Thank you to everyone who took part in our Backyard Forestry workshop this past weekend! It was amazing to have like-minded participants come in and share their experiences and their knowledge with each other. Every time we host a group I'm always awed by the inspiration and friendliness of the people that come by. Our friends and colleagues are truly some of the best!
Our three instructors, Jaime Simpson, Donna Crossland, & Dale Prest, delivered a phenomenal two days of material. Jaime, originally from New Brunswick, is a forester, lawyer and published author. Forest ecologist Donna Crossland works for Parks Canada in Kejimkujik National Park, and is a brilliant, outspoken advocate for sustainable & healthy forestry practices. Dale Prest is part of Community Forest International (NB), has a Masters in Earth Sciences, and who's life goal is to simply be in the woods and spread the idea of forest carbon sequestration. Each of these presenters were incredibly knowledgable on all aspects of forestry and the ecology of those ecosystems. The topic of the weekend was managing personal woodlots, but as it turns out, there is much more to that then one would think. Not just how to do things, but why you should do them, and how they benefit the natural ecology of your forest. In Nova Scotia, 50% of our land is owned by the public on individual woodlots. Given this, the rural woodlots owners of the province have a lot of power in deciding the future of our forests. Learning why sustainable forestry practices are of utmost importance, not just in our province, but for the planet overall, can help woodlot owners make better choices with their land. The participants took part in lectures, outdoor field classes, and a roundtable with their forestry peers to discuss solutions to the current mismanagement of forestry in Nova Scotia. Overall, a surprisingly emotional learning experience, with lots of great food throughout.
We look forward to next summers forestry workshops, and hope to have another group of passionate intelligent people take part! Be on the lookout for Level 2 Forestry Management Workshops!
-Alex
(check out our Facebook for videos from the presentations!)
Backyard Forestry, July 29th