Tradition meets innovation
Experts say forests represent a valuable renewable resource
Capturing carbon is among the many useful benefits of wood, and it’s becoming increasingly important in an economy adapting to the reality of global warming.
“When a tree is harvested and used in a wood product, the carbon in the wood is stored indefinitely,” explains Jeff Bishop, Executive Director of Forest Nova Scotia. “If the wood in those trees is left to eventually die, that carbon is released back into the atmosphere.”
While meeting the traditional demand for lumber, Nova Scotia’s forests play a growing role in contributing to a sustainable economy with a wide range of new and traditional products. A major shift in the construction industry known as “tall wood” sees lumber being used again in larger structures while wood and paper are replacing plastic in single-use straws, bags and utensils.
“It’s often a case of what’s old is new again,” Bishop adds. “Years ago, these items were made from wood, so it can be seen as innovation, but it’s an older use being brought back because it’s renewable and better for the environment.”
The diversity of items being made from wood fibre around the world is quite astonishing, and even includes a computer mouse and keyboard. The Chilean company Karun has come out with a wooden brand of sunglasses, while bamboo toothbrushes can be found in health food stores.
From the Adirondack chairs in backyards to cutting boards in the kitchen, drive-thru drink trays and egg cartons, hundreds of sustainable wood products are both being made in Nova Scotia and becoming staple items in homes across the province.
Also coming on stream are increasingly innovative uses of pulpwood, or wood not suitable for lumber, and from sawmill byproducts like bark and wood chips. Around the world, biomass is being used to generate heat and electricity, while wood chips are being converted into bio-oil and bio-char, a type of organic charcoal.
The emergence of the so-called “bio-economy” is opening up a range of new possibilities in the forestry sector, says Cassie Turple, Communications Coordinator with Ledwidge Lumber in Enfield, a family sawmill business that’s been around for 78 years and employs more than 100 people.
“This bio-economy is becoming a big thing in Scandinavian countries, as they switch to renewable resources,” Turple says. “Our company’s focus is the housing and construction sector, and there’s a sense of pride that comes with seeing stores across Atlantic Canada carrying our product.”
Having a market for wood fibre and low-grade wood is important for good forestry management, Bishop points out. Somewhere between 30 and 40 per cent of any given tree is fit to be turned into lumber, while the remainder is a lower grade like pulpwood.
“The market for that lowgrade wood helps pay for the overall harvest,” he says. “It’s a return on investment for the woodlot owner.”
The forestry sector is the economic backbone of many rural Nova Scotia communities, providing a livelihood for harvesters, truckers, sawmill workers and their families. With some 30,000 woodlot owners in Nova Scotia, a number that includes small companies, families and individuals, some 65 per cent of our province’s forests are privately owned.
“The forestry sector plays a significant role in our economy,” Bishop says. “It creates 11,500 jobs in the province.”
It might surprise many to learn that there is more forested land in Nova Scotia today than there was 100 years ago.
“It shows the resiliency of nature,” Bishop says. “Forests were once cleared for agriculture and, as that activity was reduced, the forests came back.”
Sustainable forestry management means thinking in the long term, Turple adds, and planning for what a wooded area is going to look like 30 or 40 years down the road.
“We’ve had three generations of our family doing this, and many of the people we do business with can say the same,” she adds. “We’re always planning for that future because we don’t plan on going anywhere.”
For more information on how renewable wood products stemming from forestry, or what the industry means to Nova Scotians, visit forestns.ca.