Western Region and Provincial Winners

The western region and provincial winners of 2024 Woodland Owner of the Year Award are Judy and Thomas Mailman of Bridgewater, Lunenburg County.

The Mailmans own multiple woodlots and often participate in and host various educational events about forest stewardship.

The couple has done many forest management treatments on their woodlots, including pre-commercial thinning, commercial thinning, commercial harvesting operations, and selection management.

The Mailmans are very dedicated to being good woodland stewards. They've installed nesting boxes and bird houses and participated in a hemlock woolly adelgid silviculture trial project.

They've also hosted multiple field days and events with NSCC classes and researchers on tree marking and selection, harvesting treatments, and low-grade wood heating. They have also hosted the Western Woodlot Services Cooperative to conduct various promotional activities on their woodlots.

Eastern Region Winners

The eastern region winners of the 2024 Woodlot Owner of the Year Award are brothers Brian and Steven Eadie. They own the Greenwood Poultry Farm Ltd, in Antigonish County.

Greenwood Poultry Farm consists of 500 acres of farmland and woodland. The woodlot has been in the same family for several generations and provides forest products and recreation for the whole Eadie family.

The woodlot has a well-developed access road system and biodiversity is abundant in the mature hardwood forest. It is managed with a selection thinning approach to use natural regeneration of tolerant hardwood species.

The selection thinning is done by K.A.T. Forestry & Pallets. They use manual chainsaw falling and a forwarder with the front dozer blade removed to allow for smaller extraction trails and maintain a closed forest cover.

Central Region Winners

The central region winners of the 2024 Woodlot Owner of the Year Award are Julia and David MacMillan of Tatamagouche, Colchester County.

The couple manage more than 200 acres of land that's been in David's family for generations since his great, great, great grandparents arrived from Scotland in 1843 with their large, extended family. Both Julia and David were taught to take good care of the land at a young age, and both went to ranger school to study forestry.

Today, they continue to care for the land but with a fresher set of objectives. These include growing timber and restoring the forests to their original state while also enhancing the ecological conditions of the land and providing habitat for wildlife and endangered species. They also aim to provide a living lab for teaching the next generation of stewards and a playground for walking, fishing, hunting, skiing, skipping stones and many more fun activities.