Page 28 - Working on the Sydney Coal Piers

ISSUE : Issue 44

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1987/1/1

Nursery Production GROWING by tiie ilAiiiions. By next spring, Stratiflome Forest Nursery wiU be one of the largest forest nurseries in the country, with annual production of more than 18 million softwood seedlings. Local staff working at this Inverness County facility are playing a key role in the ongoing program to reforest the budworm-kiUed woodlands of eastern Nova Scotia. opened in 1981, the basic nursery set the stage for great things to come. By 1985, it was producing 4.5 million seedlings a year. It produced 7.4 million this past year, and plans call for 10.0 million seedlings in 1987 and 17 million by 1988. This increased production was made possible by a $600,000 expansion • 10 new greenhouses and a headerhouse • completed in 1986. Under a Phase II expansion, the provincial government is spending 11.2 million and the federal government $300,000 to: • build 10 new greenhouses, a storage building and shade houses; • expand the nursery's laboratory; • build a production building, lunchroom and washrooms; • install a standby generator for the new focilities; • and install a wood chip burning system to heat the complex. Local woodlot owners, forestry group ventures, the forest industry, and the provincial and federal governments are conmiitted to renewing the vitality of the forest resource. In eastern Nova Scotia, the Strathlorne Forest Niusery will be producing the top quality seedlings to do a large part of this job. iNUva ouuuci Department of Lands and Forests Sprucing up the Highlands Reforestation of the Cape Breton Highlands relies heavily on black and white spruce. This is because the spruce has ad'ted to the harsh, boreal conditions and because it is more resistant to defoliation by the budworm. Unfortunately, spruce seed has been in short supply because the budworm likes to eat the spruce flowers, which produce the seed. However, Lands and Forests crews combed the Highlands in 1978 and 1979 and were able to find some black spruce trees that had produced cones. From collections of seed, black spruce seedlings were grown for several years. In 1982 a crew of 34 women from Mabou to Margaree took 525,000 cuttings from these seedlings and planted them in multipot containers at the Strathlorne greenhouse. As the original seedlings and older cuttings grew, more cuttings were taken each year. Until more Highland black spruce seed is available, the nursery will produce about three million seedlings from such cuttings each year. These seedlings will be planted on the Highlands. In recent years, white spruce seed has been collected from Highland stands that have recovered partially. Each year, the nursery will grow about three million seedlings from these seed sources for immediate planting. These greenhouse-grown white and black spruce seedlings will restore productivity to areas of the Highlands iiich are not regenerating naturally. SIXTY YEARQ OF GROWTH O 1926111986 1'

Cape Breton's Magazine