Medway Community Forest Cooperative
maryjane@medwaycommunityforest.com | (902) 701-0505
Website: www.medwaycommunityforest.com
The Medway Community Forest Coop is a member-based community forest operating on 15,000 hectares of Crown Land in Annapolis Co., Nova Scotia. We aim to promote the multiple values of forests, and diversify local economies to support rural communities.
Company History
The Medway Community Forest Co-op (MCFC) Crown land license area is located in Annapolis County near the communities of Annapolis Royal, Bear River, South Milford, Springfield, New Germany, and Caledonia. The license area is 15,000 ha encompassing a variety of forest types, lakes and rivers. The MCFC signed a pilot project agreement for Eastern Canada’s first community forest in 2015, following the closure of Bowater Mersey Paper and subsequent purchase of their private land holdings by the Province of Nova Scotia.
The community forest license area lies entirely within the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve, and is also directly adjacent to Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site, the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, the recently established Medway Lakes Wilderness Area, and multiple Nature Reserves. The land also encloses a system of lakes and rivers that provide significant recreation values. The area also represented a core cluster of high conservation values (HCVs) that were identified in the former Bowater Mersey management plan. All of these factors are encouraging for both our environmental stewardship goals and for creating new opportunities in eco-tourism.
Company Facts
Past management of the forest resource in the area, primarily focused on meeting a pulpwood demand, has had significant influence on the available wood supply today. While there is a mix of stands that will be available for near term operations, much of the area must be tended for many years to restore more balanced Acadian Forest conditions and develop the diversified timber supply needed to meet future economic opportunities. Within the MCFC area, 27% of the productive area is in a regeneration age class and 67% of the productive area is below the maturity levels that would normally support harvest consideration.
As a community forest, the MCFC is dedicated to a very high level of public participation, and sharing the uses of the forest is an integral component to that. The MCFC strives to diversify revenue streams and is currently building a private woodland land trust.
