................................................................................10
Cranking it up a few notches (Market News and Views)..............David Palmer 14
Your Neck of the Woods.....................................................................................16
Let the chips fly!..................................................................... Robyn McCallum 18
Northern Pulp, western Crown............................................................................20
The big picture.....................................................................................................22
Fresh iron............................................................................................................26
Roadside attraction.................................................................George Fullerton 28
Tapping into maple marketing expertise.................................George Fullerton 32
Uptake on N.S. leases a bit thin..........................................................................34
Sweet saplings....................................................................................................36
Meet the mini-maples................................................................ Gary Saunders 38
Islanders in the woods..................................................................... Nina Linton 44
Contact................................................................................................................47
Classifieds...........................................................................................................53
Directory of advertisers.......................................................................................54
COVER: Ponsse's new Scorpion harvester in action near Vieremä, Finland.
(George Fullerton photo)
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March 2014
PAGE 3
A Word or Two
(editorial comment)
Please, sir, I want some more
by David Palmer
Leading up to the announcement of
New Brunswick’s new Forestry Plan,
there were enough hints dropped and
leaks dribbled to piece the thing together
in broad strokes. Responding to a question in the House back on Feb. 5, Premier
David Alward came right out and said
the plan would put “more wood in the
system,” and that it would “generate
literally hundreds of millions of dollars of
private sector investment in the industry
and create hundreds of jobs.”
That timber objectives would be set
was a given. The only questions were
how much additional Crown fiber there
would be, where it would come from,
and whether it would include timber
guarantees. Apparently the new wood
will come from the conservation forest,
known in industry circles as the “constrained” forest, on account of harvesting
being prohibited, limited, or simply not
feasible.
The constrained forest currently
makes up about 27 percent of the total
Crown forest in New Brunswick, and
consists of protected areas, old growth,
riparian buffer strips, inoperable areas,
and deer wintering areas. Opinions
varied as to how much it will be reduced
by, but one source who seemed to have
inside knowledge claimed it was going
to drop to about 23 percent, which is
consistent with what industry has argued
it should be. However, we were hearing
it could be a lot lower than that.
As for how much more wood will
be made available, one report put the
number at 21 percent more softwood.
Since the current softwood AAC is 3.6
million cubic meters (which works out to
roughly 50,000 cubic meters for every
one percent of the total forested land
base), that would bring the new softwood total up to 4.356 million. When
this volume is divided by 50,000, the
new area of unconstrained forest can
be calculated as roughly 87 percent,
leaving only 13 percent protected.
Whatever the number, the large forestry stakeholders were pleased – very
pleased – with the general direction
things were going. On the other hand, the
smaller companies, the woodlot owner
groups, and the wildlife and conservation groups had not been consulted or
briefed. To our knowledge, neither had
the First Nations. Yet the province has
PAGE 4
a “duty to consult” when it comes to
resource development that affects First
Nations. The rumors were rampant, and
the emotional stakes high. Once the
path is chosen, there is no going back,
particularly if timber guarantees are part
of the package.
STICKER SHOCK
Instead of handing over even more
of our renewable forest resource to the
existing industry, the government might
Instead of handing
over even more of our
renewable forest resource
to the existing industry,
the government might
do better to reserve some
of that wood to heat its
citizens’ homes
do better to reserve some of that wood to
heat its citizens’ homes. “A pellet stove
on every hearth” might carry quite far as
an election slogan, especially given that a
record cold December and equally chilly
January chewed up winter firewood supplies and sent heating costs through the
ceiling. Power and gas customers were in
shock when they opened their bills. One
owner of a historic property in downtown
Fredericton reported that her gas bill
exceeded $1,900, and on top of that she
paid $700 for supplemental electric heat.
It has been a hard reminder of the folly of
reliance on fossil fuels, especially when
the most wonderful renewable natural
resource, wood, is staring us right in the
face. When will we ever learn?
STRIKES
The death of Jack Munro in November
of 2013 brought back a flood of memories, and had me musing on the topic
of strikes in the forestry sector. Munro
was the hard-talking head of British
Columbia’s largest labor union, the
International Woodsworkers of America
(IWA). While work stoppages are still
somewhat common in the academic or
institutional workplace, it is rare these
days to hear of a strike against a forestry company. The last group to even
consider going out to support wage
demands was the newsprint workers
at the now-defunct Resolute paper mill
in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
In 1967 Munro led a strike of interior
woods and mill workers to achieve wage
parity with the coastal workers. As a kid
fresh out of high school I became an
unwitting participant in that strike. I had
hitchhiked north to Mackenzie, B.C., to
look for work. It was mid-afternoon on
the first working day after the Dominion
Day long weekend, and 36 guys had not
returned to their shifts at the Alexandria
Forest Products sawmill after a harddrinking weekend in Prince George. I
went right to work on the evening shift.
The hourly rate was $2.76. I didn’t know
that it was 50 cents less than our brother
coastal workers were paid for doing the
same job over in Prince Rupert.
A GOOD JOB
The job included bed and board at
an on-site camp; the food was fantastic,
and every day was a buffet. Town was
a few miles away, so there wasn’t much
to spend money on, and not much to
do except explore the twists and turns
of the Parsnip River, a tributary of the
Peace, soon destined to become the
giant Williston Lake as the water backed
up behind newly built Bennett Dam.
With my American friend Pete McGibbon, who at 37 seemed wise in the
ways of the world, I learned to cook
bannock on a stick over an open fire,
and to shoot Pete’s pistol, for which
he had a special permit issued only to
those who venture into bear country.
We never saw any bears, but we had
great fun target shooting.
Pete ran the debarker on the graveyard shift, which went from 1 to 8 am and
paid 15 cents an hour more, so I asked
for and got assigned to the same shift.
My first job was patrolling the stacker
bins and keeping them clear of jams,
which were frequent. When the stacker
operator quit, I was trained to do his
job. I had a good helper working in the
sorter trays. Knowing how tough it was,
I would run to help him as soon as there
was a jam, and we kept the problems to
a minimum that way. After a while one
March 2014
learned which trays filled up the fastest,
and remembered which had been most
recently emptied. It was a good job for
a young fellow. I had decided I was going to stay at it for a while, save some
money, take a lumber grader’s course,
and see what winter is like in the North
country.
That’s when Jack Munro called the
strike. Our contracts were for two years,
and for some reason the coast workers’
and the interior workers’ contracts
were staggered, resulting in a wage
difference in favor of the coast. That
would trigger a round of bargaining to
close the gap. Most strikes, we were
told, didn’t last long.
AUTUMN CHILL
So it was that in mid-September of
1967, having just decided four weeks
earlier to postpone university plans, I
found myself out of work. The company
camp was closed, and most of the single
guys left town. Pete and I pitched a tent
down at Morfee Lake Park, and started
cooking for ourselves. It was moose
season and one cool day we helped
some hunters cut up the moose that
they had shot and brought across the
lake in their boat.
To collect our strike pay, we had to go
to the mill site once a week to do “picket”
duty, which meant stomping your feet to
keep warm for four hours and keeping the
fire in the barrel going. Nobody seemed
to have any information on the progress
of negotiations, but the feeling was that
it was going to be a long one.
By October it was getting cooler. Every few days it would rain at the camp,
and in the morning the snow line on
the mountain across the lake would be
lower. One morning we woke up to six
inches of snow. Between the boredom
and the cold, I decided to set off for the
Chilcotin to visit a friend working on a
ranch at Tatlayoko Lake. I would be
back for next week’s picket duty, I told
my American friend.
That was the last I saw of him. A
series of adventures took me to Alaska.
By the time I got back to Mackenzie it
was December, and Pete was gone. The
strike was long over, and another fellow
had my job, so I was assigned to pulling
lumber off the outside green chain. The
work was alright, but it was -26 degrees
F, and my feet were never warm. After a
week or two of being miserable, I quit that
job and went back to the coast.
March 2014
PAGE 5
Highs and lows
AFR: How inspiring and uplifting it
was to read your article on “The Swedish Experience” (Jan. 2014 AFR) – to
see woodlot owners, governments
and industry working together cooperatively to face new challenges
and to contribute to creating wealth
for their communities. This is no small
feat, knowing the ups and downs of the
industry over the years and knowing
the difficulties of organizing woodlot
owners around a collective purpose.
Then in the same issue, how depressing it was to read the article by
Ken Hardie for the New Brunswick
Federation of Woodlot Owners – to see
how J.D. Irving is doing everything it
can to destroy our little woodlot orga-
nizations by using its financial clout to
challenge legally our very fundamental
raison d’être. We already know what
our governments have done over the
years to undermine our collective and
co-operative efforts and to destroy the
basis of our collective bargaining.
Euclide Chiasson
Woodlot owner
Pointe-Verte, N.B.
Hybrid poplar pride
AFR: I live 20 minutes
west of Edmundston, N.B.
The photos are of hybrid
poplar that were planted
in June of 1996 and cut
in October, 2013 – just
17 years. I was on the
crew that planted them on
Norampac Cabano freehold land in Saint-Eusèbe,
Quebec. The company
made that special plantation to try several types
of hybrid. Some of those
trees were sent to poplar sawmills, and
the rest were sent to the Norampac
Cabano pulp mill and processed into
cardboard paper.
The Norampac Cabano mill is part
of the Cascades paper company. The
company bought a lot of woodlots and
replanted them with hybrid poplar. The
company wanted to provide about 25
percent of their fiber supply needs in
the future. It is amazing it only took
Hybrid poplar harvested recently in Saint-Eusèbe,
Quebec, just 17 years after being planted.
17 years to produce trees ready for the
Cabano mill. I am proud of the work
we did. I never thought I would see
trees that I planted being processed
into lumber and pulp.
Stéphane Pelletier
Saint-Eusèbe, QC
Site-specific management
AFR: Now that I have read both Ed
Bailey’s letter (Jan. 2014) and Matt
Miller’s letter (May 2013) about
uneven-aged (selection harvest) management vs. even-aged management
(clearutting), I can’t help adding a
few comments of my own. It comes
as a surprise to me that neither Matt
nor Ed mentioned that both types of
management systems are suitable in
Nova Scotia.
Forest stands with large representation of shade-tolerant Acadian forest
species (i.e., Eastern hemlock, Red
spruce, Sugar maple, etc.), are obvious
candidates for uneven-aged management. Stands with a large percentage
of intolerant species (often found in
the Boreal forest, i.e., Balsam fir,
Black or White spruce, White birch,
PAGE 6
March 2014
etc.) are more suitable for clearcutting,
followed by planting of shade-tolerant
species. Each management system has
its place in Nova Scotia forests.
Forest Ecosystem Classification
(FEC) uses ecological site characteristics to dictate management activities.
By assessing sites prior to harvest,
shade-tolerant and/or intolerant species can be identified and classified
into vegetation types, and management
interpretations show us what direction each vegetation type will follow
in future forest succession. FEC has
become mandatory on Nova Scotia
Crown lands, and is also a requirement to access silviculture funding
for selection harvest work on private
lands.
Forest professionals finally have a
system in place to categorize which
stands are appropriate for uneven-aged
management vs. even-aged management. If we select the appropriate
harvest system for each forest stand, by
following the FEC, I strongly believe
March 2014
PAGE 7
that we will achieve the province’s goal
of a 50 percent reduction in clearcutting in Nova Scotia.
Tom Berry
Teaberry Forest Consulting
Annapolis Royal, N.S.
(Thanks for the reminder, Tom, that
we now have the ability to do fairly
sophisticated site-specific management.
