Your Forestry Education & Resource Hub

In this episode, we’re joined by George Ernst, CFO and controller at Freeman Lumber, one of Nova Scotia’s oldest and most respected lumber producers. George, a fourth-generation forester, shares both professional expertise and personal stories from his family’s longstanding involvement in the industry.

Together, we dive into the dramatic impact of the new 10% tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, examining how these measures ripple beyond headlines to affect local sawmills, communities, and family-run businesses throughout Nova Scotia.

In this episode, we sit down with Sean Meister, President and CEO of Global Bluenosers, to explore his remarkable journey from growing up in a multi-generational forestry family in rural Nova Scotia to building a global network of Nova Scotians passionate about giving back to their home province. Sean shares insights on the values and lessons learned in the woods, the challenges and changes facing the forestry sector, and how his experiences inspired him to connect Nova Scotians around the world. Together, we discuss the importance of sustainable forestry, community resilience, and the power of global connections to shape a brighter future for Nova Scotia.

Join us as we dive deep into the realities of forestry management in Nova Scotia, focusing on the use of herbicides as a tool for sustainable growth. Hear from silviculture contractor Alex Feix and woodlands manager Rick Archibald as they share personal stories, discuss regulatory challenges, and address public concerns. From death threats and protests to the on the ground reality of herbicide application, this episode sheds light on the complexities, misconceptions, and future of forest stewardship. Whether you’re a forestry professional or curious listener, you’ll gain a deeper understanding on what it takes to grow healthy forests for generations to come.

Mapping and spatial analysis are critical to sustainable forest management, but traditional GIS tools often have significant licensing costs.

This session introduces QGIS, a powerful open-source platform that provides many of the same functions as proprietary software, with no licensing fees. We’ll walk through its core features, including tools like Spatial Analyst, which in other programs require costly add-ons, and demonstrate how they can be applied in forestry.

Drones are becoming an essential tool in forestry, offering new ways to monitor operations, assess forest health, and collect critical data.

In this webinar, you’ll hear an overview of the different types of drones currently on the market, what they are capable of, and where each fits into forestry applications. Participants will also learn about the range of costs, from affordable entry-level models to professional-grade systems, and how to match the right technology to their needs.

Forestry generates large amounts of data, and making sense of it is key to informed decisions. This webinar will introduce Microsoft Power Query and Power BI.

Participants will learn how Power Query can streamline cleaning and organizing data from multiple sources, saving time and reducing errors. We’ll also explore how Power BI can turn complex datasets into clear, interactive dashboards and visualizations, making it easier to communicate findings to colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.