Spring Newsletter 2022
With warm weather here, flowers in bloom and songbirds returning, spring is in full swing! At the Community Forest we’ve undergone a staffing transition we’ll share an update on, we began 2022 operations and now have paused for our Singing Season, and are looking forward to summer events with you!
A Transitional Time
We’d like to share some staffing updates from this spring. Mary Jane Rodger has been managing MCFC for seven years growing the community forest model and impact, helping to steer ecological forestry in the province and demonstrating it in practice! We are celebrating all that she’s achieved through such insightful, inventive, and caring leadership within our small team and for our membership.
We wish Mary Jane all the best in her new role with the Canadian Wildlife Service and thank her for all she’s done to get us to where we are today. We’re happy to know she won’t be far away and will remain involved in the MCFC and NSWWT in a director role.
With this transition time, Matt Miller has stepped into a new role as MCFC General Manager and Jennika Hunsinger has stepped into a new role as Land Trust and Outreach Manager.
Photo: Forest Professionals Maple Syrup and Woodlot Tour in March (from left to right) Mary Jane Rodger, Matt Miller, and Jennika Hunsinger.
Operations Update
MCFC has recently completed a 13-hectare individual tree selection harvest in the Victory Road area. The site featured a mix of red spruce, hemlock, white pine, red maple, yellow and white birch. The operation was a 30% harvest removal focused on cutting the shorter-lived species like balsam fir and white birch and poorer quality stems to promote growth and quality development of the longer-lived, climax species for the site. We’re pleased with the outcomes of the harvest special thanks to Harry Freeman & Son Ltd and R&C Weare Logging Ltd for their excellent work on this job.
We have awarded our 2022 pre-commercial thinning contract to Conserve-A-Tree Forestry, based out of Chester. We’re looking forward to working with Tyson Prosser and his crew.
Due to some constraints in our operating plan and contractor capacity, we had limited quantities of firewood for sale this spring and are now ceasing taking orders until the fall. In the future we will be able to offer locally sourced, sustainably produced firewood again.
Singing Season: Looking to birds as forest health indicators
The Singing Season halts machine operations in the peak breeding season which otherwise may impede on breeding birds or destroy bird nests, eggs, or breeding territory. MCFC has previously used the term silent season for the month of June and has now adapted the practice as a singing season from May 15th to July 15th with additional management practices to implement ecological forestry that maintains or restores forest habitat and wildlife features.
Matt Betts, a professor of forest ecology at Oregon State University, is studying the decline of bird species caused by deforestation in the Maritimes and the replacement of diverse Acadian forests with simplified forests. A recent study by Betts and colleagues titled Forest degradation drives widespread avian habitat and population declines, published April 28 2022 in the Nature Ecology & Evolution journal shows some species have seen a population decline of up to 70 per cent since 1985. More common species have seen a decline of 50 per cent.
A long history of intensive forest management has in many places resulted in forest simplification with reduced diversity of tree species, ages, heights, standing dead wood, and other complexities that you would expect to find in the Acadian Forest. Generally, today’s forests are younger, often comprised of early successional species, and lack habitat features important for upholding biodiversity.
Photo: Mary Jane (former ED) and Emily (outreach intern) helping with annual migratory breeding bird survey in MCFC sample plots, June 2021 in a post-fire site.
Ecological Forestry: Bird Species-at-risk Management
Much of the MCFC license area fits the above description, intensively managed for centuries, young and regenerating. The silvicultural practices we use today balance ecology and timber values by harvesting in a way that moves the forest along natural successional pathways towards diverse, improved long-lived late successional species composition, and healthy forest habitats. Partial harvesting increases patchiness promoting species and age diversity, helping to restore forest ecosystem complexities.
In partnership with Dalhousie University ornithologists, we’re piloting Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) for bird species-at-risk. Last year we surveyed our upcoming harvest blocks for at-risk birds to ensure that operations maintain or restore habitat.
Photos: Before (left) and after (right) with blue paint marking for permanent retention for habitat features.
Within this buffer trees were marked for retention that have high-value as habitat for Olive-sided Flycatcher, including mature red and black spruce, assorted diameter tall spindly spruce and all legacy snags. Pre-existing patchy areas with excessive wind throw will be maintained to build densities of standing and downed woody material. Adjacent to these patches, potential perch trees and snags have also been marked to promote habitat. The individual tree selection harvest treatment prescribed for the area will encourage uneven-aged conditions of tolerant species, and maintain diversity in vertical and horizontal structure, while removing 25% of the basal area. We have walked the site post-harvest with Dr. Cindy Staicer to assess the outcomes of the treatment and discuss learnings from this first implementation considering ways to improve trail layout and preserve habitat features in upcoming harvests. Layout is such a critical step in creating desired outcomes and protecting valuable wildlife features.
Photo: Post-harvest follow up with Dr. Cindy Staicer (Dalhousie Biologist) and Matt Miller (MCFC Manager)
Summer Events – Save the Date
We’re excited to host several events this year and come together around a diversity of forest values. Check out the save the date details below and look to our events page or social media for event registration in the coming weeks, as registration is required.
Save the dates:
June 18th: Yoga in the Woods (Four Mile Stillwater Trail)
July 23rd & 24th: MCFC Harvest Operations Tour & Women on Forestry Weekend (Maitland Bridge area)
August 14th: Sixth Annual Forest Market (Annapolis Royal Market Square)
The first event is a Saturday morning Yoga in the Woods with Andrea Wegerer (certified yoga instructor from the Mersey River Chalets) at the Four Mile Stillwater Trail. Under old growth hemlock beside the Mersey river.
In partnership with the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, we’re planning for a back-to-back event weekend in July. The Saturday event will tour a recent MCFC harvest in the license area off hwy 8, exploring decisions made for at-risk bird species, wildlife habitat, and ecological forestry implementation. Sunday will be for Women in Forestry in an ongoing series, welcoming forest professionals and land stewards with a theme of climate change adaptation.
Always a favourite, the Forest Market in Annapolis Royal will be held August 14th from 10am to 2pm. No registration required, just stop by the market square and enjoy great vendors, music, and food seaside while the Paint the Town Festival runs. Returning vendors include woodworkers, carvers, foragers, maple syrup producers, naturally dyed apparels, printmakers and artists, 6th generation woodlot stewards, a skin drum maker, and more… we hope to see you there supporting local talent and traditions rooted in the woods.
Photo: Last years Forest Market fun with the Bruce Family Farm, 6th generation woodland stewards.
Membership
If you’re interested in being more involved with the community forest or wish to show support, you can join as a member for a one-time fee of $25 per share which gives you a vote in our meetings, an opportunity to join the board or a subcommittee, or simply just offer your support. Another way to show support is to check out our online store and grab yourself a new hat, sweater, or shirt!