It would be interesting to know more
about the practice of planting shadetolerant species following clearcutting
of intolerant stands, as you recommend.
We should look into this and other
restoration techniques. DL)
About Letters to AFR
Letters may be edited. Be sure they
are signed and include a complete
return address (especially when
sent by email). No press releases.
Mail to Atlantic Forestry, Box 1509,
Liverpool, NS B0T 1K0 or email to
[email protected].
PAGE 8
March 2014
March 2014
PAGE 9
Chips ’n’ Slabs
Items of interest from the region and beyond
An expert in maple exports
Acadian Maple Products, of Upper
Tantallon, N.S., was awarded the Outstanding Exporter Award at this year’s Atlantic
Canada Craft Awards for Excellence gala,
held Feb. 1 in Halifax, in conjunction with
the Atlantic Craft Trade Show. Acadian
Maple Products sells syrup in Ireland, Switzerland, Holland, Norway, and the U.K.
“Exports have become a very important part
of our overall strategy,” said CEO William
Allaway, noting that markets in Western
Europe now account for 20 percent of the
company’s business.
ACOA to lead budworm battle
The Harper government’s 2014 budget,
released Feb. 11, includes $18 million over
four years for early intervention to prevent
the spread of Spruce budworm in Atlantic
Canada and Québec. Federal officials met
with industry representatives a week later at
the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Centre
in Fredericton, N.B., to discuss details of
the program. It will be led not by the Canadian Forest Service, but by ACOA (the
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)
and the equivalent economic development
agency for Québec. Scientists predict the
current budworm outbreak in Québec will
soon spread to New Brunswick, and the
new initiative aims to find environmentally
responsible control measures.
Vermont is the U.S. leader in this sector not
because it has the most maple trees, but
because the highest proportion of suitable
trees in that state are tapped (2.94 percent).
There are other states – notably Michigan,
New York, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania
– with considerable maple potential that
remains untapped due to landowner attitudes, socio-economic factors, and local
market forces.
Maple potential in the U.S.
Maple syrup production in the U.S.
peaked at more than 6.6 million gallons
in 1860, and declined by about 75 percent
over the next century as cheaper imported
cane sugar become more readily available.
With syrup demand now increasing and the
industry growing again, Michael Farrell ,
director of Cornell University’s Uihlein
Sugar Maple Research & Extension Field
Station in Lake Placid, N.Y., has examined
where expansion could occur. He found that
Woodlands Forum
Elizabeth Beale, CEO of the Atlantic
Provinces Economic Council, is slated as
keynote speaker for the Canadian Woodlands Forum spring meeting, to be held
April 2-3 in Moncton, N.B. In addition
to Beale's address on industry consolidation, the agenda includes topics related to
silviculture, woodlot owner engagement,
value chain optimization, and technical
issues of interest to contractors. Meetings
for the SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative)
Maritime Implementation Committee and
the New Brunswick Forest Technicians
Association will be held in conjunction
with this gathering – then attendants will
dash for the Moncton Coliseum to take
in the Atlantic Heavy Equipment Show,
which runs April 3-4.
Gasification plant a go
A planned 6-megawatt gasification
plant in Kentville, N.S., has received approval from the Nova Scotia Department
of Energy under the COMFIT (community
feed-in tariff) program, which provides a
fixed price per kilowatt-hour for renewable energy projects initiated by eligible
groups. Smart Tower Energy plans to use
forestry byproducts to fuel the pyrolysis
system initially, as well as construction and
demolition waste that would be diverted
from the municipal landfill. The company
is led by Barry Zwicker, who is also CEO
of Scotian WindFields Inc.
Syrup security
After the theft of some six million
pounds of syrup from one of its warehouses
in 2012, the Federation of Quebec Maple
Syrup Producers (FPAQ) made sure to
incorporate tight security in the design of
its new 235,000-square-foot storage facility
PAGE 10
March 2014
in Laurierville, which was officially opened
in the fall of 2013. The FPAQ spent more
than $4 million acquiring and renovating the
former furniture factory, which is equipped
to receive, pasteurize, and store up to 80
million pounds of syrup (190,000 32-gallon
barrels). Syrup that is not sold during the
year is banked by the group, making up the
Global Strategic Maple Reserve, to ensure
stable supply and pricing if production drops
due to poor conditions. Quebec accounts
for about 75 percent of global maple syrup
production, and exports about 90 percent
of its output.
Cash for Corner Brook
The government of Newfoundland and
Labrador announced Feb. 20 that it would
provide a loan of up to $110 million for
Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited,
and that it had also entered a power assets and water rights purchase agreement
with the company – which employs 589
full-time and casual workers in the mill,
forestry operations, and with Deer Lake
Power. Daniel Archambault, with parent
company Kruger Inc., said the loan will
fund capital projects which will “reduce
costs, improve productivity and, ultimately,
increase the mill’s competitiveness on the
global newsprint market.”
Breen retires
Don Breen retired from his position as
general manager of Northern Pulp on Feb.1,
after a 35-year career at the Pictou County
mill, dating back to the Scott Paper days.
He had been in the news recently because
he denied Northern Pulp had asked the
province to fund a $30 million mill upgrade,
as claimed by Premier Stephen McNeil,
who has taken a stance against handouts to
industry. In an interview with the Chronicle
Herald, Breen said he had made his decision
to retire months before this controversy.
Chipman mill air approval
The New Brunswick Department of
Environment and Local Government announced in February that it had renewed
the Class 1 air quality approval for J.D.
Irving’s Chipman sawmill, following a
120-day public review. Under the provincial
Clean Air Act, all major industries in New
Brunswick require these approvals. The
Chipman mill uses softwood logs ranging
from 10 to 16 feet, and produces about 125
March 2014
PAGE 11
million board feet of lumber per year.
N.S. funds innovation projects
The Nova Scotia Department of Natural
Resources has allocated $1.1 million for
eight projects aimed at developing new
products and production processes to
strengthen the province’s forest industry.
The initiative, announced Jan. 31, is a
partnership with FPInnovations, one of the
world’s largest private, non-profit forestry
R&D organizations. “These projects run a
broad gamut across all aspects of the forest sector, from investigating the impact
of Nova Scotia’s harvesting guidelines, to
improving yields at hardwood sawmills,
to converting wood to biochemicals,” said
Pierre LaPointe, CEO of FPInnovations.
More angling on N.B. reserves
New Brunswick is making several
changes to its Crown reserve system for
recreational angling, to encourage greater
use of the province’s waters and thereby
increase revenues. Most of the 40 Crown
reserve stretches are located along the
Miramichi and Restigouche river systems,
although there are also several lakes. Only
New Brunswick residents can apply,
through a draw system, to fish in these areas. The Department of Natural Resources
announced in February that this process is
being simplified, with more opportunities
to enter draws, reduced fees, and increased
trout bag limits on six reserve lakes. An
Internet application process is also under
development.
Murray Prest, 1925-2014
Murray Prest, of Mooseland, N.S., died
on Feb. 20, but he will be remembered as
a survivor. He left home at 18 to serve
overseas in the RAF during WWII; returned
intact after flying 39 sorties as a tail gunner;
and went on to become a prominent figure
in Nova Scotia’s forestry sector. He was
involved with the Prest Brothers sawmill
on Bear Lake (considered a very modern
operation in the early ’60s), and also the
Musquodoboit Lumber sawmill, which became Taylor Lumber. He retained interest in
woodlands associated with both companies,
and got back into the sawmill business in
the 1980s, only recently divesting himself of
Hefler Forest Products in Lower Sackville.
Prest disliked the Canadian flag (having
PAGE 12
March 2014
fought under the Union Jack); never forgave Robert Stanfield for the Scott Paper
Act; disapproved of clearcutting; and as a
lumberman was utterly devoted to Nova
Scotia's official tree, the Red spruce.
Hefler changes hands
A report in allNovaScotia.com says
Hefler Forest Products, a 150-year-old
sawmill in Lower Sackville, N.S., has been
purchased by three investors: brothers Floyd
and Graham Gaetz, and Farhad Atbin. The
mill's annual capacity is about 15 million
board feet, though in recent years it has
operated at lower volumes, with a focus
on specialty lumber products. The report
says the new owners have plans for a
3.1-megawatt biomass energy project that
will operate under the provincial COMFIT
program, burning on-site residues as well
as byproducts from a couple other sawmills
in the area.
PaperWeek centennial
The Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada (PAPTAC) had record
March 2014
attendance of more than 1,100 for its 100th
annual meeting, held Feb. 3-6 in Montreal.
The event, known as PaperWeek Canada,
featured a long list of prominent speakers,
and sessions devoted to topics such as
tissue, packaging, dissolving pulp, labor,
and bio-energy. The awards reception
included the launch for “A History of
Forestry in Canada,” a book tracing the
evolution of commercial forestry in this
country since colonial times, authored
by Gilbert Paillé, former CEO of the
Forest Engineering Research Institute of
Canada.
Stakes are a drag
Recent aerodynamic modelling conducted by FPInnovations has identified
several potential approaches to increasing the fuel efficiency of tractor trailers
by reducing drag. The most promising
finding is that folding down the stakes of
an unloaded log truck may reduce fuel
consumption by as much as 14.6 percent,
which would translate to considerable cost
savings and emissions reductions over the
course of a year. The researchers tested
their hypotheses at a scaled wind tunnel at
Laval University in Quebec City, and did
further validation at Transport Canada's
motor vehicle test track in Blainville, QC.
They expect to follow up by working with
manufacturers on prototypes for folding
stakes.
Verso mapping vernal pools
Verso Paper Corp., based in Tennessee,
is involved in a project to map vernal pools
in its wood procurement area in state forests
in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The initiative is a collaboration with the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources, the
Michigan Forest Products Council, and
Michigan State University Extension.
Because vernal pools are small, isolated,
and dry for part of the year, they are easily
overlooked and vulnerable to unintentional
damage during forestry operations. They
have considerable ecological value, and
provide important habitat for several
endangered, threatened, or rare species
in Michigan.
PAGE 13
Market News and Views
Cranking it up a few notches
Irving poised for major expansion in New Brunswick
by David Palmer
The not-so-new year is off to an
interesting start, with a number of notable events that will have a significant
impact on the world of wood and trees
in the Maritimes: the boiler explosion at
Lincoln Paper and Tissue; the planned
acquisition of NewPage by Verso Paper;
the shutdown of Great Northern Paper’s
mill in Millinocket; the two new tissue
plants to be built by Woodland Pulp;
the resurgence of softwood, hardwood,
and poplar pulpwood; the dramatic fall
of the Canadian dollar; the phenomenal
rise in the price of natural gas; and New
Brunswick’s Forestry Plan.
Admittedly, not all of these developments have taken place in 2014. The
explosion at Lincoln Paper and Tissue
in Maine, which destroyed the boiler and
put 2,000 people out of work, happened
in November of 2013. It may take a year
to repair or replace the unit, but work
on it was suspended in December when
the company lost a key paper contract.
Three tissue-making machines continue
to operate.
number of operating plants will likely be
reduced. NewPage is the largest coated
paper manufacturer in North America.
Wood consumption at the two plants
is in excess of five million tonnes. That’s
roughly equivalent to the annual Crown
wood harvest for the entire province of
New Brunswick! Add in the wood consumption at Sappi, another giant paper
plant just a few miles to the east, and the
total is nearly eight million.
