Harvest Blocks Open For Comment - August 2021
We have new harvest blocks up for comment on the Province’s Harvest Plan Map Viewer (HPMV). They will be open for comment until September 25th, and we encourage our members, and members of the community to provide feedback. If you’re not sure where to find our license area in the viewer, we are located in Annapolis Co., nestled in between the Medway Lakes Protected Area , the Tobeatic Wilderness Area and Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site. We’d prefer if you provided comment directly through the viewer, however you can also contact us through email.
Here are some additional details on the prescription for each of the proposed blocks:
AP190003 A, B & C: Individual Tree Selection, Commercial Thinning - 55 ha
AP190003 is separated into 3 different harvest sections to reflect changes in tree species, ages and density. The area pictured above is part Section A, and will be treated using an individual tree selection harvest.
This block is located in the central region of the MCFC, south of Snowshoe Lakes Nature Reserve. The area was slated for harvest when the MCFC lands were owned by Bowater, and there is a ‘brand new’ road (which is now over 10 years old and somewhat grown in) running into the area. The area requires special management considering it is a large continuous tract of mature forest between two protected areas - something that is quite rare within our license area. Part of this special management is ensuring the area has adequate watercourse buffers (the MCFC adopts a 30m buffer on all watercourses >50cm), and the forest continues to provide continuous canopy cover for wildlife.
Sections A & B are spruce/hemlock dominated stands and the proposed treatments, an individual tree selection and a commercial thinning will facilitate growth of existing healthy, future sawlog-quality trees, while removing trees that are declining in health or shorter-lived. Special wildlife trees including mast, cavity and supercanopy trees are retained where ever possible, at minimum having 8-10/ha of each remaining post-harvest.
In Section C of the stand, a patch shelterwood is proposed given the varying conditions within the stand, removing 0.1 ha patches across the stand up to a 40% removal. Section C is a spruce/pine dominated forest, with scattered balsam fir, red oak, red maple and white birch. This type of forest is what is most commonly found within the MCFC license area, and is likely the result of runaway fires that spread across southwestern NS in the early-mid 1900s.
Find a detailed map of AP190003 here
AP190004: Individual Tree Selection - 16 ha
This block has many attributes of a classic, multi-aged softwood dominated Acadian forest. The stand is primarily composed by mature red spruce with scattered Eastern hemlock throughout. To ensure the forest maintains the existing multi-aged structure, an individual tree selection harvest is proposed to release younger, suppressed red spruce and harvest less vigorous trees. Similar to AP190003, scattered larger trees are an important attribute for structural diversity within this stand, and will be retained post-harvest for wildlife habitat and seed.
To ensure the healthiest trees, and those that are most appropriate as future crop trees are retained, this stand will be marked by MCFC staff prior to harvest. Marking trees for removal takes out the guess work for the harvester operator, and ensures that the lowest vigour trees are removed and the highest quality trees are retained.
Find a detailed map of AP190004 here