Todd Labrador is a canoe maker from the Wildcat First Nation and, using a presentation of photos, he illustrated the step-by-step process of creating a birch bark canoe. Some of the challenges are finding birch with thick enough bark and the demands of digging 500 feet of roots to sew the canoe together.

Hugh Ross spent his career working as a forester for Stora Enso and, now retired, he spends time as a hobbyist wood turner making bowls, vases and other items from hardwood burls he finds in the woods. Hugh brought along several of his unique pieces in various stages of completion.

David Fraser is the owner of B.A. Fraser Hardwood Mill in Margaree Valley. David spoke about silviculture practices he uses and, in light of biofuel, the need for improved hardwood management.

Biofuel is a hot topic and Jamie Simpson talked about the Acadian Forest and how high value species are over-harvested, leaving a degraded forest. Jamie expressed caution on the amounts harvested for biofuel and the importance in leaving a significant amount of a harvested tree behind to break down and fertilize the soil, contributing to a healthy forest ecology.

Garett Lahey, an instrument maker from Glace Bay, discussed different wood species he uses in the construction and repair of musical instruments. Garett also experiments with different natural products as finishes on his instruments.

Caroline Gould from Waycobah and her great-grand daughter Ursula Johnson from Eskasoni displayed their unique basket-making skills. Caroline discussed the kind of wood she prefers and displayed baskets in various sizes, in different stages of completion and designs.

Cecelia Brooks from St. Mary’s First Nation in New Brunswick is the owner/operator of a natural body products business that uses natural forest products. Cecelia talked about the many different forest resources she uses in her extensive line of products.

The workshop was held with financial assistance from the First Nations Forestry Program and Nova Forest Alliance, in association with the Sustainable Forest Communities program.

Photo (from top left to right): Jamie Simpson, Todd Labrador, Caroline Gould , Ursula Johnson, Garett Lahey, Hugh Ross, David Fraser , Cecelia Brooks

Across Canada over 50,000 forestry jobs have been lost over the last few years. Demand for paper and lumber is declining and unless changes are made, the 270,000 jobs remaining in forestry will be jeopardized.

Mark MacPhail, UINR’s Directory of Forestry believes that despite gloomy predictions there is hope for the industry and a new understanding of the forest as a whole. To drive that point home, UINR is hosting a one-day workshop: “Tetapuo’tmnej Nipukt–Making the Most of Our Hardwood Resources” on Tuesday March 30.

“Our workshop looks at ways we can blend traditional wood production with new uses to get maximum value from every tree. For thousands of years the Mi’kmaq used the forests in a sustainable and diverse way. We need to revisit these methods and return to a balance in the way we treat our forests.”

A diverse selection of workshop speakers include author and forester Jamie Simpson, Mi’kmaq basket makers Caroline Gould and Ursula Johnson, instrument maker Garett Lahey, woodturner Hugh Ross, herb crafter Cecila Brooks, renowned canoe builder Todd Labrador and sawmill owner David Fraser.

The workshop’s keynote speaker is Jamie Simpson, author of “Restoring the Acadian Forest”. Jamie believes that we need to return our forests to their natural, original state. Jamie holds a Master of Science in Forestry degree and has a wealth of experience as a logger and forest management planner. He is Forestry Program Coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax and he has a wealth of experience in forest ecology, land conservation and low-impact logging.

Registration for the one-day workshop is free but attendance is limited to 40 attendees. Register today by emailing your name and contact information to: info@uinr.ca

The UINR forestry division strives for an environmentally sound way to use our natural resources while creating employment for members of our communities and further strengthening relationships between local industry and Mi’kmaq people.

In 2002, an agreement was signed between Stora Enso (now NewPage) and UINR outlining provisions for forestry management services to be carried out by UINR on Cape Breton crown lands. This management includes forest planning, harvesting and silviculture. The contract gives UINR access to act as a contractor and harvest up to 10% of the annual allowable cut on Cape Breton with a potential increase in the harvest volume.

Internationally renowned speakers, Mi’kmaq Elders, forestry experts and industry leaders met over a two-day period in Membertou to share their forestry experience and knowledge.

Dr. Ralph D. Nyland, presented five different sessions over the two days, on a broad range of topics related to hardwood management. Dr. Nyland specializes in northern hardwood silviculture and is Distinguished Service Professor–Silviculture at State University of New York College of Environmental Science of Forestry.

Elder Albert Marshall talked about the direction that he felt UINR should take in hardwood management as a Mi’kmaq organization. Together with Dr. Ralph Nyland’s 48 years of experience, provincial Department of Natural Resources staff and other presenters, UINR is on the right track in our goal to develop our management plan.