VERSO AND NEWPAGE
When the investors who make up
Verso Paper, who have connections with
the investors who make up NewPage,
bought the International Paper kraft and
groundwood mills in Androscoggin,
Maine, they must have had their eyes on
the big poplar-using paper plant owned
by NewPage in Rumford, Maine, just
17 miles away. After all, the two plants
produce similar products and use similar
feedstock, and are in serious competition
in that area of central Maine.
NewPage, which has gone through
bankruptcy restructuring and was recently
routed ungracefully from Nova Scotia,
purchased the Rumford plant a few
years ago from Mead, along with seven
other paper plants in the Northeast. The
proposed debt exchange deal got off to a
rocky start in February, but if it is concluded as planned this summer, pending
completion of financing and approval by
the Securities Exchange Commission, the
jubilation in the community. At first,
everything was hunky-dory; wood was
rolling in, and townsfolk were smiling.
Then, wood payments slowed and fell
behind, and suppliers turned wary. One
by one they dropped out of the supply
chain, until only one remained, the mighty
HC Haynes of Winn, ME. When Great
Northern Paper pulled its loaders and scalers and announced a 16-week shutdown
on the morning of Monday, Jan. 20, it was
rumored the company owed Haynes $2.3
million. The company had been planning
to convert the mill’s heat system to natural
gas, but high gas prices have scuttled
these plans. GNP is planning to use the
downtime to restructure and make energy
and efficiency improvements.
PAGE 14
GREAT NORTHERN PAPER
When New Hampshire investment
company Cate Street Capital negotiated
the acquisition of the shuttered Great
Northern Paper facility in East Millinocket
three years ago, there was cheering and
Industry will get the extra
fiber and timber guarantee it has been demanding
for more than a decade
THE LOONIE’S TUMBLE
The fallen Canadian dollar is certainly
good news for sawmills north of the border, adding a 10 percent premium to U.S.
lumber prices already buoyed by a housing
market that is expected to surpass one
million starts in 2014. A positive lumber
market appears to be solidly in place,
coinciding with fresh demand for chips,
shavings, and other sawmill residuals.
The dollar’s value, or lack thereof,
makes the U.S. market look more attractive for wood producers and woodlot
owners as well. For example, at $US
50/ton for poplar delivered to Louisiana
Pacific’s OSB mill near Houlton, the price
converts to $60.50/tonne in Canadian dollars. Another cross-border option is Verso
Paper, which is buying poplar delivered to
yards in Island Falls and Mattawamkeag
for $55/ton American, which converts to
roughly $150/cord. Not since the 1990s
have there been such prices.
NEW PLANTS IN BAILEYVILLE
The former Domtar (GP before that)
hardwood kraft pulp mill in Baileyville,
ME, which now operates as Woodland
Pulp, has not only announced it will construct two new tissue plants, but it is also
buying softwood pulp. This has added a
new dimension to the softwood pulp supply chain, which is already stretched by
competition between the two Nova Scotia
mills – Northern Pulp in Pictou, and Port
Hawkesbury Paper, with J.D. Irving (JDI)
anchoring the middle ground. Chips from
Fornebu’s Bathurst Lumber sawmill are
being shipped to Northern Pulp, just as
they were during the last pulp shortage
three years ago.
N.B. FORESTRY PLAN
Even in mid-February, before there
had been any announcements about New
Brunswick’s Forestry Plan, most industry insiders felt confident in predicting
there would be two key elements: more
harvesting of Crown wood over the next
10 years; and timber objectives, possibly
backed by guarantees.
On the resource side, industry will get
the extra fiber and timber guarantee it has
been demanding for more than a decade.
In return, the government will get investment and employment, and a number of
new job-generating projects will follow
March 2014
suit. One of these will be a third shift at
the Twin Rivers sawmill at Plaster Rock.
A number of JDI projects will also be
announced, including a multi-million dollar expansion of the sawmill in Chipman,
with the addition of a short wood line. This
will mean the permanent moth-balling
of the Deersdale stud wood mill, part of
which is already being dismantled. As
well, a new off-road hauling route is being built to funnel wood from Deersdale
to Chipman.
In the long term, this will also mean
the eventual closure of JDI’s Sussex stud
mill. It does not have a kiln or a planer, and
therefore has to ship rough green lumber
to Chipman for drying and planing, which
is neither cost-effective nor efficient. The
chip plant in Sussex will also likely be
retired and replaced with a new one in
Saint John.
THE CROWN JEWEL
There are similar expansion plans in
place at every JDI facility, ready to be
announced once the coveted timber objec-
March 2014
tives are in place. The crown jewel is the
much ballyhooed $1 billion expansion
of the Saint John pulp and paper mill at
Reversing Falls. This is the project that
will put JDI on the world map. For its
class, at 1,200 tonnes/day or better, Irving
Pulp & Paper (IPP) is already one of North
America’s lowest-cost producers, but the
mills it competes with produce twice that,
hence the desire to expand.
It takes a lot of wood to feed one of
these behemoths – roughly 2.4 bone dry
tonnes of fiber to produce one tonne
of paper. At current production, that’s
about 1.7 million tonnes of wood a year.
With the expansion, the company will be
looking for three million tonnes a year. It
takes a serious commitment to growing
and guaranteeing timber supply to justify
this scale of investment.
It also takes a serious supply chain to
feed a plant of this size, but JDI has one.
Besides local contractors working within
150 kilometers or so, the company has a
vast network of suppliers, as well as control over a rail system that reaches deep
into Maine, northern New Brunswick, and
Quebec. In addition, being on the ocean
gives IPP access to wood resources from
Nova Scotia or further afield if required.
Many will remember the pulp barges that
used to cross the Bay of Fundy from Digby
to Saint John, and the floating wood room
at South Bay that fed the mill.
Some elements of the Forestry Plan will
enrage environmental groups, especially
when it is revealed that the new wood to
fulfill these pledges will come from the conservation forest, or as it is known in industry
circles, the “constrained” forest. (Just to
be clear, the forest is not constrained; harvesting in the forest is constrained.) It has
been suggested that the area of constrained
forest will fall from 30 percent overall to
23 percent. Reports are trickling in that
harvesting of buffer strips and protected
areas has already commenced.
Premier David Alward, facing an election in September, must be betting that the
din of protest from the detractors will be
drowned out by the chorus of approval in
response to job announcements.
PAGE 15
March 22: 2014 Central Nova Scotia
Woodland, Waverly Legion. Hear
experts and woodland owners talk
about woodland issues and resources.
To pre-register, phone 1-855-6246670 or register online at http://www.
woodlotinfoshop.ca.
March 22, 23: AGM Forest Professionals
of Nova Scotia at the Holiday Inn,
Truro, N.S. This is the Annual Meeting
of the three associations of forest
professionals in Nova Scotia, (the
Registered Professional Foresters
Association; the Nova Scotia Forest
Technicians Association; and the Nova
Scotia Section of the Canadian Institute
of Forestry) Contact Ian Miller at imillar@
ns.sympatico.ca.
April 2, 3: CWF 2014 AGM and Spring
Meeting, Moncton, N.B. The biggest
meeting of forestry professionals in
Atlantic Canada. Contact Peter Robichaud
at 902-897-6961, probichaud@cwfcof.
org or at www.cwfcof.org.
PAGE 16
April 3, 4: The Atlantic Heavy Equipment
Show, Moncton Coliseum, Moncton,
N.B. Phone 888-454-7469 or visit www.
AHES.ca.
April 5: 2014 Eastern Nova Scotia
Woodland Conference at the St Mary’s
Lions Club, Sherbrooke, N.S. Hear
experts and woodland owners talk
about woodland issues and resources.
To pre-register, phone 1-855-6246670 or register online at http://
www.woodlotinfoshop.ca/ Contact
[email protected].
April 12: Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners
and Operators Association Annual
General Meeting, 8:30 am - 4 pm, Old
Barns United Church, Old Barns, N.S.
For more information go to www.nswooa.
ca, email [email protected], or call
1-855-679-6637.
April 15: Deadline for Nova Scotia
Woodland Owner of the Year nominations
for 2014. Fax 902-424-7735, email
[email protected], or visit www.
novascotia.ca/natr/woya-nominations.
May 9, 10: 2014 Northeastern Forest
Products Equipment Expo, Champlain
Valley Exposition, Essex Junction,
Vermont. Phone 1-800-318-7561 or visit
www.northernlogger.com.
June 3, 4: 75th Annual meeting of the
Maritime Lumber Bureau at the Westin
Hotel in Halifax, N.S. For full details
contact 902-667-3889 or email info@
mlb.ca.
Know of any forestry-related events,
meetings, field days or conferences
taking place in your neck of the
woods? Send the name of the event, the
date, location, and contact name and
number, to Atlantic Forestry Review,
Box 1509, Liverpool, NS B0T 1K0 or
go to the “Events & News” section at
www.RuralLife.ca.
March 2014
March 2014
PAGE 17
Let the chips fly!
Maritimers shine in intercollegiate lumberjacking championship
by Robyn McCallum
The chips were flying and the saws
were singing at the 29th Annual Rick
Russell Woodsmen Competition, held
Feb. 8, at the Dalhousie Agricultural
Campus (Dal-AC, formerly the Nova
Scotia Agricultural College –NSAC)
in Truro, N.S. The day kicked off with
an opening saw by the Dal-AC’s new
Dean, Dr. David Gray, and the MacMillan Show Centre quickly filled up.
This gathering, always well-attended, features teams from all over central
and eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S. Its history is a testament to
the sense of tradition surrounding
this sport at Dal-AC; it was renamed
in memory of Rick Russell, who
coached the woodsmen team (then
PAGE 18
NSAC) for 24 years before his death
from cancer in 2004. Singles events
include super Swede saw, single buck
saw, axe throw, water boil, pole climb,
and chainsaw. Doubles compete in
vertical and horizontal chops as well
as quarter split. Team members work
together for pulp throw, log decking,
crosscut saw, and team Swede saw.
This year competitors from the
Maritimes did themselves proud. First
place for the men’s division went to
the University of New Brunswick
(UNB) A team, followed by DalAC A in second, while Sir Sandford
Fleming College (SSFC) A came in
third. SSFC women’s A team took
home first place for the ladies, followed by the Maritime College of
Forest Technology (MCFT) A and
Macdonald College A respectively.
For the overall Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association
(CILA) championship, based on the
results of four competitions throughout the academic year, UNB men’s A
came first, Dal-AC A was second, and
SSFC A was third. In the women's
division, SSFC A received first place,
followed by Dal-AC A in second, and
Macdonald College A in third. All
teams put in a strong performance,
making the competition exciting and
entertaining for spectators.
Dal-AC women’s A team members
Emily Peters and Breagh Ross served
as co-chairs, while Scott Read, the
team’s coach, was instrumental in
March 2014
(Keltie Jones photos)
organizing the event. “We had a
great day competing,” said Read.
“There were 13 men’s teams and 10
women’s teams from seven different
schools competing for the overall
CILA trophy.”
Charlie Elliott, a former team member, was one of many alumni volunteers
on hand to help out. “It just makes
March 2014
me so proud to see the next batch of
woodsmen coming up and carrying on
our traditions,” he said.
As always, the audience included
not only alumni but students, faculty,
staff, and supportive family members
young and old. It is not uncommon to
look into the stands and see enthusiastic spectators who are watching their
grandchildren practice the ways of
the woods from years past. And there
are always some in attendance who
are learning about these traditional
forestry skills for the first time.
