Forestry Funding Helps With Fiona Damage, Silviculture

Jun 7, 2023 - 2 years ago

More support is coming to help private woodlot owners recover from hurricane Fiona and grow healthy forests.

Forestry Funding Helps With Fiona Damage, Silviculture — *Debris is thrown onto Havenside road in Louisbourg from rough seas during post-Tropical Storm Fiona. Photo: Nova Scotia Government Facebook*

“Private woodlot owners still need support to clean up trees downed by the hurricane so we’re investing more money to help,” said Tory Rushton, Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables. “We’re also making sure owners have certainty about silviculture funding in plenty of time to make plans and start work to manage their woodlots sustainably.”

The Department is investing an additional $5.7 million this fiscal year to help private woodlot owners with Fiona cleanup and to manage their lands sustainably:

$2.5 million extends eligibility for Fiona-related assistance to industrial private woodlots and provides more support for repairing roads; after the fall storm, the Department supported private woodlot owners with $4.6 million for cleaning up trees, preparing to replant, repairing roads and re-establishing boundary lines
$3.2 million is for silviculture work and will allow contractors to get started in the spring as soon as the weather allows, rather than having to wait for the Department’s 2023-24 budget to be finalized.

“We are pleased to co-ordinate the provincial forestry funding for both silviculture treatments and Fiona cleanup,” said David Sutherland, Executive Director, Association for Sustainable Forestry. “The timely alignment of this funding with the considerable work to be done on the ground will provide vital resources to private woodlot owners.”

“Nova Scotia’s forest sector provides a net environmental benefit,” stated Stephen Moore, Executive Director, Forest Nova Scotia. “We plant more trees than we harvest, and we take more carbon out of the environment than we emit. As a sector, we are committed to the continued responsible management of our forests and to furthering our positive environmental impact. The funding for silviculture and Fiona cleanup helps us do that.”

“We thank the Department for their continued collaboration with the forestry contractors in the province,” remarked Ralph Stewart, President, Nova Scotia Forestry Contractors Association. “This additional funding will assist the landowners to ensure better and healthier management of their forestry holdings for generations to come.”

This marks a permanent shift in the schedule of silviculture funding. Starting with the 2023-24 budget, budgeted silviculture funding will be for work in the subsequent fiscal year. This change will give woodlot owners certainty about funding amounts, which allows for early planning, and means valuable time in the woods is not lost in the spring.

Quick Facts:

silviculture funding helps with the cost of lower intensity harvesting practices and supports private woodlot owners to implement ecological forestry on private land; the money is paid to contractors who do the silviculture work
industrial private woodlots are at least 2,000 hectares in size and their owners also own a sawmill or wood products manufacturing facility
there are about 30,000 private woodlot owners in Nova Scotia
the Association for Sustainable Forestry is managing the funding for silviculture and most aspects of the Fiona cleanup
Forest Nova Scotia is managing funding for repairing roads damaged by Fiona.

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