The spring 2013 edition of Private Forest Matters—a quarterly newsletter distributed to members of the Private Forest Landowners Association. Includes: a visit to Arbutus Grove Nursery, tips for management planning and getting the best value for your forest products.

1. Private Forest Matters
The Winter Lift at Arbutus Grove Nursery
Spring 2013
In This Issue
The Winter Lift at Arbutus
Grove Nursery 1
6 Steps to a Successful Management
Plan for Your Woodland 2
The Secret to Getting the Best Value
for Your Forest Products 3
Important PFLA Dates
to Remember 3
PFLA Hometown Tour:
That’s A Wrap 4
5 Messages Every Candidate Should
Know About Private Forestry 4
Everything starts somewhere — ideas, au-
tomobiles, toaster ovens, plaid pants, even
trees. All of the trees planted here on the
coast of British Columbia owe their start to
the skill, care, expertise and dedication of
nursery workers. Arbutus Grove Nursery,
Pacific Regeneration Technologies (PRT)
and Sylvan Vale Nursery, all provide great
products and service, but when PFLA nee-
ded seedlings in a hurry we swung by our
closest source, Arbutus Grove Nursery.
Impressed by the hustle and bustle of
the winter lift, we couldn’t resist inviting
ourselves back for a closer look (armed
with digital cameras and hand-held
video devices).
Thanks to Nathaniel Stoffeslma for taking the
time to tour us around their North Saanich
nursery—family owned and operated since
1981 when Nathaniel’s father planted their
first crop of trees in a lone half-greenhouse.
More than three decades later, the nursery
boasts seven guttered-greenhouses, of va-
rious sizes, and a reputation for growing
Coastal Douglas-fir well.
Over the years, Arbutus Grove Nursery has
adapted and persevered to survive uncertain
economic times in the coastal forest industry.
Along with shifts in capacity, they’ve noticed
a significant change in expectation,“30 years
ago foresters expected 50% of trees to succ-
eed in the field.”Today, customers at Arbutus
Grove Nursery expect much more from their
trees. Nathaniel estimates their trees have a
growing success rate of close to 95 percent.
A common misconception about Arbutus
Grove Nursery is the perception that they
grow trees for ornamental use. Nathaniel
explains,“People don’t understand how
thorough the reforestation industry is —
probably 35 million trees are planted, every
year, here on the coast. Across B.C., it’s pro-
bably closer to 200 million trees, every year.
That’s 100,000 times more trees planted each
year than the ornamental tree industry.”
As a contract grower, customers provide the
seeds (generally) and Arbutus Grove Nursery
grows the seedlings to the customers’spe-
cifications. Coastal-Douglas fir is the most
popular species they grow, but they also
grow other coastal species like Western red-
cedar. The winter lift is their busiest time of
year. Seedlings are lifted, in December and
January, when they’re at the ideal condition
for planting and then preserved in cold stor-
age until the spring planting season begins.
The lifting shed is the epicenter of this
bustling operation. Millions of seedlings,
transferred from trays, travel along conveyor
belts to be checked for quality, wrapped in
packs of five or ten, packed into boxes and
stacked onto pallets before being transpor-
ted to cold storage. To accomplish this, they
employ about 70 people, on two shifts, from
7 a.m. until midnight.
This year, Arbutus Grove Nursery will produce
about 50,000 boxes of seedlings (approxima-
tely 12 million trees in total), and roughly 60
to 70 percent of those seedlings will be
planted on private forest land.
Contact Information
P.O. Box 48092
Victoria, BC V8Z 7H5
Tel: 250 381 7565
Fax: 250 381 7409
www.pfla.bc.ca
Rod Bealing - Executive Director
rod.bealing@pfla.bc.ca
Ina Shah - Office Manager
info@pfla.bc.ca

2. 6 Steps to a Successful Management Plan for Your Woodland
Planning is a big part of getting the most out
of your woodland. Once you’ve conducted
your forest inventory and identified your per-
sonal goals and objectives, the next step on
the path to a successful management plan
is to consider the range of management
options available and develop a plan to
connect your options with your objectives.
To help you out, we’ve summarized some of
the thorough and thoughtful advice from
“Managing Your Woodland: A Non-forester’s
Guide to Small-Scale Forestry in British
Columbia”for your easy reference.
1. Identify your management strategy.
Your management options are the range of
potential and alternative management appr-
oaches, actions, and techniques available to
achieve your goals. Your management strate-
gy represents the overall plan for achieving
the goals and the forest inventory helps
ground your expectations in reality.
A number of factors determine what
is possible:
• Practical considerations
(operational feasibility)
• Financial considerations (cost and return
on investment)
• Woodlot conditions such as age of
your forest
• Biological/ecological characteristics of
the site
This is also a good time to consult a prof-
essional expert for assistance and advice in
choosing your management options. A mis-
take at this stage could prove costly later on.
2. Divide your woodland into
management areas. It’s useful to divide
your woodland into areas that are similar
in terms of how you’ll manage them. Each
management area is comprised of stands
that are similar enough in species, age, sto-
cking and site characteristics that they can
be treated as one unit. Management areas
can also consist of areas of your woodland
that you wish, or need, to manage for other
values, such as wildlife habitat, riparian
protection or visual aesthetics.
