Forestry funding could help with Fiona damage, silviculture in Pictou County

After Fiona swept through Nova Scotia in September, Nova Scotia’s Natural Resources and Renewables Minister Tory Rushton took a tour of forests from Cumberland County through to Cape Breton.

There was damage everywhere, but he saw that Pictou County got particularly hit hard.

“Pictou faced the brunt of this storm,” Rushton said. “I know there's some heavy, heavy work that's going on to get this cleaned up right now in the area.”

On March 9, he announced some more support to help those woodlot owners, in Pictou County and beyond that are recovering from the storm and want to grow healthy forests for the future.

"Private woodlot owners still need support to clean up trees downed by the hurricane so we're investing more money to help," Rushton said in his formal announcement about the funding. "We're also making sure owners have certainty about silviculture funding in plenty of time to make plans and start work to manage their woodlots sustainably."

The Department is investing an additional $5.7 million this fiscal year to help private woodlot owners with Fiona cleanup and to manage their lands sustainably: Of that, $2.5 million extends eligibility for Fiona-related assistance to industrial private woodlots and provides more support for repairing roads. The Department previously supported private woodlot owners with $4.6 million for cleaning up trees, preparing to replant, repairing roads and re-establishing boundary lines.

The remaining $3.2 million of what was announced last week is for silviculture work and will allow contractors to get started in the spring as soon as the weather allows, rather than having to wait for the Department's 2023-24 budget to be finalized.

“Something that I heard very early on in my days as minister going around the province and talking with the sector is our silviculture program fiscally didn't necessarily line up with what was going on in the ground or in the woods – tree planting and such,” Rushton said.

Shifting the time of the funding will allow those in the forestry sector to better project what work they can do rather than guess or wait for a formal announcement later.

This marks a permanent shift in the schedule of silviculture funding. Starting with the 2023-24 budget, budgeted silviculture funding will be for work in the subsequent fiscal year.

The hope is that this change will allow for early planning, and mean valuable time in the woods is not lost in the spring.

Those interested in applying for this funding can do so through the Association of Sustainable Forestry.

"We are pleased to co-ordinate the provincial forestry funding for both silviculture treatments and Fiona cleanup,” stated Association for Sustainable Forestry Executive Director David Sutherland. “The timely alignment of this funding with the considerable work to be done on the ground will provide vital resources to private woodlot owners."

Forest Nova Scotia Executive Director Stephen Moore, also expressed gratitude for the announcement.

"Nova Scotia's forest sector provides a net environmental benefit. We plant more trees than we harvest, and we take more carbon out of the environment than we emit. As a sector, we are committed to the continued responsible management of our forests and to furthering our positive environmental impact. The funding for silviculture and Fiona cleanup helps us do that."