We have a wooded lot in south NB. A few weeks ago, we contacted
Wood Co-op people (
http://www.snbwc.ca/). They provide a nice range of services - they make a management plan for your lot (what kinds/sizes of
trees you have, diseases, possible harvest or management options, what year to do what things, etc). The plan costs only $200 (the government covers the rest of the cost). If you want to do some harvesting, they act as a mediator between you and any clients, and will propose ways to harvest that satisfy your needs. For example, we wanted long-term, selective cutting, and they will find ways to accommodate us. In our case, they also recommended severely thinning out an area that was heavy on fir and spruce, which were both apparently going down with some disease. Through their advice, we
should be able to get some money for trees that are doomed anyway, and maybe avoid creating a fire hazard.
In addition to the planning and mediation, they also provide trees - apparently, we can buy fruit trees through them for $15 for a 1-year old whip and $17 for a 2-year branched tree. They said they usually get apples, plums, peaches, pears, etc, but can also accommodate 'weirder' requests and have access to nut trees and all kinds of hardwood trees.
Anyway, I'm super excited for this resource, thought maybe others can find it useful too. Not sure if other provinces have similar services or not, but I was pretty pumped to talk to these guys...
