Central Region and Provincial Winners

The central region and provincial winners of the 2025 Woodland Owner of the Year Award are the Bremner Family of Castle Frederick, Upper Falmouth, Hants County, in memory of Jim Bremner.

The Bremner family have been managing the Castle Frederick Farm Woodlot since 1763. The late Jim Bremner represented the 7^th generation of property managers. Well ahead of his time, Jim started demonstrating common sense methods and treatments back in the early 1970's which now reflect current triad model practices. The success of Jim's methods, along with a clear passion for forestry, can be felt on the Castle Frederick Farms woodlot, where his balanced, multi-use approach to sustainability has been implemented with help from his four daughters and woodlot workers. In 1995, Jim was the WOYA winner of the South-Central area.

This well managed and heavily invested property is a showcase for responsible and sustainable management and has received decades of treatments ranging from planting and pre-commercial thinning to a multitude of harvesting treatments including irregular shelter woods, commercial thinning and selection harvesting. The woodlot also has over 10km of well-maintained road infrastructure. The multi-use nature of the woodlot has fostered the co-existence with an active farm, eco-tourism strategies, recreational values, as well as a sawmill producing specialty timber products.

Eastern Region Winners

The eastern region winners of the 2025 Woodlot Owner of the Year Award are Jane Ross-MacEachern and Brian MacEachern of Antigonish County.

Brian MacEachern has worked on this property for over 50 years. He started with his father Vincent MacEachern cutting pulp wood with a power saw most times after a day at work.

Brian started building roads with his father and has continued that legacy whenever he can afford to since acquiring the land from his father back in 1980. Brian has dedicated his life outside of work to make the property what it is today. He has an active Christmas tree farm and he is continuously investing more each year to improve the property. In the last six years alone, Brian has planted more than 30,000 Christmas trees.

Western Region Winners

The western region winners of the 2025 Woodlot Owner of the Year Award are Judy and Glenn Rosse.

Glen Rosse and family are being recognized as the 2025 western region woodland owner winners for their long-term commitment to the sustainable forest management of their woodland properties. The Rosse family own approximately 250 acres of woodland in Nova Scotia, with properties in Squirrel Town, Annapolis County, South Scots Bay and Huntington Point, Kings County, and Nine Mile River, Hants County.

Glen acquired his first woodlot in the early 1980s and has undertaken various forest management activities over the years, including tree planting, pre-commercial thinning, harvesting, road building and boundary line maintenance.

Glenn works with Western Woodlot Services Cooperative Ltd to help develop and carry out his woodlots management plans. Through his plans, he has focused on getting the forest on his woodlands back to a state where the forests are rich in both plant and animal species. As such, Glenn is selective with his harvesting and ensures that there are diverse landscapes and habitats throughout his woodlands. For example, the prescription for the South Scots Bay harvest employed various partial harvesting techniques such as strip cuts and patch/gap cuts with overall objectives of increasing age class and structural diversity and hence promoting long-lived native species and managing the forest for resilience in consideration of current and predicted climate related trends.

Glenn works hard to help re-establish his land as a healthy forest that can provide safe habitats for animals as well as providing recreational opportunities, all while keeping sustainable forestry management at the forefront of his operations. Since becoming a member of the Western Woodlot Services Co-op in 2019, Glen has been a highly active member and has made some excellent contributions to the Co-op and its members. He has served on the WWSC board of directors since 2022 and has brought a wealth of insight and experience into that role.