Mark MacPhail, UINR’s Director of Forestry explains, “Forestry is a dynamic science and as we look to the past and see what worked and didn’t work before, we can use this knowledge to ensure mistakes will not be repeated.

“The broad spectrum of knowledge that the speakers brought to our conference ensured that anyone–from a layperson to an experienced forester–could take something away” Mark adds, “We are working on publishing the proceedings from the conference so that people that were unable to attend the actual conference can still benefit from the event. The proceedings will be available as a free download from our website. Watch our newsletter for details on when the proceedings will be available.

UINR’s next step is to work with Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources towards developing permanent sample plots to track the reaction of the stands to different silviculture methods.

The conference was sponsored by Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources with assistance from Nova Forest Alliance and Canadian Forestry Service’s First Nations Forestry Program and Canadian Wood Fibre Centre.

mark@uinr.ca

Internationally renowned speakers, forestry experts, Mi’kmaq Elders, and industry leaders are meeting to take an in-depth look at the state of hardwood forest management in today’s Acadian forests.

Forestry management guru, Ralph D. Nyland, is the featured presenter at Sustainable Hardwood Management in Today’s Acadian Forests–a conference on best management practices for sustainable forest communities organized by the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources for July 8 and 9 in Membertou.

The two-day conference at Membertou’sTrade and Convention Centre will feature presentations by experts in the hardwood forestry and sustainability field. Its objective is to enhance the hardwood forests of Cape Breton by educating our forestry industry.

Ralph Nyland specializes in northern hardwood silviculture and is Distinguished Service Professor–Silviculture at State University of New York College of Environmental Science of Forestry.

At this conference, Mr. Nyland will be presenting five different sessions on a broad range of topics, including: Silviculture and Ecosystem Management, Even-age and Uneven-age Management, Disadvantages of Diameter Cutting, and Restoration Silvicultural Practices.

Elder Albert Marshall of Eskasoni will look at First Nations’ perspective on forest management, and Brendan Hemens from Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources will discuss the historical and present use of hardwoods in Nova Scotia.

Muskie Sockabasin will give a presentation on First Nations’ management of Black Ash and hardwoods in New Brunswick. Patricia Amero, Picea Forestry Consulting & Woodlot Services in Bridgewater, will talk about growing high-value trees and her uneven-aged management outreach project.

Jean-Martin Lussier, research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, will discuss the economic objectives in optimizing selection harvesting prescriptions.

Tim McGrath, senior forester with Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources will make a presentation focusing on Nova Scotia silviculture management and the development and use of hardwood models in Nova Scotia. Gary Schneider from PEI’s Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project is a strong believer in the importance of biodiversity and creating strong systems and, in his presentation, he will look at ecosystem hardwood management in the Acadian Forest.

Conference registration is $50 and includes two days, luncheons and nutrition breaks. Pre-registration is recommended, as space is limited. Attendees can register at www.uinr.ca/hardwood.html

Ralph Nyland studies reproduction methods for both even and uneven-aged stands, the dynamics and tending of immature stands and age classes, and the production potential of alternate management strategies. Recent work includes effects of silviculture on wildlife habitat and other non-commodity values. His selection system research and studies of even-aged reproduction methods date to the early 1970s. It includes permanently documented stands, with some into the second cutting cycle. He has authored or co-authored more than 135 technical publications, written two books, and edited another.

The conference is sponsored by Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources with assistance from Nova Forest Alliance and Canadian Forestry Service’s First Nations Forestry Program and Canadian Wood Fibre Centre.

For more information contact Mark MacPhail: mark@uinr.ca

From UINR Marten – Vol.4. Issue.2 – Summer 2008

Internationally renowned speakers, forestry experts, Mi’kmaq Elders, and  industry leaders are meeting to take an in-depth look at the state of hardwood forest management in today’s Acadian forests.

UINR in partnership with Nova Forest Alliance, will be announcing details on our website.

From UINR Marten – Vol.4. Issue.1 – Spring 2008

Complete with planting instructions, a Red Oak acorn for planting, and a peat pellet–all you need to do is add water, stand back, and watch your very own Red Oak tree grow!

You can pick up your kit at the UINR office on Shore Road, Mondayâ–Friday 8:30–4:30.

Mi’kmaq people once used the Red Oak’s acorns by pounding them into a fine flour and baking it into bread. The bark was used as an astringent to treat hemorrhaging and powder made from acorns was used as a diuretic. An infusion of bark or roots was used for diarrhea.