“We don’t do this in Peru,” said
Maria Caraza, an international graduate student. “It’s a totally different
experience!”
PAGE 19
Northern Pulp, western Crown
The politics of wood supply and public consultation
In December 2012, the Nova Scotia
government committed to a public consultation examining how best to use the
1.5 million acres of Crown land in the
western region, included the 555,000
acres of former Bowater Mersey lands
that the province had just purchased.
With the closure of the Resolute Forest Products paper mill in Liverpool
and the associated sawmill in Oakhill,
the newly acquired land represented
a considerable uncommitted wood
supply. The government heralded this
as an opportunity for innovation and
public engagement in the industry, and
a reason for fresh hope in the forestrydependent communities of Lunenburg
and Queens Counties.
In March and April of 2013, nine
open house sessions were held across
the western region. The Department
of Natural Resources (DNR) also
The Northern Pulp mill in Abercrombie, N.S., had its annual Crown allocation boosted
by 125,000 tonnes in January 2013, but the public only found out about it a year later.
(AFR photo)
hosted 13 “stakeholder meetings,”
and accepted written submissions. On
Aug. 12, DNR released a conceptual
plan, and announced that further comments received by Sept. 9 would be
considered in the development of a
final plan that would be released late
in 2013.
There was no public outcry about
the delay of this final plan, even as
fall turned to winter and the new year
wore on. But controversy erupted this
January when reports emerged that
the province had made a commitment
to Northern Pulp, a year previously,
to increase the mill’s annual Crown
allotment by 125,000 tonnes.
Zach Churchill, the minister of Natural Resources, said this commitment
made by the previous government
would be honored, because Northern
Pulp had already made business decisions based on the increase, which
will more than double Crown wood
supply to the Pictou County mill.
Both Churchill and Northern Pulp GM
Don Breen (who has since retired)
acknowledged that much of that wood
will come from the former Bowater
PAGE 20
March 2014
land, since there is little available
timber on other Crown lands.
DNR’s summary of public comments on Western Crown land makes
it clear that local residents expressed
a strong desire to be kept in the loop
about things like this. They want
“ongoing consultations and transparency.” They want to “maintain public
control of the land.” And they would
prefer to see “no long-term leases
or arrangements that give too much
control to large companies.”
Matt Miller, forestry coordinator
at the Ecology Action Centre, said
DNR’s involvement in hashing out
such a significant a wood supply
deal, while at the same time soliciting
public input on the Western Crown
lands, “undermines the very core
purpose or rationale for conducting
public consultations.” He said the
news represented “a slap in the face
to all those who participated in this
so-called consultation.”
Geoff LeBoutillier, a leader in
the successful Buy Back the Mersey
movement and the unsuccessful
community forest proposal for the
St. Margaret’s Bay area, also expressed disappointment. “Hundreds
of citizens and organizations fought
for two years to get the former
Bowater Mersey lands wrested from
multi-national control and returned
to Nova Scotians,” he said. “Once
that was accomplished, DNR invited
us to propose community forests. If
giving these lands to Northern Pulp
was already a done deal, the people
of the Bay, indeed all Nova Scotians,
were duped.”
But Julie Towers, DNR’s executive
director of renewable resources, said
the province was merely involved in
business negotiations with Northern
Pulp, and there was no firm agreement
that could have been made public. She
said those negotiations did not hinge
on acquisition of the Bowater lands,
and even as of this February, with
the final Western Crown land plan
awaiting ministerial review, it was not
a certainty that any of the mill’s new
allocation would come from former
Bowater land. DL
March 2014
PAGE 21
The big picture
N.S. Forest Products delegates delve into economic development
At any type of industry gab-fest held in a large windowless
room, it’s a welcome relief when the keynote speaker leads off
with a Monty Python reference.
“And now for something completely different,” deadpanned
Mike McAloon, at the opening session of the 80th AGM of the
Forest Products Association of Nova Scotia, held Jan. 28-29
in Halifax. McAloon, vice president of finance and industrial
benefit programs for Irving Shipbuilding, was acknowledging
that his business might seem far removed from the world of
wood products and forest management. In his address, however,
he highlighted some common issues and challenges. Of course, the Irving empire had its origins in forestry, so
there’s a bit of overlap there. But perhaps more importantly,
both shipbuilding and forestry are part of a broader public
discussion about economic development that is taking place
in Nova Scotia right now – spurred by the election of Stephen
McNeil’s Liberal government in the fall of 2013, and the recently
completed Ivany report (containing recommendations from the
Nova Scotia Commission on Building Our New Economy).
Although the agenda for the AGM included the usual industry
updates, it also reflected an effort to place forestry in a larger
social context.
BUILDING CAPACITY
McAloon outlined some of the practical aspects of Irving’s
huge federal shipbuilding contract, including the construction
of a 400-meter-long building for the assembling of ship components, which is taking place as part of a modernization project
at the Halifax shipyard. The logistical and project management
details would have been sufficient to hold the interest of his
audience, but McAloon also spoke at length about how the
province and the region
as a whole will benefit
from all this economic
activity. The project
falls under the federal
government’s Industrial
and Regional Benefits
policy, in place since
the mid-1980s, which
requires that security
and defence contractors
undertake business in
Canada at least equivalent to the value of their
contract.
“It absolutely makes
sense from a national
Jonathan Kierstead, director of
perspective, from an
forestry with the Nova Scotia Departindustry perspective,
ment of Natural Resources, shared
and a taxpayers persome highlights from the upcoming
spective,” he said. “We
State of the Forest report.
PAGE 22
The panel on creating a good business environment in rural Nova
Scotia comprised (from left) Graham Steele, former Nova Scotia
cabinet minister in the Dexter government; Don Mills, chairman
and CEO of the polling firm Corporate Research Associates; Bill
Black, a Halifax businessman and Chronicle Herald columnist;
and in the role of moderator, Mark Austin, secretariat of the
Ivany Commission.
(AFR photos)
could easily go offshore and buy vessels, but we’d have nothing
to show for it and it would still cost us a tremendous amount
of money. So it’s a very smart way to do procurement, and
what it’s designed to do is build capacity, and it’s not only
capacity in those who are directly involved with what’s going
on. There are a lot of indirect benefits associated with activity
of this nature as well.”
McAloon’s grand vision may have had some in the audience
dreaming of a mega-project that would build local capacity
in the field of second-generation biofuels or cross-laminated
timber panels, but they were soon brought back to earth by a
tag-team presentation on community forests, courtesy of Peter
Duinker and Kris MacLellan.
Duinker identified himself as an enthusiastic advocate for
community forests, and offered some historical perspective
on the topic, then MacLellan provided an overview of the
Medway Community Forest Co-operative, which has been
given the green light to operate a pilot project on Crown land
in western Nova Scotia (as reported in the January 2014 issue
of AFR). It’s a comparatively modest undertaking, managing
15,000 hectares of the former Bowater lands, with an estimated
annual harvest of 24,000 tonnes. But MacLellan said it will be
a significant boost for that part of the province.
“This is an exercise in rural economic development, so those
benefits are going to be invested back into the local communities that host this community forest,” he said. “The start-up
phase will be a difficult one, as it is for any new business, but
they’re taking a long-term approach.”
INDUSTRY UPDATES
Among the more matter-of-fact topics on the agenda was a
sneak peak at Nova Scotia’s State of the Forest report, which
is expected to be published by the end of this year. Jonathan
March 2014
Kierstead, director of forestry with the provincial Department
of Natural Resources, shared duties with Michée Lemieux, a
department biometrician who is the report’s lead author.
The session devoted to market updates was led by Diana
Blenkhorn, president and CEO of the Maritime Lumber
Bureau, touching on trends in capacity and demand, trade issues, education efforts related to mid-rise wood construction,
environmental product declarations, life cycle analysis, and
Wood First policies.
Next up were two relatively new faces – Marc Dube, development manager with Port Hawkesbury Paper, and Michelle
Robiere, CFO of Viridis Energy Inc., providing optimistic
outlooks for the failed businesses their respective companies
have purchased and resurrected in Nova Scotia.
Dube said initial concerns about the workforce in the Strait
area have proved to be unfounded, and he said prospects for
the former NewPage operation look good, partly because its
product category, printing and writing paper, is somewhat less
subject to the vagaries of global markets than pulp is.
Robiere, for her part, acknowledged that fiber supply is a
challenge at the Scotia Atlantic Biomass pellet operation in
Upper Musquodoboit, but she said selling to offshore industrial users is a good model, and noted that the company’s first
25,000-tonne shipment was about to set sail for Belgium.
The AGM closed with a panel discussion on creating a favorable business environment in rural Nova Scotia, hosted by
March 2014
Market updates were provided by Michelle Robiere, CFO of Viridis Energy Inc., parent company of the Scotia Atlantic Biomass
pellet plant in Upper Musquodoboit; Marc Dube, development
manager with Port Hawkesbury Paper; and Diana Blenkhorn,
president and CEO of the Maritime Lumber Bureau.
Mark Austin, secretariat of the Ivany Commission. Lined up on
stage in comfy armchairs were Bill Black, a Halifax businessman and Chronicle Herald columnist; Don Mills, chairman
and CEO of the polling firm Corporate Research Associates;
and Graham Steele, former Nova Scotia cabinet minister in the
Dexter government. Their wide-ranging discussion touched on
the urban-rural divide, demographic trends, and the politics of
job creation. No sparks flew among the participants, and none
offered easy answers to the economic challenges facing Nova
Scotia, but nearly all forest industry players in attendance likely
went home pondering the role they play, or could play, in the
province’s future prosperity. DL
PAGE 23
PAGE 24
March 2014
March 2014
PAGE 25
Fresh iron
In anticipation of the Atlantic Heavy Equipment Show, running April 3-4 in Moncton, N.B., here’s a sneak
peak at some new products to watch for. And don’t forget to visit Atlantic Forestry Review at booth #644,
near the entrance to the Upper Concourse.
The new Rotobec combination grapple is equally well suited for short wood, logs, or tree-length wood, with tines that can bypass one
another to grip a single stick or a partial bundle. The grapple can be installed on knuckle boom loaders and rubber-tire or tracked
excavators converted for logging.
(Contributed photo)
Peterson’s 5710D horizontal grinder, powered by a 1050-horsepower Tier IVi Caterpillar C27 engine, weighs in at 88,500 pounds
(40,150 kg). It was designed for operations that require frequent moves between jobs without a special permit. An optional transportation dolly makes it possible to get the 5710D to a new site and back in production within minutes. Peterson’s Impact Release System
allows the machine to switch between detent mode, which provides consistent sizing, and floating anvil mode, for higher-efficiency
primary reduction.
(Contributed photo)
PAGE 26
March 2014
This past October
journalists were treated
to a field demo of
Ponsse’s new Scorpion
harvester just outside
the village of Vieremä,
home of the company’s
headquarters and
factory in northeast
Finland.
Antti Räsänen (top),
marketing manager
with Ponsse, showed
off the unique design,
with a three-part frame
connected by rotating
joints, allowing the
cabin, in the middle
section, to be kept
hydraulically levelled,
while the front and
rear sections tilt as
the machine traverses
uneven terrain.
Operator visibility and
comfort are key selling
points.
(George Fullerton
photos)
March 2014
PAGE 27
Gerard Gagnon's sugar camp on Route 17, between Kedgewick and Campbellton in Northern New Brunswick, attracts frequent
drive-by visitors.
