Article written by Gary Schneider

Many, many years ago I treeplanted for a local contractor, pounding in rows upon rows of white spruce, or black spruce, or white pine.  We would put in between 1,000 and 1,250 trees per acre.  Today, most of us know that putting in pure conifer plantations was both an ecologic and an economic mistake.

That doesn’t mean we sit on our hands and hope nature rebuilds healthy Wabanaki/Acadian forests on its own.  The main problem stems from how we have handled land in this province for hundreds of years.  The Mi’kmaq had a relationship with forests for thousands of years.  They used it for sure but didn’t try to destroy it.  That wouldn’t have made any sense, as it would have negatively impacted their source of food, medicine, clothing, fuel for heat, building materials, and a host of other things.

The European settlers were a different story.  They were looking for farmland in a forested landscape.  Their solution was to clear up to 75% of the forest and start planting crops.

Most of the forests we see around us today are the result of land clearing followed by hundreds of years of agriculture.  When fields were abandoned, they grew up primarily in white spruce, a tree commonly surrounding the fields in windbreaks.  The problem was – and still is – the lack of seed sources for so many of our native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and ferns.

This is why Macphail Woods stresses planting seed sources rather than plantations.  We’re not focused on short-term results.  Instead, we’re looking at the bigger picture.  If we put seed sources in place, we are helping nature to heal itself.

We can see great examples of this around some of the churches and community centres that have older red oak trees.  The large, planted red oak will have mid-sized oaks hundreds of yards away.  Then you’ll notice saplings further out, and still further away you’ll find seedlings popping up.  With red oak, it is the blue jays and the red squirrels that are spreading the acorns.  With sugar maple and white ash, it will be the wind that is relied on for distribution.

Planting an ironwood, a sugar maple, a red oak – these are all wonderful things to do, as long as they are in the right place and well looked after.  They store carbon, enrich the soil, and provide cover and nesting habitat.  But it is when those plants start setting seed that the true value of your work comes to light.  When I see white ash seedlings under a tree that I’ve planted fifteen years ago, I know that was a good thing to do.  The payback for shrubs is much quicker.  We can have witch hazel and beaked hazelnut seeding after only three-four years.  Some seeds will be eaten by a variety of wildlife, while some will find themselves in inhospitable habitats and simply return to the earth.  But many will germinate and continue the process of restoring our forests.

If you have a field that is growing up in trees and shrubs, consider adding species appropriate to the site that will increase both present and future biodiversity.  We certainly can’t fix every ecological problem but can give nature a real boost by adding seed sources to degraded areas.