While some of his neighbours saw the trees and brush on their northern
grainbelt land as a nuisance to be cleared, Dave Halland’s father saw
the wood as a treasure.
When he homesteaded in 1934, he kept his brush, harvested trees from it
and taught his son woodlot management.
Halland did the same with his son Alison. Today their company, D&A
Halland Co. at Love, Sask., runs the woodlot side by side with the
farm. The wood business has expanded to include construction of log
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homes and manufacturing of flooring and paneling from spruce, poplar
and tamarack.
Halland said the woodlot and sawmill complement his 3,000 seeded acres.
He thinks wood could be an alternative venture on many farms bordering
the forest fringe. He spoke about his experience at the recent
Saskatchewan Rural Economic Opportunities conference in Saskatoon.
“There could be thousands more, thousands,” he said.
“There are opportunities. Lots of people have bush but they sell it
out. They think they can’t do this, but I think there are lots of
opportunities.”
He sells about $600,000 worth of wood products a year. With a
sustainable harvest plan, he takes about 200,000 board feet a year from
his own 1,000 acres of bush and another 300,000 board feet from leased
crown land.
He and his son log in the winter. They hire additional staff when they
start sawing in late winter and early spring. Then they seed their
crops. In summer, they plane lumber. They also hire staff for their
construction company that builds about five log buildings each summer.
Dave Cubbon, head of the Saskatchewan Farm Woodlot Association, thinks
wood can be part of a farm even when it doesn’t have natural bush.
The Meadow Lake, Sask., area farmer said his climate and grey wooded
class soils are ideal for tree production, saskatoons and leafcutter
bee-pollinated alfalfa. The Saskatchewan government, the forest
industry and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration are
co-operating on a study on his farm into the economics of fast growing
hybrid poplar production.
The Walker poplar shows the greatest potential in his area. The trees
were planted about five years ago and won’t be ready to harvest for
another 15 years.
The trees are moving from the stage where they are managed like a crop,
with weed control a priority, into the forest management stage. There
is still much to learn but some things have become clear.
One is that the costs of planting, establishing and carrying a 20-year
crop are high enough that the market can’t be limited to pulp or
oriented strand board.
“You’ve got to have saw logs,” he said, referring to lumber.
“Long term, prices of saw logs have gone up everywhere in the world.
Pulp prices have been just like wheat, gone into the sewer, and they
will continue to do that, probably.”
The stand won’t all be saw wood quality, but some of it must be, he
said.
A factor working in favour of private woodlots is increasing government
control over natural forests, he said.
In Saskatchewan, for example, harvested forest land can be replanted
with native species only, so fast growing hybrids are not allowed.
Also, commercial sawmills are looking for ways to guarantee wood supply
into the future.
Marie and Peter Prehewski of Hafford, Sask., were soaking up woodlot
information at the conference. They are thinking about putting 10 acres
into a woodlot.
“We have experience in our own yard where we got just little sticks
from the PFRA … The poplar in just four years are 30 feet high,” said
Marie.
They noted that Hafford is near Redberry Lake, a world reserve known
for its bird habitat, and said a woodlot would fit the environment.
Also, the trees would provide shelter for cattle.
“There is a new sensitivity to that whole aspect, preserving the
environment and providing for animals. And who knows down the line what
it will mean for our area? We are always looking for value-added,”
Marie said.
