Province given failing grade on sustainability in forestry industry
Finland report identifies gaps in resource management and overall profitability
There’s big money to be made in southwest Nova Scotia’s forested hills, but only if the province’s Acadian forest is managed more effectively, a well-known forester says.
Harold Alexander, co-founder of Western Woodlot Services Cooperative and a professional forester, presented a report to Digby municipal council Jan. 22 about the 2016 learning tour he participated in that examined forestry practices in Finland.
The report explained the tour and the resulting fact-finding mission showed that western Nova Scotia lags far behind in the possibilities forestry offers as an economic driver and as a potential sustainable income for local woodlot owners.
According to the report Alexander co-authored, the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association reported that the forest sector was in decline due to market pressures, economic downturns, mill closures and supply constraints back in 2015. Given those issues, the association took a proactive approach and, with funding from ACOA and the N.S. Department of Natural Resources, created a forestry lab designed to better understand the problem and work towards solutions.
EXPLORING FINLAND
As part of that understanding, the woodlot owners/operators association approved funding for a forestry learning tour to Finland. Finland was chosen because it has similar land ownership demographics, similar forest-growing conditions and because the group considered it a world leader in the successful management of small private forests.
In the fall of 2016, a group of five advocates for woodlot owners in Nova Scotia travelled to Finland to observe the organization and management of small privately owned woodlots.
Alexander explained to council that he was part of that group, and one of his initial observations was how well the appreciation of forests is integrated into the overall culture of Finland.
“There is a large focus on fitness and the outdoors in Finland,” Alexander said. “There are trails everywhere, including a place near where we stayed that was a 500-hectare park with very welldeveloped trail systems.”
The trip focused on one area of Finland similar in size to western Nova Scotia, known as the PohjoisSavo Region, consisting of about one million hectares as compared to the seven western counties’ 935,000 hectares.
While Finnish experts know exactly how many private woodlot owners there are in that region – 26,000 – Alexander’s report showed that the number is unknown here in western Nova Scotia. What they do know is that the annual harvest in the Finnish region is more than three times the harvest here in the western counties; that the area in Finland they visited hosts at least eight sawmills, six pulp, paper or paperboard mills; and from 50 to 70 paid professionals who work with woodlot owners. Comparatively, Nova Scotia’s western counties have one mill – Freeman’s – and only one forestry professional working with woodlot owners in a similar-sized region. Alexander’s report also said that currently, across Nova Scotia, fewer than 10 per cent of woodlots are being intensively and sustainably managed.
Alexander pointed out that these numbers reflect on five identified areas required to build a better forestry sector in Nova Scotia.
REPORT CONCLUSIONS
The report’s conclusions were:
1. The culture of forestry needs an attitudinal shift from negative to positive.
“This group can explain and show that forestry can be a safe economic driver and provides paid employment, just like any trade. Forestry in Nova Scotia should be a good news story.”
2. Like the Finnish have created, Nova Scotia wood lot owners need one unified voice to represent their needs and concerns
3. Nova Scotia requires intensive, sustainable Acadian Forest management. “There is an abun- dant, underutilized standing forest resource on small private woodlots in Nova Scotia. Finland manages to produce over three times as much annual wood supply per hectare of forested land than is done in Nova Scotia. The tour group believes there is significant room for economic growth in Nova Scotia’s forest sector.”
4. Nova Scotia’s forestry sector needs intensive market development, including bio-energy and bio-economy strategies. The report identifies “the need for a fully integrated forest product value chain focused especially on markets for low-grade wood.”
5. Gather high-quality forest inventory data and make that information readily available to the public, providing critical help in forest management, motivating woodlot owners and attracting investment.
OPPORTUNITIES
“Forests represent a huge opportunity,” Alexander said, before asking council to revisit the idea of using bioenergy to heat local schools and hospitals as P.E.I. has done.
“There they have third-party operators selling heat to those operations,” Alexander said, “and that has had a huge impact on the local economy.”
Alexander also bemoaned cuts to DNR funding in recent years.
“DNR funding is at the bottom of the list,” Alexander said. “There is now $300,000 to operate seven counties – we used to get that amount for Digby County alone.”
Alexander said the difference between forest management systems in Finland and Nova Scotia is largely dictated by the economy. Since Finland has markets for low-grade woods, there is great care taken when thinning the forest’s growth in order to utilize that wood for other purposes.
“Here, they clear-cut and leave that wood on the ground,” Alexander said, a situation that is problematic for forest regeneration and growth.
Alexander showed council through a series of photographs that carefully thinned woodlots open up the tree canopy and promote sustainable forests, while the practice of leaving the wood on the ground discourages natural reforestation, but he also said the Finns do spend time and money replanting their forests usually one year after harvest.
Alexander said the types of trees grown and harvested in Finland’s northern boreal forest are not nearly as diverse as those that exist in the Acadian forests of Nova Scotia, meaning there should be more opportunities for markets here than there.
“While some would say this is a provincial issue, we think we need to bring people together for a conversation about the economic opportunities forestry represents to our region,” Alexander said. “And we feel local municipalities need to get involved.”