(George Fullerton photos)
Roadside attraction
Who could resist stopping in at Gerard Gagnon’s sugar camp?
by George Fullerton
As winter slowly gives up its grip on northern New
Brunswick and the snow banks begin to retreat, travelers
on Route 17, between Kedgewick and Campbellton, have
a good chance of encountering Gerard Gagnon’s roadside
sugar camp.
“I don’t have a very good sign,” says Gagnon apologetically. “My best advertisement is a big cloud of steam coming
out the vents on sunny spring days. People on the highway
see the steam, and they know there is maple syrup, and they
stop in and they buy some product, have a visit, and then go
on their way.”
Gagnon says drive-by traffic accounts for a large part of
his marketing. “Just about everybody likes maple syrup,
and if they like syrup, they always seem interested in seeing the operation and sharing stories about their father or
grandfather’s maple operations.”
He purchased this 100-acre property in 1989, and developed 20 acres of sugar bush on the hillside behind the
camp. “When I was looking to buy this woodlot, I met an
Gagnon installed a Lapierre reverse osmosis machine for the 2013
season, and confirmed for himself that this technology can greatly
reduce boiling time without affecting syrup quality or flavor.
PAGE 28
March 2014
old man who knew the history,” recalls
Gagnon. “He told me that it had always
grown good tolerant hardwood and
that through the years it had produced
good veneer logs. I figured it would
make a productive sugar bush, and the
slope up from the road would allow a
pipeline to work well.”
Initially he tapped about 1,600
trees, and built a vacuum system using
a second-hand milker pump to bring sap
into tanks in the upper level of the sugar
camp. The centrepiece of the operation
is a 12-foot by three-foot wood-fired
evaporator. Fuel wood is generated
from sugar bush improvement cuts and
other harvesting, and is stored adjacent
to the evaporator room. In past years
Gagnon has burned between eight and
12 cords to produce 150 to 200 gallons
of syrup in the run of a season.
PLANNED EXPANSION
A graduate of the Maritime Forest
Ranger School, Gagnon started out
working for Fraser Papers Inc., and then
got a job as a regional forest ranger for
the Department of Natural Resources.
But he switched careers, and built up
an auto parts business in his hometown
of Kedgewick. Since retiring from that
enterprise 13 years ago, he has dedicated
a good portion of his time to managing
his woodlots. He has plans to expand the
sugar bush, adding 1,500 taps, which
will necessitate a transfer pumping
station to get that sap into the existing
collection system.
In anticipation of increased production, he purchased a Lapierre reverse
osmosis (RO) machine, and had it
installed for the 2013 season. “It took a
lot of wood to make my syrup, and that
means a lot of work cutting, hauling,
and storing the wood,” says Gagnon.
“The RO machine promised to reduce
both time to boil and, of course, the
amount of wood for boiling.”
His only concern was that this
technological upgrade might compromise the taste of his syrup, but he
followed the advice of the salesman
who said he should use the machine
to bring the sap’s sugar concentration
to eight Brix before boiling.
“My customers told me my syrup
was exactly the same quality as before,” says Gagnon. “It worked so
good, and saved so much work and
wood, that now I have to go find some
more jobs. Before I would boil maybe
12 hours to make a barrel of syrup;
with the RO it takes about four hours
to make a barrel. Before the RO, I
had room to store a two-year supply
of wood for the evaporator; with RO
that wood should last for nearly four
years. It was a major investment, but
the time and wood saving, it will pay
for itself in just a few seasons.”
The improved efficiency means the
system has extra capacity for further
production increases. Gagnon says
there are plans to bring in sap from a
new sugar bush nearby that is being
developed by his son, Eric. “We can
fit his production into our operation
very nicely.”
Gagnon purchased the 100-acre property in 1989. Initially he developed 20 acres of sugar bush, with about 1,600 taps, and now he
is in the process of expanding.
March 2014
PAGE 29
PAGE 30
March 2014
Gerard Gagnon says his evaporator has capacity for increased production, now that he
pre-treats his sap by reverse osmosis.
The 2013 season also brought the
addition of a fully equipped kitchen, as
well as bathroom facilities at the camp,
which means Gagnon will no longer
have to transport syrup to his home in
Kedgewick to make maple products
such as butter, sugar, or candy.
“It was quite a mess by the time
we had it made, it was inconvenient,
and took a lot of energy just hauling
it around,” he says. “With this new
kitchen, we can do those products right
here in the camp, and we have lots of
hot water to clean up with, and a good
fridge to store and display our maple
products.”
Gagnon has a propensity for designing and building tools, and his latest
project promises to add a complementary product to his sugar operation. “I
built a bread making machine,” he says
proudly. “So next time you come to
visit in sugar season, I can give you
some fresh baked bread to go with
some freshly made syrup. You will
like that!”
Experiencing the magic of maple
“One day I was boiling, and a
couple fellows came in and they
were looking around very intensely,
and they acted more curious than
most. After a while they started asking me some questions, in French,
but with an odd accent that I was
not familiar with. I get visitors from
all over New Brunswick and some
from Quebec, so there are lots of
different local accents.
“Anyway, these guys had a lot
of questions, and I was very busy
with the evaporator and feeding
the fire, and I answered the best I
could. They stayed for quite a long
time. By the end of the day, I had
explained everything from tapping
March 2014
a maple tree to making candy.
“When they were getting ready
to leave, they stopped me and
thanked me for telling them about
the operation, and they explained,
‘We are visiting in New Brunswick
from France. We wondered what
this place was, and when we first
asked you what you were doing and
you said you were making sugar
from a tree, we thought that was
absolutely incredible. We of course
could not believe you, but now we
have seen sugar made from a tree,
and it is incredible.’ They went on
their way, very happy to have seen
me make sugar.”
– Gerard Gagnon
PAGE 31
Tapping into maple marketing expertise
Restigouche co-op has joined forces with Quebec syrup giant
by George Fullerton
The 2013 season was an extremely
good one for Les Produits Restigouche
Inc., a maple producers cooperative
in northwest New Brunswick. The
group produced a record total of
nearly 3.5 million pounds of syrup
at its packaging plant in St. Quentin,
and it achieved certification for the
segregated processing of organic
syrup.
The members of this co-op account
for nearly half of New Brunswick’s
maple syrup production. Denis Côté,
who has a large sugar camp west of
St. Quentin, is a former president,
and he has been an enthusiastic supporter since the group’s inception in
the early 1980s, when about a dozen
producers joined forces to establish
a small bottling plant.
“Back at that time, each producer
was marketing their syrup in barrels,
and our main market was Quebec,”
recalls Côté. “But when we went
individually with our production to
the brokers, they understood that
Denis Côté, a former president and longtime supporter of the Restigouche co-op,
says New Brunswick’s syrup industry
could grow if more Crown maple sugar
leases were made available, but it has
come up against opposition from the
timber sector.
PAGE 32
Members deliver freshly made syrup to the plant, samples are taken for testing, then
the syrup is emptied from the barrels, heated, and filtered before being packaged in
glass or plastic containers. Marketing through the co-op brings producers better returns
than bulk sales.
(George Fullerton photos)
our marketing options were limited.
As a result, our negotiating position
was not strong, and so the prices we
received as individual producers were
not very good.”
Selling bottled syrup to retail stores
in eastern New Brunswick was a good
start, but the fledgling co-op lacked
adequate cash flow to expand its
wholesale marketing, so most of the
syrup was still bulk marketed to Quebec brokers. The co-op entertained a
proposal from Dairytown, a dairy and
fruit juice processor in Sussex, which
offered to buy members’ syrup and
take it to market. Côté says this would
not have changed the fundamental
problem of selling in bulk.
PARTNERSHIP
A more attractive business offer
came from Les Producteurs de Sucre
d’Érable de Québec. The neighboring
province’s largest maple co-op has a
massive and well established marketing system that sells syrup worldwide.
In 1994 the New Brunswick group
and the Quebec group came together
to establish Les Produits Restigouche
Inc., with the Quebec organization
holding 60 percent of the shares.
In 1996 Les Producteurs de Sucre
d’Érable de Québec rebranded itself
as Citadelle Maple Syrup Producers’ Cooperative. Since then it has
acquired high-profile maple product
labels and assets, while continuing
to develop innovative marketing
campaigns.
“The partnership with Citadelle
and their global marketing links give
our producers great optimism for our
industry here in New Brunswick,”
says Côté. “We see a good future,
and opportunity to expand and grow
operations. We are making investments in our businesses.”
BOTTLING
Things get very busy at the co-op’s
headquarters in St. Quentin around
mid-March, when barrels of freshly
made syrup are received from producers. Members make shipments by appointment, and staff take two samples
from each barrel – one to be sealed
March 2014
and put into frozen storage, and one
to be analyzed for quality attributes
(color, density, sugar content, etc.)
so the barrel can be assigned a grade
before being stored in the warehouse.
Côté estimates that more than 35
percent of co-op members are producing certified organic maple syrup,
which brings them a premium of 15
cents per pound. Certified organic
product is stored separately and processed according to specific protocols,
and it is packaged with a prominent
consumer label.
As processing is scheduled, syrup
is emptied from barrels, heated,
and filtered before glass and plastic
containers are filled. Each container
is labeled with a bottling date and a
In 2013 the plant in St. Quentin, N.B.,
introduced a new lightweight plastic pouch
container called the SmartSak, which is
used for both organic and conventional
maple syrup.
“best before” date. In 2013 the plant
introduced a new lightweight plastic
pouch container called the SmartSak,
which is used for both organic and
conventional syrup.
N.B. maple report suppressed
A recent study found that Crown
sugar bush leases in New Brunswick
generate five to eight times more
wealth per hectare than hardwood
timber harvesting. The provincial
Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) commissioned the study, and
received the results two years ago, but
is still refusing to release the report.
The economic analysis was done
by ÉcoRessources, a Quebec consultancy. While acknowledging that
a direct comparison of the syrup and
fiber industries is difficult, the report’s
authors crunched the numbers for
a hypothetical 100-hectare mapledominated stand. Under a timber
management scenario, based on
average production from New Brunswick Crown forest, they calculated
that such a parcel would produce
373 cubic meters (103 cords) annually, providing a direct and indirect
contribution to the provincial GDP
in the range of $18,000 - $22,000.
Under a sugar bush scenario, using
the industry average of 210 taps per
hectare, they calculated that the
same land could produce 47,000
pounds of syrup annually, contributing $100,000 - $140,000 to GDP.
Additionally, the report indicates that
the syrup scenario would generate
March 2014
more employment.
Timber industry players in the
province have contested these
results. A DNR representative says
no decision has been made about
how to proceed, but the report “has
been iced for the time being.”
Yvon Poitras, general manager
of the New Brunswick Maple Syrup
Association, was not surprised by
the report’s findings, partly because
they closely mirror results from a
similar comparative analysis for the
province of Quebec, which ÉcoRessources conducted a few years ago.
Currently there are some 80 maple sugar leases in the New Brunswick, covering about 9,200 hectares,
which represents a small fraction of
one percent of the province’s Crown
land. The syrup industry has been
lobbying for more, and has raised
concerns that the absence of a clear
policy is allowing for the continuing
conversion of suitable maple stands
to softwood.
Quebec, the global maple syrup
giant, derives about 20 percent of its
production from Crown land. More
than 500 producers hold sugar bush
leases, operating a total of about
eight million taps on public land in
Quebec.
This business is steeped in tradition, and authenticity is one of its
main selling points, but there is a
need to evolve. Côté believes that
growing global demand, coupled with
good marketing, will ensure that the
New Brunswick maple industry provides new employment opportunities,
increased economic activity, and
additional government revenue.
