Forestry

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Nova Scotia's forests are a highly productive resource. Though the province is the second smallest in Canada, it ranks sixth in the production of pulp and paper, and seventh in sawn timber products.

Forests cover three-quarters of the province — there are four million hectares of productive forest land. Most of the Nova Scotia forests are privately owned, half by owners of small plots and 23 per cent by the owners of large tracts. This contrasts with most of the other Canadian provinces, where the Crown owns 90 per cent of forested land and leases the land to private companies.

Softwoods and hardwoods

Just over half the stands of timber in the forests of Nova Scotia are softwoods: pine, spruce, balsam, fir, larch and hemlock. Seventeen per cent are pure hardwood stands: yellow and white birch, hard and soft maple, aspen, oak, ash, elm and beech. The remainder, about 30 per cent, are mixed woods: a combination of hardwoods and softwoods.

The province has three pulp and/or paper mills, one hardboard mill and several hundred sawmills. The mills process cut logs into timber, paper, plywood and wood pulp. But it's not all pulp and paper and timber. The forests also provide 1.7 million Christmas trees every year and 118 000 litres of maple syrup.

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