Red Oak is a fast-growing tree and will grow in almost all well- drained soils. It can grow in full sun or light shade. The growth of a tree depends on the soil type, nutrients, water availability, and the amount of light it receives.

Northern Red Oak

From UINR Marten – Vol.4. Issue.1 – Spring 2008

The forests of the earth can be viewed from two different perspectives; one being an acknowledgment and celebration of the life given to the forests through the hard labour of the living earth, and one being a view which places value only on the products we humans manufacture from the forests. The first view is inherent in First Nation societies around the globe. The second is a Eurocentric view which predominates in current culture. When we speak of preserving our forests, from these two perspectives, we mean very different things. For someone outside First Nation culture and beliefs, a person means the preservation of the forest industry to serve the wants of people. When we speak from inside First Nation culture and beliefs, we mean the preservation of the forest to provide for our needs.

First Nation people understand the earth to be a living entity, indeed the living Mother upon whom we all depend. The trees work hard to gather their sap, to bloom, to let go of their spring life, and to live again when a new cycle begins. Therefore our economic perspective is based upon a principle not known in other economic systems: gratitude for this work. We understand our place to be one of dependence. We perceive our continued existence to be dependant upon another living being; our Mother the Earth. We recognize a responsibility to live in harmonious way with the life upon which we depend. Our learning then comes from the species around us, who teach us how to live in this harmonious way.

The Eurocentric perspective is quite different. It depends upon forgetting that the earth and forests live. Labour is thought to be the domain of human beings, who therefore bring value to an otherwise valueless entity by virtue of this labour. The place of humans is one of supremacy, and our dependence is upon sustaining an economy of greed. The responsibility is to do well in this economics of greed, to compete as it were, and therefore the teachers are other humans. The products we want, rather than the products we need, become our purpose when we relate to the forests.

In this way, when Europeans came to our land, they flooded our living forests; they cut away all life from our forests, they altered what our Mother the Earth naturally grew to suit their needs. And we, as a First Nation people, grieved for this.

albert@uinr.ca

The mature forest of white spruce that surrounds my home and spreads through the hills of Castle Bay have a visitor. And it’s not a welcome one.

Fifty years ago, there was barely a tree to be seen as the land was cleared for farmland and pasture. As farmers abandoned the land for jobs in the city, white spruce took hold and, in 50 years, the landscape was transformed to shady forests of tall, mature spruce. You can see this pattern repeated throughout Nova Scotia, resulting in many stands of even-aged, white spruce forests.

White spruce grows fast and is short lived. At 50 years, the trees are mature, rot can set in, and they are susceptible to being blown down in high winds. They are also vunerable to disease and attacks by insects.

Enter our guest–the simply named Spruce Beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby), an insect native to Nova Scotia.

Last year, I noticed that some trees in the surrounding forests were turning brown. By this summer, the number of trees turning from healthy, vibrant green to brown has tripled. It’s not a gradual thing with a branch dying here and there–the whole tree dies.

Early in May, Spruce Beetles bore into the spruce’s bark, right down to the outer layer of sapwood. Here they mate, lay their eggs, and the feasting begins. When the larvae hatch, they eat together for a while and then go on their own, forming tunnels that soon ring the tree, preventing nutrients from flowing, and quickly killing the tree.

The adult beetles leave the tree in the fall and seek out a place to overwinter at the bases of the trees. If it’s a cold winter, keeping the beetle population low, the trees are able to resist their attack. Younger, healthy trees can produce additional sap to counter the attack, but when the trees are at the end of their life cycle, and the Spruce Beetles are plentiful–resistance is futile!

So how do you know if the Spruce Beetle has taken up residence? Watch for small holes about 1 mm in diameter that may have sap dripping out of them, or dried sap covering the holes. Watch for reddish- brown sawdust on the bark and the base of the tree. If you notice the tree turning reddish brown in late summer, it’s too late.

So what can you do? Unfortunately, very little. Harvest the spruce trees before they become over mature, remove trees that have blown down, don’t leave tall stumps and thick slash when harvesting. Harvest infested trees and remove them from the forest, destroy bark and slabs. Because most white spruce trees grow in same-aged stands, all of the trees may need to be cut.

Harvested logs should be placed in water to kill the remaining beetles.

From the human perspective, the attack of the Spruce Beetle is a costly nuisance. But it is nature’s way of preparing the forest for its next phase, and from the Spruce Beetles’ point-of-view, it is time to feast, multiply, and fulfil their purpose in nature!

From UINR Marten – Vol.3. Issue.3 – Autumn 2007