CROWN ACCESS
The industry’s growth, however,
depends upon access to forest stands
with a high component of Sugar maple
trees. Members of the Restigouche
co-op, along with producers across
the province, foresee opportunities in
Crown land maple leases. Côté says
the New Brunswick Maple Syrup
Producers Association (NBMSPA)
deserves credit for giving the industry
a strong voice on this and other issues,
especially since the group hired Yvon
Poitras as general manager in 2007.
The NBMSPA continues to lobby
the provincial government for more
Crown maple leases, so new sugar
camps can become established and
existing operations can scale up to
improve their production efficiency.
Applications for Crown leases require
a comprehensive business management plan, in addition to a detailed
inventory and assessment of the stands
the applicant wishes to lease.
Côté says the maple industry is
facing considerable opposition from
the hardwood timber sector, which
relies on Crown leases as a source of
fiber. This unhealthy competition for
the resource exists, he says, largely
because there has been a history of
poor harvesting practices in New
Brunswick – notably in the 1980s
when Crown licenses were handed
over to pulp companies that were
primarily focused on meeting their
own fiber needs.
“If there had been better management over the past 30 years,” he says,
“our hardwood resource would be
in far better shape, and the province
would have a good resource to supply both the forest industries and the
maple industry.”
PAGE 33
Uptake on N.S. leases a bit thin
Nova Scotia’s recent effort to
increase Crown maple sugar leases
has rendered only modest results thus
far. Provincial Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) staff hope that with
some inventory work completed and a
mechanism in place there will be more
uptake from producers in the years to
come.
The pilot project stemmed from a
broader effort by DNR, initiated in
2010, to improve Crown land data
management. Forest inventory mapping showed that the province has
more than 95,000 hectares of forest
where Sugar maple is the dominant tree
species, with 48 percent of this land
concentrated in Colchester County,
33.5 percent in Cumberland County,
and relatively small proportions in
Annapolis, Kings, Digby, and Halifax
Counties. (Detailed inventory data for
the eastern counties is not yet available; tolerant hardwood stands in this
region may prove to have significant
proportions of Sugar maple.)
Woodland was deemed to have good
sugar bush potential where the Sugar
maple component makes up more than
40 percent, and where trees are taller
than 12 meters and greater than 19
centimeters in diameter at breast height.
On this basis, DNR identified four new
parcels to offer for leasing – three in
Cumberland County, ranging from 31
to 33 hectares; and one in Colchester
County, comprising three sub-parcels
adding up to 73 hectares.
Leasing policies were reviewed,
and a request for proposals (RFP) was
issued in 2013, offering renewable
20-year agreements, at annual rental
rates based on six percent of the land’s
market value.
ONLY ONE BID
But in the end only one proposal
was received. Kevin McCormick, a
fifth-generation maple syrup producer
in Springhill, N.S., secured the lease
for the 33-hectare site at Leamington,
of which 30 hectares is considered to
PAGE 34
have maple sugar potential. Based on a
market value of $24,450, annual lease
payments for the land will be $1,467.
“We were hoping for more bids,”
acknowledged Gretchen Pohlkamp,
executive director of DNR’s Land
Services branch. “This was our first
RFP under the new lease policy and
in the end only one
proposal was received
guidelines. We expect that in future we
will be in a better position to issue and
complete the RFP to suit the industry’s
needs. We will offer these sites to
others who approach the department
regarding maple sugar lands.”
In addition to this new agreement,
Nova Scotia has four active maple
sugar leases, with a combined area
of 320 hectares. They range from an
18.5-hectare parcel in Cumberland
County, for which the annual rent is
$549.60 or five percent of gross sales,
to a sprawling 172-hectare parcel in
Annapolis County that earns the province $5,730 or five percent of gross.
Pohlkamp said DNR would like to
do more to increase the area of Crown
forest used for syrup production.
“The work we did to identify potential stands and remove impediments
will assist us should other parties be
interested in these lands,” she said,
although she pointed out that the pilot project also highlighted practical
considerations that will likely prevent
the development of some areas that
are otherwise suitable.
“For example, road access is important in this industry because trucks
need to be able to go in and out of
the area; many of our woodlands are
remote and hard to access and so may
not be the first areas selected for maple
sugar development. Some of the land
has steep slopes that are too difficult
to develop, or no slope, which also is
problematic for maple sugar use.
“Regardless, our review did identify a significant resource that could be
developed. The four sites put forward
in the RFP were identified as the best
options initially, and we believe other
lands in other parts of the province
could be developed for this use.”
SET ASIDE THE BEST
McCormick is on the board of
directors with the Maple Producers
Association of Nova Scotia, and he
made some recommendations for the
new lease program. He agreed there
is a lot of potential, but he cautioned
that new producers should seek expert
advice before entering a lease. He said
he would like to see all prospective
Crown sites thoroughly assessed, so
those with good maple sugar potential
can be set aside for this use.
The Leamington site made sense for
McCormick because it adjoins sugar
bush land he leases privately, which
itself borders a remote property he
purchased eight years ago. He now has
a new collection site for these parcels,
from which sap will be trucked about
seven kilometers to his main sugar
camp. Eventually this expansion will
allow him to double his production,
bringing the operation up to about
40,000 taps and potentially adding
two or three new full-time employees.
McCormick received a letter of
authority to start working on the Crown
lease in the summer of 2013. There is
more to do, but for this sugaring season
he is ramping up production with about
3,000 taps. He said he does not like to
use the word “silviculture” in reference
to the thinning treatments required for
sugar bush development, because it
implies rigid specifications that might
be at odds with overall forest health.
“We like to see 10 or 15 percent
competing species,” he said. “Birch is
sometimes an overwhelming species,
but we leave a few, and beech is good
because of their deep root system.”
DL
March 2014
March 2014
PAGE 35
Sweet saplings
Testing an intensive maple sugar management system
When we picture a sugar bush, we picture tap lines in
natural stands of mature maples. Although it’s assumed
some tending has been done to favor good specimens of
the desired species, the overall effect resembles a forest
with a high canopy. But what if this is not the only way
to produce maple syrup, or even the best way?
Tim Perkins, director of the Proctor Maple Research
Center at the University of Vermont, believes there is
potential in a more intensive system whereby sap is collected from severed maple saplings. Speaking at the joint
International Maple Syrup Institute and North American
Maple Syrup Council meeting, held this past October in
Moncton, New Brunswick, Perkins summarized recent
research into this technique. He said it may be possible to
produce about 400 gallons of syrup per season by collecting
sap from 6,000 maple saplings on a one-acre plantation.
That’s an impressive figure, compared to a conventional
sugar bush with taps in about 80 large-diameter trees per
acre, which would be expected to produce about 40 gallons of syrup per acre every season.
Perkins said the research evolved from a study looking at
the characteristics of tree stem sap flow under a vacuum col-
University of Vermont professors Abby van den Berg and Tim
Perkins have found that collecting sap from saplings holds potential for intensive maple syrup production.
The collection technique for saplings involves a plastic sock with a vacuum drop line attached. A hose clamp creates a tight seal over
the severed stem or branch.
(Sally McCay photos)
PAGE 36
March 2014
lection system. The researchers were
amazed by the volume of sap collected
from the small-diameter stumps. This
work at Proctor has continued since
2010, and in 2012 the University of
Vermont applied for an international
patent on the collection method and
devices – essentially a plastic sock with
a vacuum drop line attached, and a hose
clamp to create a tight seal over the
severed stem or branch. (The system
uses conventional maple sap vacuum
collection technology.)
Initial research has determined that
stems or lateral branches 1.5 to three
inches in diameter would be practical
for sap production. In a commercial
system the collection apparatus would
be at a comfortable working height,
around five feet above ground.
Perkins promoted this as a method
maple producers could incorporate
in stands under development for
conventional sugar bush production,
providing some revenue while crop
trees mature. But he said it may be
feasible to operate a sapling system
as a stand-alone production unit. He
suggested a maple sapling plantation would resemble a vineyard or a
modern apple orchard, and would lend
itself to intensive management inputs
such as irrigation and fertilization to
increase production.
In the plantation scenario, production from each sapling could be extended by using culturing techniques
to promote branch growth, with sap
collected from severed branches
rather than the main stem. It may
also be advantageous to use seedlings
from parent stock selected for sugar
production qualities.
The research at Proctor indicates
that despite its promise of collecting
more sap from a smaller landbase,
the seedling method would involve
a suite of new management strategies, resulting in production costs
comparable to conventional sugar
bush systems. It is an alternative
that may be viewed as a backup plan
for the maple syrup industry, in the
event that mature trees fall victim to
a catastrophic insect infestation or
disease outbreak. GF
March 2014
PAGE 37
Meet the mini-maples
Striped and Mountain maple deserve to be recognized as real trees
A stick of Striped maple five inches in diameter is an uncommon sight, but the author encountered this one in his woodpile.
(Gary Saunders photo)
by Gary Saunders
Ask any urban adult Atlantic Canadian how many kinds of maple grow
here and most will answer, “One: Sugar
maple.”
Ten to one they’ll mean Norway
maple, the similar and much-planted,
smog-proof urban broadleaf species they
know best. It’s a common mistake. Even
the august Royal Canadian Geographic
Society got it wrong on page four of
its much-touted 2004 “The Canadian
Atlas.” (Two pages on, they’ve got Nova
Scotia’s Parrsboro in New Brunswick –
but otherwise it’s a great piece of work.)
Ask rural Downeasters how many
maples, and they’ll likely say, “Two:
Rock maple and Red maple.” Or, if
they live in southern New Brunswick,
“Three: Rock maple, Red maple, and
Silver maple.”
The correct answer is five. In fairness, the missing pair are small and, on
PAGE 38
poorer sites especially, easily mistaken
for shrubs. Both are shade-loving, which
makes them even harder to notice.
Nonetheless, on good sites – sheltered, with deep, moist loams – they
both qualify as official Canadian trees.
When I started this series in 1998, I
used the definition from “Native Trees
of Canada” by R. C. Hosie: “Woody
unbranched stems exceeding 10 feet (3
meters) tall.” Some years later I began
using John L. Farrar’s definition from
“Trees in Canada,” which raised the bar
to 14.8 feet (4.5 meters). Both seemed
more realistic hereabouts than Harlow
and Harrar’s 1950 “Textbook of Dendrology,” which said a bona fide tree has
to reach 20 feet (6.1 meters) in height.
The larger of these neglected natives
is Striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum),
and the smaller is Mountain maple (Acer
spicatum). Farrar puts Mountain maple’s
maximum height at 16.4 feet (five me-
ters), and Striped maple’s at 33 feet (10
meters). So both our mini-maples make
the cut. As such, I’ve decided to treat
them together.
EARLY ENCOUNTERS
Mountain maple I knew from my
Newfoundland childhood. It graced my
favorite trout pools in the brook behind
our village, and every September flamed
briefly around the bog behind our school.
A good thing too, for Red maple is scarce
on The Rock and Sugar maple entirely
absent.
No Striped maple in Newfoundland,
either. Where and when I first ran into
this tree escapes me now. Likely it was
on the University of New Brunswick’s
Odell woodlot during a Dendrology 101
field trip with Professor Doug Long in
my sophomore year.
I say Odell because, unlike UNB’s
main woodlot Up The Hill, it is (or
March 2014
was) almost entirely deciduous, with
the kind of rich, well-drained soil and
micro climate Striped maple thrives in.
