The Rural Voice, 1979-07, Page 6A hill re -planted
also a new emphasis on the importance of the woodlot to the
farm.
In 1947, the Ontario Royal Commission on Forestry
recommended that at least ten per cent of the province's land
area should be under forest cover. Now while 30 per cent of the
land in southern agricultural Ontario was still covered with forest
15 years ago, there are already townships in the Rural Voice area
where forest coverage has dropped well below the recommended
ten per cent level.
In Usborne and Blanshard township in Huron County for
example, forest cover is only 4.6 per cent and 2.6 per cent
respectively, while in Huron Township in Bruce County, it has
dropped to 4.9 per cent. In Perth County, both Mornington and
Logan township have fallen beneath the recommended level.
But, on an optimistic note, Marvin Smith of the Wingham office
of the Ministry of Natural Resources said there has been an
increase in the number of farmers planting woodlots within the
last three years.
Farmers or landowners of five acres or more who are planting
either windbreaks or woodlots can receive assistance from the
ministry. Anyone planting 100 trees or more can order them
through the ministry at the revised price of 21/2 cents per tree,
plus a $10 service charge per order. With tree planting becoming
more common, some species of the trees should be ordered as
much as a year ahead of planting. Marvin Smith advises that any
species of the tree should be ordered at least six month ahead of
an April or May planting date. Rural Voice readers in the north
of Bruce County can order trees through the Owen Sound office
of the ministry of natural resources.
If the landowner wants to plant five acres of trees, then he can
purchase the trees at the same price, but MNR staff will do the
planting, if the landowner agrees to protect the trees for a 15
year period.
PG. 4, THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1979
Marvin Smith said MNR staff will inspect the property to
determine what trees will do best on the land, make
recommendations and plant species requested by a landowner if
these species will do well on the site.
Marvin Smith said the main reason farmers seem to be
approaching the ministry for assistance is that the farm has an
area which can't be cropped and is growing nothing but grass or
weeds. If the farmer plants trees, Mr. Smith said, then at least
he knows the land will be useful to someone in the future. The
ministry is promoting a program of planting trees on idle
farmland to cut down on erosion and keep moisture in the soil.
The primary species being planted by the minsitry staff is
white pine which usually makes up 75 per cent of the trees
planted in a woodlot. Mr. Smith said within 30 to 35 years a
farmer can thin the first of these trees which can be sold for two
by fours used in the construction industry. After this, a farmer
should be able to harvest more of the trees about once a decade
with the final crop being harvested in 70 to 80 years.
Mr. Smith said the reason the ministry favours white pine is
because once the growing pines have shaded out the weeds and
grass, the hardwood trees in the area can seed themselves
naturally. This means once a woodlot is planted, the farmer
never needs to replant.
The ministry also plants spruce and some cedar to provide a
little variety in the woodlot as well as cover for wildlife.
The major deciduous tree as)ailable for planting is the black
walnut. Mr. Smith said these are the species of deciduous tree
that seem best able to adapt to the idle farmland situation with
its heavy competition from weeds and grass.
Also, rodents, particulary mice, prove a problem with
hardwood plantings since bark is one of their main winter foods.
Mr. Smith said black walnuts seem to be able to stand the
on slaught of mice a little better than most other hardwoods.