UINR’s conference on Sustainable Hardwood Management in Today’s Acadian Forests was the first step in our process towards developing a Mi’kmaq management plan for Unama’ki’s hardwood.
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