Since then I’ve usually met the species
in cool, sheltered brook valleys or on
shady north-facing slopes. Sometimes
it is found with hobblebush (Viburnum
alnifolia), which is commonly called
moosewood. (Confusingly, Striped
maple is also sometimes referred to
as moosewood, or else Moose maple.
That’s the trouble with using common
names, and the beauty of Latin terminology.) It may keep company with other
shade-tolerant species like Sugar maple,
Yellow birch, and hemlock, and, by
times, with Mountain maple. The latter often appears on recently cut-over
woodland, spreading by rooting its lower
branches.
Finding them together, especially in
summer, is a good chance to compare
the foliage. Both have softly rugose
(crinkly), yellow-green leaves, but size
alone sets Striped maple leaves apart.
They’re often dinner-plate size – the
largest of any eastern maple. This, plus
their three finely-toothed, long-tapered
points (hence Goosefoot maple), make
them unique here. As does the fact that,
come fall, they fade to a startling pale
yellow.
Mountain maple leaves are much
smaller, and usually turn red or brown
in autumn. (For other features see “At
a glance” below.)
A WOODPILE RARITY
Why wait 15 years to profile our
two mini-maples? Well, frankly, I’m
running out of native trees. Since Dirk
van Loon and I launched the series I’ve
covered most of our important commercial species. Now and then, to eke the
list out, I’ve included tree-shrubs like
chokecherry and sumac, or non-natives
like Scots pine and American chestnut.
So, casting about for another species late last year, I hit on our native
March 2014
PAGE 39
At a glance...
Form: Small branchy trees or shrubs, often leaning out for sunlight.
Bark: Striped maple’s glossy green with wavering whitish vertical stripes,
roughening with age; Mountain maple’s scaly, dull beige, or grayish, often
with whitish blotches.
Leaves: Yellow-green, Mountain maple’s whitish-hairy below with stem
longer than leaf. Mostly three-lobed (Mountain maple sometimes fivelobed). In Striped maple, margins finely double-toothed; Mountain maple,
irregularly single-toothed.
Winter twigs: Buds opposite in both and flush with twig, the terminal bud
stalked; twigs reddish (like dogwood’s) or greenish; Striped maple’s stoutish
and glossy, Mountain maple’s slim with hairy tip (unlike dogwood’s). Flowers: Bell-shaped, in Mountain maple erect yellowish male-female
spike (hence spicatum); Striped maple’s larger in drooping greenish
separate-sex clusters.
Seeds: Both species bear loose clusters of paired samaras (keys). Striped
maple’s pale green with wings at 90-degree angle; Mountain maple’s
briefly bright red, overwintering in brownish or pink bunches.
PAGE 40
Amelanchier or shadbush, one of which
reaches tree size. Then one day last
spring when I was bucking next year’s
firewood (recently delivered by Brookfield Lumber) I got a pleasant surprise.
Wedged among the eight-foot lengths
was a small green log with smooth,
white-striped bark. At first the diameter
threw me off. I’d never seen a five-inch
Striped maple before. But the stripes
were unmistakable.
Seemed a shame to buck and burn it.
But the grain is so-so for woodworking,
and the harm had already been done, so
I did. However, I paused to photograph
the chunks, and this prompted me to put
it in the series instead of shadbush. After
all, it is a maple.
Besides, what these little guys lack
in size they often make up in ecological
importance. My current choices are cases
in point. Both are vital to the herbivore
food chain, and to other life forms as well.
For example, Striped maple seems
to be the moose’s favorite year-round
food. It may even have helped to name
March 2014
March 2014
PAGE 41
our largest wild ungulate. Mousou in
several Algonquian dialects translates
roughly as “eater of branches.” Whitetailed deer also browse this maple at
all seasons, and Ruffed grouse are fond
of the winter buds, especially the long
terminal bud. Much the same goes for
Mountain maple.
Squirrels and chipmunks are fond
of the seeds. In both species they grow
in clusters of wide-winged samaras or
keys. Wild bees go for Striped maple’s
bell-like, unisex flowers (also uniquely
large for maple), aiding pollination by
nectar gathering.
SIMILAR PROPERTIES
Medicinally, the bark of A. pensylvanicum was early used as an emetic
(vomit-inducer). According to Glen
Blouin’s “An Eclectic Guide to Trees
East of the Rockies,” the Ojibway and
Iroquois scraped the bark and used it as
a tea. Mountain maple likely has similar
properties.
Both species are important erosion
PAGE 42
buffers, especially A. spicatum on steep
slopes and A. pensylvanicum along
streams. The former ranges from insular
Newfoundland and coastal Labrador to
Saskatchewan and south through New
England; the latter from Cape Breton to
Lake Superior and south into Pennsylvania.
Both these maples, being hardy
and nearly pest-free, have landscaping
potential. All they ask is a shady nook
with little wind; in the open they soon
wither. My pick would be A. pensylvanicum, because it often keeps its leaves in
perfect condition all season and the bark
is handsome year-round. Plus, unlike its
smaller cousin, it doesn’t spread.
Of course, you may want dozens
of Striped maples, in which case you
could collect and overwinter seeds, and
transplant small wild seedlings before
leaf-out in early spring. Make sure you
get all the small roots, and keep them
moist until they’re safely in the ground.
Mulch lightly, and water as needed; no
need to stake.
March 2014
March 2014
PAGE 43
Islanders in the woods
Fledgling landowners’ group
seeks to raise profile, ease regulatory burden
More than 1,000 people showed up for the fourth annual Prince Edward Island Winter Woodlot Tour, held Feb. 1 in Mayfield.
(Nina Linton photos)
by Nina Linton
Perfect weather, a wide range of
interesting forestry-related activities,
and the chance to connect with nature
all contributed to a record turnout for
the 2014 Prince Edward Island Winter
Woodlot Tour, held Feb. 1 in Mayfield. More than 1,000 keen participants showed up to learn about good
stewardship, sustainable economical
opportunities, and the important role
woodlots play in maintaining healthy
ecosystems.
The fourth annual event was hosted
by the P.E.I. Model Forest Network
Partnership (PEIMFNP), the HunterClyde Watershed Group, the Central
Queens Wildlife Federation, and the
Wheatley River Improvement Group,
in partnership with the provincial
Department of Agriculture and Forestry. Experts from these organizations
were on hand at the various exhibits,
providing information on topics such
as tree identification, chainsaw safety
and maintenance, woodcarving, maple
syrup production, and value-added
wood products.
“The idea was to get people out
and create the awareness that there are
groups that specialize in these areas, and
hopefully people will take something
PAGE 44
from it,” said Steve DeWolfe, PEIMFNP co-ordinator. “We were really
impressed with the interest that was
forwarded to our presenters.”
One of the groups that benefited
from the visibility was the PEI Woodlot Owners Association (PEIWOA).
Bruce Craig, who serves as chair, said
the association currently has about 80
members, and increasing that number
has been an ongoing challenge since its
inception in 2012, so any opportunity
for public exposure is welcome.
“We find that whenever we go to
these events we pick up more members,”
he said, estimating that more than 400
people dropped by the association’s
booth during the tour. “We like to have
people see us. It’s about having our
presence there.”
BUFFER ZONES
The PEIWOA, functioning as a
collective voice for woodlot owners
across the province, recently lobbied
the government to loosen buffer zone
restrictions on its behalf. “It seems our
members are really interested in this,”
said Craig.
He explained that the group recognizes the need to restrict activity within
buffer zones, but has taken the stance
that “low risk” forestry management
activity should be allowed in these
sensitive wooded areas. In March, 2013,
representatives from the PEIWOA
appeared before the Legislative Committee on Agriculture, Environment
and Forestry, and made a proposal to
this effect.
A permit is currently required for any
The event is intended to raise public awareness of the ecological and commercial
aspects of forestry, but it’s also meant to
be a fun day in the woods.
March 2014
provincial buffer zone regulations.
At the PEIWOA’s annual general
meeting last year, Greg Wilson, from
the Department of Environment, Labour and Justice, outlined a preliminary
pilot project that will certify some
contractors and landowners to work in
buffer zones without the need to apply
for permits. Craig is optimistic this
initiative will be off the ground soon.
“It is getting pretty exciting,” he
said. “We are hoping that within the
next month we may have something.”
Greg Ridgway (left) was on hand to provide information about the PEI Woodlot Owners Association.
cutting of live trees or shrubs within 15
meters of watercourses or wetlands.
The group has proposed that certain
treatments be allowed within this zone,
including pre-commercial thinning,
harvesting 30 percent of mature trees
over a five-year period, and removing
dead, dying, diseased, or damaged trees.
The proposal also calls for reducing
the width of the buffer zone in forested
areas, and allowing the use of heavy
machinery six meters from water.
Several follow-up meetings were
held, bringing together representatives from the PEIWOA, stream
enhancement groups, the Department
of Agriculture and Forestry, and the
Department of the Environment,
Labour and Justice. Craig said the
results bode well for amendments to
March 2014
(Nina Linton lives in East Royalty,
P.E.I.)
Field day attendants check out a display devoted to chainsaw safety and maintenance.
PAGE 45
PAGE 46
March 2014
Views from forestry groups and associations in the Atlantic region
Registered
Professional Foresters
Association, N.S.
Truro, N.S.
The past few months
have been busy administratively. During the first part of
October there were several email reminders regarding the
revised Continuing Forest Education Program (CFE). Most
members caught on to the new system of reporting, while
a few others procrastinated over reporting the hours of
continuing education in which they had participated during
the year.
October was also the time to prepare the information for
and have membership renewals sent out. This task was
completed in early November, and renewals have been
trickling in. In January, reminders were sent to those we
had not heard from, and late registration penalties were
implemented Feb. 1.
Some of you may recall noticing that the Registered Professional Foresters Association of Nova Scotia (RPFANS)
website was hacked during the summer. The hack resulted in
March 2014
advertisements for products and services that had no relationship to RPFANS. Initially we, along with our webmaster and
a couple of other individuals and companies familiar with
websites, tried to find the source of the problem. Unfortunately, this proved to be impossible, and we had to take the
site down and have it rebuilt using a different program. It
is now up and running and clean at the time of writing. Our
apologies to all of you who accessed the site while it was
infected and displaying inappropriate information.
By the time you are reading this, the RPFANS annual meeting (March 20,21) will be mere weeks or even days away. The
meeting will again be held at the Holiday Inn in Truro, and all
are welcome. As I am writing this, the majority of the speakers
have been lined up. Topics will include: the rural economy;
a panel discussion on silviculture and the registry of buyers;
snapshots providing information on wilderness survival; the
Spruce budworm; and drones in forestry (lots of jokes possible here). The third plenary will look at some less traditional
opportunities for resource utilization, and finally an update on
where the markets have been and some forecasts for the future.
The Hall of Fame Banquet on Thursday evening will honor
two individuals who, through their work and personal interest,
PAGE 47
have contributed to the development of
forest management prescriptions and
an increased public understanding of
forestry.
On the national scene we welcome
Ed Cerwinski, executive director of the
Association of Registered Professional
Foresters New Brunswick, to the position of chair of the Canadian Federation
of Professional Foresters Associations
for 2014.
Also, I would like to encourage all
of you to attend the National meeting
of the Canadian Institute of Forestry,
which will be held in conjunction with
the Society of American Foresters on
October 5-11, 2014, in Salt Lake City,
Utah. It is expected that this will be a
very informative event, if the descriptions of the field tours are any indication.
Until next time.