3. Identify your short-term objectives.
Once you’ve defined the management areas,
you can identify your objectives for each area.
Your objectives should be consistent with
your goals and focus on what you need or
intend to do in the management area over
the short-term (five years). These objectives
set the stage for scheduling specific mana-
gement activities you intend to follow (e.g.
road building, harvesting, planting, stand
tending treatments).
• Will you manage an area as even-aged or
uneven-aged?
• Do you plan to manage for conservation
or agroforestry?
• What products will you produce
(sawlogs, firewood, botanicals, grazing)?
4. Make a schedule for your short-term
management activities. A surefire way to
achieve the long-term vision you have for
your woodland is to follow an activity plan
— a list of short-term management activities
you develop for each management area on
your woodland.
The activity plan provides the detailed steps
and activities you plan to undertake on a
year-to-year basis. It covers the who, what,
when, where and how:
• Who will do it: owner, manager,
contractor, family members,
volunteer group
• What will be done: road construction,
harvesting, stand tending,
reforestation, etc.
• Where it will be done: the management
area location
• When it will be done: year, season
• How it will be done: methods,
equipment, treatment, special guidelines
You might also want to include:
• An estimate of the cost for each activity,
and where the money will come from.
• Flexibility to allow for unplanned
circumstances (changes in markets,
weather, new opportunities).
• Contingencies in case you’re unable to
follow through with an activity.
5. Define your management standards
and guidelines. It’s a good idea to set
standards and guidelines to ensure your
management plan meets the goals and
objectives you have for your woodland.
Anyone who works on your land should
know what these standards and guidelines
are. Examples of basic standards include:
• Target seedling densities for
reforestation work
• Wet-weather and fire season
working criteria
• Maximum skid trail widths
There’s lots of good information available
from a variety of sources (e.g. provincial,
federal and U.S. state governments; local
woodlot associations; forestry professionals;
Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Reso-
urce Operations offices). If you’re a managed
forest owner,“The Handbook of Best Manag-
ement Practices for Private Forest Land in
British Columbia” recommends standards to
help ensure you meet the forest practices
requirements set out in the Managed
Forest Land Act.
6. Measure your activities as you proceed
with your plan. Remember:“If you don’t
measure it, you can’t manage it.”Planning
is a continual process. It doesn’t stop once
you’ve produced a hardcopy, hold-it-in-
your-hands plan. As you go along, keep
track of how well your plan is working —
are your management activities achieving
the intended results? The character of your
woodland, and your needs, will change so
adjust your plan to reflect these shifts.
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3. The Secret to Getting the Best Value for Your Forest Products
The most important thing to remember:
you’ve spent a long time growing your trees,
it makes good sense to spend some time ma-
rketing them to make sure you get the best
return on your investment.
A number of factors can influence the pro-
ducts you choose to produce; for example:
• The short- and long-term objectives you
have for your property
• The species mix, age and quality of
your forest
• The markets you can sell to
Like any decision-making process, a good
way to begin is to make a list. Start by ide-
ntifying the personal goals and objectives
you have for your woodland. In a separate
list, you can itemize the potential products
available from your woodland (based on the
species mix, age, size and condition of the
trees in the stand). The next step is to find
the most effective way to use your
inventory to achieve your goals.
If you’re wondering how, we’ve compiled a
list of 6 important principles to help along
the way. Thanks again to“Managing Your
Woodlands: A Non-forester’s Guide to
Small-scale Forestry in British Columbia”
for the inspiration and the information.
Educate yourself. The more you know about
your forest inventory, the harvesting process
in general and available markets the better
situated you are to make informed decisions
that will help you get the best value for your
forest products. Start by talking to your
neighbours, other forest owners, woodlot
licensees — people who have firsthand
experience selling small parcels of logs. Ask
them for references, suggestions, tips, mis-
takes they wish they hadn’t made. Collect
as much information as you can.
Do your research first. You’ll get the best
value for your timber if you know where it’s
going before you harvest it. Different mark-
ets have different specifications: by cutting to
match your buyer’s preferences you ensure
the best value for your forest products. Alt-
ernatives almost always exist. Find out how
much you can get for different products so
you can compare their values, costs of
production, and the impacts of their
production on your woodland.
Contact a local broker. If you’re a small
owner, who doesn’t have a lot of recent
experience selling forest products, dealing
with a broker is often your best bet. Invite
potential buyers out to your woods. Walk
them through your stand and show them
what you’re thinking of doing. Take notes.
You’ll learn a lot from this discussion about
what products your stand can produce, as
well as prices and marketing options for
those products.
Pay attention to market conditions. To some
extent the market is cyclical, but it’s dynamic.
What was hot last month might be an over
supply this month. Market conditions will
affect the price you get for your products.
Since production costs remain fairly constant,
the ability to take advantage of high points in
the market cycle will make a difference in the
profit you receive.
