SPRINGHILL - Woodlot owners spent the morning at Dr. Carson and Marion Murray Centre last Saturday learning ways to improve upon forest sustainability.
Eighteen woodlot owners took advantage of the Association for Sustainable Forestry's workshop, discussing ways to improve their forest land, according to David Sutherland, association coordinator.
"Many landowners would like to improve the quality of trees that are growing on their properties. There is now a program in place that promotes selection cutting, crop tree release and crop tree pruning. There is funding available through the Department of Natural Resources that provides the essential funding to get the process started," Sutherland said.
The association coordinator said Picea Forestry Consulting has been hired to help woodlot owners identify the opportunities for quality improvement of their forests.
"We are here to help woodlot owners understand and be made aware of what funding is available to them for sustainable forestry, why it available and where," Patricia Amero, co-ordinator for the workshop said.
The woodlot owners spent the morning in at the community centre learning about uneven-aged management, ways to improve silviculture treatments and sessions on ecosystem-based forest management.
Uneven-aged management allows the woodlot owner to maintain or achieve a forest similar to the one that would occur naturally, which means trees are harvested individually or in small groups rather than all at once.
After the group spent the morning learning about forest sustainability they proceeded to Brian Brown's woodlot for a field session where what they discussed at the community centre could be illustrated.