Ian Millar, BScF, MF, RPF
executive director
[email protected]
(Contact number: 902-897-6863)
PAGE 48
Federation of
Nova Scotia
Woodland
Owners,
Stewiacke, N.S.
It is with mixed emotions I write
my last AFR article on behalf of the
Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland
Owners. For those of you who are
unaware, I have stepped down from
my position as the Federation’s executive director. Believe me when I say
it was not an easy decision; nor was
it based on job dissatisfaction. I am
truly grateful for all the Federation has
allowed me to do on behalf of landowners and for all it has done for me.
I continue to have the utmost respect
and admiration for the organization,
its members, and small-private woodland owners, province-wide. The
landowners, colleagues, and board
members I have worked with during
my nine years with the Federation
have taught me countless lessons and
provided me with invaluable insight
on our forest community. Equally, if
not more importantly, I have made
many friends in every part of Nova
Scotia.
With so many uncertainties, it is
hard to predict what the future may
hold for landowners and forest management in our province. One thing
you can be certain of, however, is
that the Federation will remain a
strong voice and valuable resource
for small-private woodland owners.
You can also be certain that in my new
position as “Leader in Sustainability
and Outreach” for Port Hawkesbury
Paper, I will remain dedicated to
helping improve all aspects of forest
management in Nova Scotia.
I would be remiss if I didn’t take
this opportunity to thank Wanda
Hamilton and Terry Stanislow for
their guidance, advice, friendship,
and uncanny ability to put up with
my foolishness around the office.
Lastly, thank you DvL Publishing
March 2014
and AFR for providing such an amazing platform to promote the Federation’s efforts and for bringing to light
the many issues landowners face. I
have enjoyed all my dealings with
DvL and I look forward to working
with you in the future. Ironically, out
of the past nine years, I believe this is
the first article I managed to submit
before the deadline.
Andrew Fedora, former executive
director
New Brunswick
Federation of
Woodlot Owners
Fredericton, N.B.
While the soon-to-be-announced
Forestry Strategy is the hottest topic
in forestry circles here in New Brunswick, it is also abundantly clear the
environmental community is watching very closely. Media is tracking it
closely, too. Starting back in November our premier kept referencing an
announcement, “in the next month,”
“in the following weeks,” “soon,”
and “in the coming days.” For quite
a few years woodlot owners have
been asking government to address
our problems and issues. The unfair
competition situation with Crown
(public) land has and continues to be
the key issue. When our Conservative
government came to power one of its
first commitments was to work with
the woodlot sector to address these
issues. On that basis we could say
we are looking forward to hearing
the solution the government has in
the Forest Strategy.
On the other hand, we are worried
the woodlot sector will be forgotten
once again. Our organizations have
been neither consulted nor briefed
regarding this “soon to be announced”
plan. Reports are circulating that the
area of conservation forest will be
significantly reduced and that up to
21 percent more Crown wood will be
made available to the industry. Clearly
there are environmental concerns; the
primary concern of woodlot owners is
March 2014
PAGE 49
the effect the additional Crown wood
may have on sales of private wood.
Most are aware that in the recent past
private wood has been shut out of the
market in favor of Crown wood. If
there is no guarantee this will not happen again, and that woodlot owners
will be able to sell their wood without
interruption, the woodlot sector will
perpetually be an underdog next to
Crown timber.
As I write this we (our seven
Marketing Boards) are heading to
the Court of Appeal as being named
respondents in an appeal filed by J.D.
Irving relating to a ruling issued by the
New Brunswick Forest Products Commission and the Boards’ regulatory
authority. With the hearing behind
us I anticipate we will again be in a
position of waiting for the ruling of
the Court. The decision will probably
take up to two months to be issued. For
us the situation is a sad statement on
the state of affairs for woodlot owners and their basic need to be able to
conduct business in good faith through
their organizations, which have a long
history here in New Brunswick.
The two items reported on above
will reduce the confidence of woodlot
owners and wood producers to either
continue to participate in the market
or re-enter the market. This is taking
place during a period when industry
is saying they need more wood, but
I would contend it is not a matter of
more wood, it is more wood totally
under their control, not a fair and open
market. I have seen examples of this
recently in my own neighborhood in
southern New Brunswick. Wood producers have all but disappeared, unable to compete with industry
woodlot services, leaving few options
for woodlot owners. Harvesting is
almost 100 percent clearcut-flail chip
operations. This land will not generate
any forest products for many years to
come – not contributing to the New
Brunswick economy, nor generating
income and employment in rural New
Brunswick. A very sad situation.
The court will rule on the law and
we can only hope the government’s
Forest Strategy will provide some balPAGE 50
March 2014
ance. But even this hopeless optimist
does not think the latter is going to
happen.
Ken Hardie, manager
(Contact number 506-459-2990)
Nova Scotia
Woodlot Owners
and Operators
Association
Truro, N.S.
The 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Nova Scotia Woodlot
Owners and Operators Association
(NSWOOA) will be built around the
topic of “Managing Change – Ushering in a New Era for Sustainable
Forestry in Nova Scotia.” The meeting
will be held from 8:30 am to 4 pm
Saturday, April 12, at the Old Barns
United Church.
The program will include consideration of long-term strategies for the
NSWOOA during a time of sweeping
change for both the industry and government. Other speakers will discuss
the Association’s efforts to improve
the delivery of silviculture programs
and other services to landowners; and
the recommendation of the NSWOOA
board to establish a charitable foundation to support sustainable forestry in
Nova Scotia.
Several other change-related
presentations are planned but not
yet confirmed. A final agenda will
be posted soon on the NSWOOA’s
website, www.nswooa.ca.
The cost of the event is $15 for
NSWOOA members and $20 for
non-members. A hearty, home-cooked
lunch is included. Membership applications and renewals, as well as
subscriptions to Atlantic Forestry
Review, will be accepted at the AGM.
The Old Barns United Church is
at 2603 Highway 236 in Old Barns,
N.S. Take Exit 14 off Highway 102
and travel west on Highway 236 for
about eight kilometers. The church is
on the right.
If you have questions about sustainable forestry in Nova Scotia, we have
March 2014
PAGE 51
answers. Check the website at www.
nswooa.ca, visit our Facebook page
at www.facebook.com/NSWOOA, or
call us toll free at 1-855-NS-WOODS.
Andy Kekacs, program director
[email protected]
(Contact number 902-817-4763)
Send your news
Stay in touch with your own
members and share what your
group is doing with others through
“Contact,” a free service of
Atlantic Forestry. Please write to
[email protected] or mail
to P.O. Box 1509, Liverpool, NS
B0T1K0. Deadline for our next
issue is April 8.
PAGE 52
March 2014
AFR
Classifieds
FOR SALE: Arbro 400 wood processor,
good working order, complete with all hoses,
electrical cables, computer, joysticks, manuals, tool box, etc. Asking $13,500. Phone
902-532-5972 or 902-532-8488.
FOR SALE: I have farms and acreages
available commuting distance from Halifax,
Truro, and Windsor, Nova Scotia. Please
check my website for photos, price, and
details. Larry Matthews Hants Realty
Limited Serving Rural Nova Scotia for 37
years. http://www.larrymatthews.com email
[email protected]. Phone 902-4830754. (p01:1i)
FOR SALE: Vermont Castings Majestic,
freestanding, direct vent, propane fireplace,
RFSDV34 with remote and hardware, excellent condition $650. Phone 902-443-3968.
FREE: 80 quart beer bottles, ideal for home
brewer or home maple syrup producer.
Contact 902-786-2416 or purgatorypoint@
gmail.com.
FOR SALE: Power-takeoff pulley (old) with
belt, $300. Phone 506-882 2744.
FOR SALE: 1952 Ford Ferguson tractor
with cab, plow in front and back. Phone
902-924-2727.
FOR SALE: 50 gallon empty plastic molasses barrels with covers, $20 each, 20 available after April 1. Call Robert 902-727-3068.
WANTED: Industrial series John Deere or
Massey Ferguson tractor loader with backhoe. Phone Mark at 902-883-0170.
About Classified Ads
SUBSCRIBERS are invited to run four noncommercial classified ads free per year. This
service is intended to assist in the exchange
of goods immediately related to daily living.
It does not include buying, selling or trading
that supports a hobby or small business, or
real estate. AF reserves the right to refuse to
publish for free a classified ad which it feels
does not meet these qualifications. No third
party ads accepted.
A subscriber-free classified must include your
name, postal code, subscription expiry date and
telephone number for identification.
All other classified ads must include payment —
75 cents per word, plus 15% tax, minimum
charge $20 plus tax.
Ads will run in next available issue.
Classified ads accepted by mail and on
our website: RuralLife.ca
Atlantic Forestry, Box 1509
Liverpool, NS B0T 1K0
March 2014
PAGE 53
Directory of Advertisers
A.L.P.A. Equipment Ltd.....................................43
AFT Sawmill Limited.........................................12
Association for Sustainable Forestry................46
Athol Forestry Cooperative Limited..................46
Atlantic Heavy Equipment Show........................9
Bag Supplies Canada Ltd.................................51
Blueline New Holland/Maritime Farm Supply.....53
Bron....................................................................48
Canadian Woodlands Forum........................3, 46
Cardinal Distribution Inc....................................41
Dyna Products...................................................11
Eastern Farm Machinery Limited...............19, 52
Eltec...................................................................23
Federation of N.S. Woodland Owners.............46
Forest Products Association of N.S..................46
Forestry Safety Society of Nova Scotia............46
G.B. Equipments...............................................47
Great Lakes Mfg. Inc.........................................49
Green Valley Heating..........................................7
Group Savoie/Westville Division.......................24
Hants Equipment Ltd.........................................12
HC Haynes Inc..................................................16
Interforest Inc.....................................................50
Jensen's Powertrain..........................................54
Kevin McCormick Sales & Services.................10
Lenox.................................................................21
Liebherr Canada................................. Inside back
Log Max Forestry Inc........................................50
MacKay's Truck & Trailer Center Limited.........20
Maritime College of Forest Technology...........37
M-C Power Equipment Ltd.................................5
Morgan's Diesel Truck Parts Inc.......................45
Multi Radiator Services Ltd...............................52
Nortek Resource Solutions Inc.........................49
Northeastern Loggers Association...................15
North Nova Forest Owners Co-op Ltd.............46
Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation.............8
Norwood Industries...........................................50
Nova Scotia Department of
Natural Resources.....................................6, 13
Nova Scotia Woodlot
Owners and Operators Association..............46
Nova Tree..........................................................45
Oregon............................Front cover, Back cover
PEI Department of Agriculture and Forestry....42
Peterbuilt Atlantic...............................................54
Portage & Main Boilers.....................................42
Registered Professional
Foresters Association of Nova Scotia...........46
Rotobec.............................................................24
Rotochopper Inc................................................35
Rottne Canada..................................................40
Select Sawmill Co...............................................8
SNB Wood Co-operative Ltd............................11
Southstar Equipment...........................Inside front
Stella-Jones Inc...................................................5
Stihl Limited.................................................25, 51
Strongco............................................................17
T&D Nursery......................................................54
Texas Refinery Corp.........................................52
Urquhart-MacDonald & Associates..................49
Wallenstein EMB Mfg Inc..................................30
Wood-Mizer.........................................................7
YSC Forest Products Marketing.......................46
To Advertise Call 902-354-2500
PAGE 54
March 2014
March 2014
PAGE 55
PAGE 56
March 2014

See you at the Heavy Equipment Show!

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