Considering Logging? Hiring a Qualified Logger

I wrote last week about researching, planning, and exploring your property before commiting to logging- or a logger.

Today, I noticed on the Ontario Forestry Association website a new resource they have developed called Hiring a Qualified Logger- it's a matter of doing your homework!

It includes:

• Questions you may want to ask when hiring a logger
• Questions to ask when checking references
• Additional Tips

Check it out and Good Luck!

Considering logging? Read this first!

Have you been offered money from a logger to harvest your woodlot?

Interested but think there is a better way?
There is!

It requires researching sound advice to make the best decisions possible to protect the health and integrity of your woodlot.

Woodlot owners harvest trees for many reasons: to generate income, produce lumber or firewood for your own use, create recreational trails for skiing, hiking, or hunting, improve wildlife habitat, or to maintain the health of your forest.

These reasons are not mutually exclusive.

Whatever your reason, there are many factors to consider first.

Do Some Research

The choice of a silvicultural system depends on characteristics unique to each woodlot. The book "A Landowners Guide to Careful Logging" provides landowners with sound advice as they make decisions to protect the health and integrity of their woodlots, while maximizing financial returns. Download it, or pick up a free copy at MHF.

In addition to a silvicultural system that is appropriate for your woodlot, a reputable consultant and/or logger is a must. They ensure that logging operations are conducted accordance with good forestry practices and that other values in the woodlot are protected and maintained. This guide also has more information about this selection process. Contact me for a list of loggers in Muskoka.

Make A Plan

Download or pick up a copy of "A Guide the Stewardship Planning for Natural Areas". Fill in the blanks on the worksheets to make a personalized plan for your woodlot. I have these books at the MHF office and they're free! Also, see the upcoming December issue of the MHF newsletter, the Steward, for an article about planning for your stewardship activities.

Learn, Read, Explore!

Access resources: do some winter reading.

Attend workshops: learn from others and the experts

Explore your property: what wildlife lives there? when and where is it wet, dry? what kinds of trees? what do you use it for?

Consider becoming a landowner participant in the Stewardship Program.

I'd love to chat with you about how the program can help you! Contact me today.

Stewards of the land

Did you catch this article in the August 12th edition of the Muskokan?

I will update this post with a link to the article when it becomes available.

Interested in having a Master Steward out to your property?

Send me an email!

Find out how in the 'Contact Us' section.

Happy Earth Day!

How are you celebrating Earth Day?

For some reason, I have been thinking a lot lately about the connections between the Muskoka Stewardship Program and biodiversity. Ecological diversity to be sure, as the actions landowners will undertake to conserve the ecological features of their land contribute to the well being of the systems on their property in a biological sense.

But what about community diversity? How does our learning about and from our land in a biological sense influence how we interact with our community of neighbours? Certainly the answer will be different for each landowner depending on the interests she has on her property and her relationship with her neighbours.

I think it will be exciting to notice the interactions that take place between neighbours during the course of this field season. It is my hope that we can encourage neighbours to be partners in their conservation efforts. Although our land can be separated by property lines, it is ultimately connected through the flora and fauna that exist there. The potential for these beings to connect us with our neighbours is an exciting prospect for community partnership in conservation through private stewardship.

Happy Earth Day!

In Stewardship,

Rebecca