Industry News News Forestry Management Harvesting
Nova Scotia’s Forestry Innovation Transition Trust invests $9.8M in the Family Forest Network

Nova Scotia’s Forestry Innovation Transition Trust, established following the closure of Northern Pulp in January 2020, is investing $9.8 million in the Family Forest Network for a five-year pilot project, which will focus on ecologically sensitive forest treatments on 200 small private woodlots in the province.

According to CBC News, the project will help make loggers more comfortable with an approach in the Lahey review of forestry practices, which called for a reduction of clear cutting on Crown Land.

“”This is a departure from the practices of the last 50 years and a move toward saying that we can do economically viable forestry that also considers other values and protects them in the process of creating some income,” Andy Kekacs, a member of the network’s steering committee, told CBC.

Another $2.6 million was announced for the industry-led Forestry Economic Task Force, which plans to spend the next two years building a plan considering new economic opportunities for the industry. The task force will specifically focus on how wood products could replace other products, such as petroleum, and work to understand how opportunities would work in the context of Nova Scotia’s wood supply, capacity, workforce and social concerns.

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