Be prepared to take advantage of market
conditions. If you follow the ups and downs
of the markets you’re selling to, and you’re
ready to act when markets are paying top
prices, you’ll get the best value for your pr-
oducts. To do this, have your roads in place
and your production processes clearly out-
lined. Decide, as early as possible, what your
role is and identify potential sub-contractors
for felling, skidding or hauling.
Look for opportunities to increase the value
of your products. Market conditions will
largely determine selling prices, so look for
opportunities to increase the value of your
products (e.g. forest certification, log exports,
specialty products). A process like forest ce-
rtification or a change in production may
create a higher value product that appeals
to different markets. Adding value can be
as simple as bucking or as complex as
handcrafting furniture.
Want more information? We’ve compiled a
list of contact information for local buyers
and brokers. If you’re a forest owner who’d
like more information, or if you’re a local
buyer who’d like to be added to our list,
please email: info@pfla.bc.ca
or call: 250 381 7565.
Important PFLA Dates
to Remember
PFLA Annual General Meeting
June 19th & 20th, 2013
Save the Date! We’re pumped to announce
the 18th Annual PFLA Field Tour, Forestry
Forum and AGM will be held June 19th
and 20th, 2013 at the Coast Bastion Hotel in
Nanaimo, B.C. We’re gearing up for another
informative and engaging event chock full of
interesting opportunities to connect. Look for
more schedule and registration information
in your mailbox soon!
Rudi Kind Memorial Scholarship
June 1st, 2013 deadline
The Rudi Kind Memorial Scholarship
celebrates founding PFLA member Rudi
Kind’s contributions to private forestry.
Applicants must be entering a forestry-
related, natural resource program and
preference is given to family members
of managed forest owners.
For more information, please contact
info@pfla.bc.ca or visit the www.pfla.bc.ca
to download an application.
Private Forest Stewardship Award
June 1st, 2013 deadline
Calling all nominations! Each year PFLA
recognizes a managed forest owner for
outstanding commitment to private forest
stewardship in B.C.
Please submit nominations for the 2013
Private Forest Stewardship Award, via email,
to info@pfla.bc.ca. Include the name of your
nominee, and a brief description illustrating
why they make an excellent candidate for
the Private Forest Stewardship Award.
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4. PFLA Hometown Tour:
That’s a Wrap!
The PFLA hometown tour is all wrapped up
for 2013. We traveled up and down the island,
and across the province, to meet face-to-face
with forest owners and hear firsthand what’s
important to you. We’re gushingly grateful to
everyone who took time out of your busy
schedules to join us. We can’t emphasize
enough what an integral contribution your
feedback makes to the overall wellbeing
and direction of the organization.
As always, we found managed forest owners
committed, engaged and keen to hear about
policy development issues. Reported impro-
vements in lumber markets have spurred an
increased appetite for timber harvesting and
owners are interested to learn more about
timber harvesting, reforestation and stand
tending. We look forward to incorporating
some of this information into the upcoming
field tour and forestry forum at the AGM in
June. We’re also working with the Private
Managed Forest Land Council to put tog-
ether a technical workshop. PFLA continues
to meet with the Wildfire Management
Branch and advocate on behalf of forest
owners about changes to the firefighting
cost sharing agreements.
Thanks again for your continued interest and
support for PFLA activities and programs.
5 Messages Every Candidate Should Know
About Private Forestry
With any election comes a swarm of
pre-election activities — candidates are
selected, platforms are decided, campaigns
are forged, community meetings are plan-
ned, doors are knocked on, information is
distributed and babies are kissed.
Because B.C.’s private managed forest lands
are located around some of Canada’s fastest
growing communities, we can be certain
private forestry will be talked about in the
upcoming provincial election.
You can imagine a host of new candidates
— bombarded by 30-second sound bites,
conflicting opinions, varying perspectives
and deliberate misinformation — might feel
overwhelmed. Our goal is to make it as easy
and painless as possible for candidates to
learn the facts about private forestry.
If a candidate knocks on your door, or you’re
inclined to knock on their door, or for some
other reason you find yourself with 60 seco-
nds to talk to your local candidate, here are
five key messages to share about private
forestry in B.C.
1. Private managed forest owners are the
only landowners in B.C. committed and
legally bound to grow and harvest trees.
We’ve planted more than 100 million trees
on private forest land in the past 10 years
(that’s a lot of trees!).
2. Private managed forest land is governed
by over 30 acts and regulations that protect
key public environmental values including
water quality, fish habitat, critical wildlife
habitat, soil conservation and reforestation.
3. Forest owners are responsible neighbours
to some of B.C.’s fastest growing communit-
ies. The timber crops we’re harvesting today
were planted decades ago, long before
expanding communities built subdivisions
next door to our forests.
4.We have a solid track record of resp-
onsible practices and community comm-
unications. Nobody likes surprises (except
maybe lottery winnings) so we make every
reasonable effort to talk with our neighbours
and let people know what’s happening with
our operations.
5.We value healthy dialogue. Invite your
candidate out into the woods to see first
hand how we manage our forests. Offer to
help with any other questions they might
have. Let them know: we’re part of the
solution and we’re here to help.
Keep it simple, keep it positive, keep
it friendly!
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