Second expanded Uneven-Aged Management Project launched

Woodland owners and silviculture contractors in Nova Scotia will soon have another chance to learn about uneven-aged management and growing high-value trees. In 2010-2011, the Association for Sustainable Forestry (ASF) will offer an expanded version of an educational project that was enthusiastically received by hundreds of Nova Scotia woodland owners and silviculture contractors when offered in 2007-2008.
The Uneven-Aged Management Project is designed to educate woodland owners and silviculture contractors interested in growing long-lived, shade-tolerant tree species and quality forest products. It focuses on silviculture practices associated with uneven-aged management-selection management, crop tree release, and crop tree pruning-and on funding available for these treatments through the ASF's Category 7 Quality Improvement Silviculture Program.
The project will also provide woodland owners and contractors with information on forest ecosystem classification and selection of trees that have the potential to grow into high-value products.
Beginning in late April the Outreach Project will offer more than a dozen free workshops throughout the province. Workshops will include a visit to a woodlot where quality-improvement silviculture treatments have been or could be conducted. They will emphasize "how to's" of uneven-aged management, with offer opportunities to learn through hands-on exercises conducted in the field. Woodland owners and contractors will learn how to ensure that quality-improvement silviculture treatments are successful and cost effective, including tree marking and crop tree selection.
Registration for each workshop will be capped at 25 people, so pre-registration will be required.
The project also will offer educational materials at meetings and conferences and via the Internet.
The NS Department of Natural Resources (NSDNR) as part of program to increase the number of small, private woodlot owners who use uneven-aged forest management methods on appropriate sites is funding this project. The NS Woodlot Owners and Operators Association will conduct it on behalf of the ASF in collaboration with Picea Forestry Services and Woodlot Management of Bridgewater, NS.
Interested woodlot owners and contractors are encouraged to contact the Category 7 Outreach Project at 902-673-2278 or outreach@asforestry.com.
Spring woodlot owner workshops:
April 24: West Northfield area, Lunenburg County.
May 15: Maitland Bridge, Annapolis County.
May 29: Mooseland area, Halifax East County.
June 12: near Springhill, Cumberland County.
June 19: near Baddeck, Victoria County, Cape Breton.