Wisdom in the Woods Harvesting sap in the city By Sheilla Jones Winnipeg resident Derrick Finch is tapping birch trees for syrup, but unlike most tree­ tappers, he’s harvesting sap in the city instead of the country. “It’s a bit of a cheesy pun,” said Finch, “but urban trees are an untapped resource.” Finch tapped a dozen trees in his St. Boniface neighbourhood this spring, down from twenty trees last year. “It’s a lot of work. In an urban setting, you have to walk or drive to all your trees to check on them.” Finch said this is his third year tapping, and he’s experimenting with developing a cost­effective evaporation system. It takes 40 litres of maple sap to make one litre of syrup, but producing a single litre of birch syrup requires boiling down 100 litres of birch sap. For the time being, Finch said that he is collecting sap for his own use, and experimenting this year with making birch sap beer. But he can also see the potential for an urban sap market. “If there could be a bunch of people tapping trees around the city and selling it to a central buyer, you could create an urban sap harvesting business.” Finch said his partner Ellen Cobb­Friesen studied syrup­ making in 2013 with instructor Ken Fosty at a workshop offered by the Manitoba Forestry Derrick Finch displays a jar of birch syrup from last year's harvest of local birch sap in Winnipeg, some from this 50­­old birch in a neighbour's yard in St. Boniface that Association, and has shared he's tapped again this spring. what she learned with him. • MFA's Year in Review, pages 6­7 • Harvesting ostrich fiddleheads, pages 8­9 March/April 2015 1 ttttttttt Taking on ticks Woodlot Association of Manitoba in the woods Board of Directors 2015/2016 Duct tape has many uses, including taping closed the socks you’ve pulled up over the legs of your pants to keep President: Irene de Graaf, Narol, (204) 661­2068 out wood ticks. It works, although experience shows that you need to wrap the tape around several times to make a [email protected] secure seal. Vice­President: Louise Matthewson, Gimili Spring is tick season, and anyone walking through the Secretary­Treasurer: bush and grassy headlands needs to be mindful that Allan Webb, Stonewall (204) 467­8648 millions of hungry ticks are lying in wait for a warm­ [email protected] blooded creature to walk by. Past President: Len Riding Scientists who study the behaviour of ticks note that they Directors: tend to congregate in clusters on grass stalks or leaf tips at a height of about 0.5­1 metre so they can more easily latch •Mike James, Winnipeg, Beaconia onto a passing deer or human. •Bob Austman, Beausejour Dr. Bill Samuel, a noted Canadian specialist on moose •Tom Dykstra, Balmoral ticks, says that ticks can feel you coming. They can detect •Bruce MacLeod, Winnipeg carbon dioxide from the breath of a moose (or a human) •Clint Pinder, Stony Mountain from about 20 metres (50 feet). They can also detect •Chris Matthewson, Oakbank ground vibrations from someone walking by. Samuel notes •Silvia Chiaramellow, Thalberg that ticks lying in wait in the grass will link their legs together to form a chain, and when a tick manages to The Manitoba Woodlot is published six times annually as a attach itself to its new food source, it brings a whole chain service to the membership of the Woodlot Association of of companions along with it. Manitoba (WAM). The best defence against ticks, says Elizabeth Gleim, a WAM seeks to promote an understanding of sustainable USA forestry researcher and tick specialist, is being woodlot management, increase income and employment vigilant. potential for the woodlot sector, promote the use of woodlot “The number­one thing is to perform prompt, careful full body checks after a visit into the forest. While preventative products in the place of non­renewable and imported products, measures such as wearing insect repellents with DEET or and develop human resources in woodlot management. permethrin are wise, chances are some ticks will get past WAM represents the interests of our members within the these defenses. The good news for most tick­borne Canadian Federation of Woodlot Owners (CFWO). The pathogens is that it takes a tick several hours to transmit a CFWO makes those interests known to forestry ministers at pathogen. If you can remove the tick in that time, you'll be both levels of government. safe.” WAM also has a representative to the Manitoba Model Wearing one­piece coveralls out in the bush helps reduce Forest, another organization that promotes sustainable entry points for ticks. Duct tape can certainly help as a management of Manitoba’s wooded areas. deterrent, but it’s not fool­proof. WAM is a non­profit organization led by a volunteer Board of Directors, which meets monthly. Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is held each year before the end of March CIF AGM set for Kenora in Fall and is open to all members in good standing. The 107th Annual Canadian Institute of Forestry AGM & Conference will be hosted by the Lake of the Woods THE MANITOBA WOODLOT Section in Kenora, Ontario from September 14­17, 2015. Editor: Sheilla Jones This year’s theme is “Sharing the Forest”. Email: [email protected] A pre­conference tour will be travelling from Winnipeg Website: woodlotmanitoba.com to Kenora on Monday September 14th, and a post­ conference tour will be travelling from Kenora to Thunder Bay on Friday September 18th and Saturday Woodlot Association of Manitoba September 19th. 900 Corydon Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3M 0Y4 Registration fee is $495.00. For more details, go online to www.cif­ifc.org/events/2015­cif­agm­conference. 2 The Manitoba Woodlot CFWO Report: A few bright California suffering from spots for woodlot owners massive forest die­off By Bob Austman, CFWO Manitoba Chair Softwood lumber agreement back in the news Millions of trees in California’s national forests have The Canadian Softwood Lumber Agreement is set died from the state’s four­year drought that has left trees to expire in October, adding to the uncertainty in the vulnerable to bark beetle infestations. marketplace. Lawyers on both sides are building their The US Forest Service estimates that about 12.5­ cases. Americans want to charge extra duty on million trees have died in the current drought, adding to imported Canadian lumber, arguing that our low the fuel for potential explosive wildfires. Aerial surveys stumpage rates amount to an unfair subsidy. This reveal nearly a million acres of dead trees in the massive could create a tariff on exports of Canadian lumber, die­off. making us less competitive against domestic The last time California saw a comparable mass die­off American lumber. was in the 1970s, when an estimated 14­million trees CFS to study benefits of woodlots died due to drought conditions. The Canadian Forest Service has begun an Drought isn’t the only threat to California’s forest. extensive probe into the economic and social benefits Bark beetles thrive in warm, dry conditions, and the of woodlots to the national economy. This will drought­weakened trees are vulnerable to beetle hopefully lead to policies that support woodlot infestations that damage the inner bark. The number of owners for the excellent work they do managing their beetle­killed trees, says the Forest Service, has doubled private woodlots, and perhaps some recognition of in the past year. the environmental goods and services they provide, Californians regularly deal with wildfires, but officials such as biodiversity, oxygen production, and carbon say this will be a particularly dangerous year. There have storage. been 850 wildfires in the state so far this year, which is a Provincial finances taking a toll 70 percent increase from the average. An extreme winter in Eastern Canada, especially in the Maritimes, left a record snowpack on the ground this spring. To add to the misery, ice jams affected many rivers, causing localized flooding. There will a prolonged ‘mud season’, making it difficult for landowners and contractors to harvest woodlots. Tight budgets in Quebec and Nova Scotia have led to reduced funding for silviculture programs. The bottom line here is that fewer trees will be planted, and fewer woodlots will receive thinning work, meaning reduced net growth of our future forest resource. In Alberta, a massive deficit is being predicted, leading to layoffs in all natural resource sectors. Provincial forestry staff and other public servants will be affected. CIF AGM set for Kenora in Fall On the bright side… Overall there is an improvement in prices of roundwood delivered to mills. Increased demand in the U.S. is driving the increase, due in part to a weak Canadian dollar. In Manitoba, woodlot owners continue to face a lack of markets, with only two large mills remaining—Tolko in The Pas, and Louisiana Pacific in Swan River. However, the market for firewood is very strong, and dealers are looking for wood on a year­round basis. Until next time, happy woodlotting. Stay safe in the woods! March/April 2015 3 Meet WAM's newest board member: Sivlia Chiaramello My husband Italo Ferrarese and I have a nice farm with cultivated land, woodlot quarter and bush nearby a forest, on sandy land near Thalberg, which is about 40 km north of Beausejour. We had many projects with regard to the wooded part of our property, but also due to our age we have not done many innovations or exploited the bush.