Woodsmen
event a success
AFR:
My wife, daughter, and I just returned from a very enjoyable
day at the 24th Annual NSAC Rick Russell Woodsmen Competition
at the MacMillan Show Centre in Truro, N.S. What a great, well-run
event!
There were more than 150 competitors on 26 teams from Eastern
and Atlantic Canada and the Northeastern U.S. The whole day ran
like clockwork, no doubt to the amount of effort from the organizing
committee and a huge team of volunteers. The stands were not
quite filled, but almost.
Our son was competing on the University of New Brunswick team
out of Fredericton, N.B., and this crew dominated the team events
in the afternoon, led most notably by Bill Freeman of the Freeman
Lumber clan of Queens County, N.S.
You may have seen the pros on the Lumberjack Tour on television
doing the horizontal axe chop you know the one where they're
chopping the stick they're standing on awfully close to their
feet. It's quite unnerving to watch it in person. Bill, obviously
a fine athlete, had the best time of the day at a little more
than 15 seconds in that event, during the Sthil Timbersports
lunchtime competition.
As I mentioned this was the 24th annual and I'm sure there'll
be a 25th, if this year's success is any indication. Next year
everyone should get out and see this thing. My son tells me this
is the best event of the University Team schedule that runs from
here to Quebec and Ontario. There were many fine sponsors for
this event and forestry companies would be well advised to get
on this bandwagon. You should see these folks boil a pot of water
with a block of wood, axe, and three matches. The tea
is ready in three minutes!
Tom Miller
Greenhill, N.S.
New forest
plan is dangerous
AFR:
On Jan. 30, N.B. Premier Graham revealed the provincial government's
new forest management plan. Although this plan was touted as
being a "balanced approach," only industry representatives
were smiling.
The new plan will nearly triple the area available for plantations
(from the present 10 to 28 percent). New Brunswick scientists
recommend plantations not exceed 15 percent of the landbase.
This means that herbicide applications will also increase almost
three-fold.
The new plan will decrease the amount of old forest from 45
to 31 percent at a time when scientists tell us that 40 percent
old forest is the survival threshold for species that depend
on old forest habitats. The new plan will also reduce the area
of conservation forest. This means the area of special wildlife
habitat zones will be cut by at least half. These habitats are
critical to supporting wildlife populations.
The status quo management plan was scrapped because it was unsustainable
(as evidenced by the 20 to 40 percent reduction in hardwood annual
allowable cut coming in 2012) and relied too heavily on a few
narrow markets.
This new plan is little different. There's the same reliance
on a few softwood species, the same strangling tenure system,
and the refusal to plan for adaptation to climate change.
Demand for certified wood products is growing, but our provincial
government chose to allot more public forest to be managed by
methods that are not certifiable by the Forest Stewardship Council.
The plan is neither smart nor sustainable.
Megan deGraaf
Forest Ecologist
Conservation Council of N.B.
|
