Newsletter published by the Private Forest Landowners Association (PFLA) to update members about PFLA news and happenings. Includes: Highlights from tour of Sylvan Vale Nursery; How to Manage Douglas-fir Bark Beetle and Root Rot; New Member Spotlight; Scaling, Grading and Timber Marking Tips; Update on Important PFLA Policy Files

1. Winter 2015/2016
In This Issue
Sylvan Vale Nursery: From Seed to
8 Million Seedlings 1-2
How to Manage Douglas-fir
Bark Beetle and Root Rot 2
New Member Spotlight 3
Scaling, Grading and Timber
Marking Tips 3-4
PFLA Policy Update 4
Contact Information
PO Box 468
Sooke, BC V9Z 1H4
Tel: 250 642 0617
Fax: 250 381 7409
www.pfla.bc.ca
Rod Bealing -Executive Director
rod.bealing@pfla.bc.ca
Ina Shah-Office Manager
info@pfla.bc.ca
Lisa Weeks-Communications Manager
lisa@pfla.bc.ca
Managed by owner Iola Elder and her
twin sister Siriol Paquet, Sylvan Vale
Nursery Ltd. is a multi-generational family
affair. Purchased in 1976 by their parents,
Selwyn and Phyllis Jones, the property was
transitioned into a nursery in 1980.
Sylvan Vale Nursery is located in Black
Creek on Vancouver Island. They have a
custom growing program that produces
both container and bare-root stock from
seed or cuttings.
PFLA was lucky enough to get a guided
tour of Sylvan Vale Nursery as part of our
annual field day back in June 2015. The
tour included a visit to the seed house
where Iola and Siriol explained the process
for ordering and planting seeds.
Seed is sometimes hard to purchase. It can
be a challenge to find the best seed for
your property, and then to find someone
who has it for sale at a reasonable price.
So it’s a good idea to start thinking about
ordering seeds ahead of time.
This year Sylvan Vale Nursery will produce
about 8 million seedlings. There’s no
minimum order. They are a contract
grower and will grow whatever you like,
but price is based on volume so the
smaller the amount you need the greater
the cost per unit.
George Shikaze, of Vancouver Bio-Machine
Systems Ltd., was instrumental in helping
mechanize sowing and lifting in the early
days of nursery equipment.
Siriol explains,“We’re still using George’s
machine. This seed line is a workhorse. It
produces, on a bad day, about 1200 blocks.
That’s with lots of different seed lots. If it’s
a seed lot that’s 200,000 and it’s a 412A we
can sow about 4500 blocks per day.”
The nursery has a short window of time to
sow everything for the coming planting
season—usually about a month.
The first step in the process is to mix the
soil recipe. Next, the soil gets conveyed
into the block loader where the cavities
are filled with soil. An electronic arm
jiggles the soil and then it travels along to
a machine feeder with a vacuum pump
that drops a set desired amount of seeds
per cavity.
From there, the block runs along the
conveyor belt and a layer of grit is placed
on top of the seeds. The blocks then
travel outside where they’re watered and
transported to the greenhouse.
Sylvan Vale Nursery has two different
styles of greenhouse—gutter-to-gutter
and freestanding. The greenhouses are
purposely separated by wide spaces to
help facilitate snow removal.
In the freestanding greenhouses, pre-
programmed Argus sensors control all
SylvanVale Nursery: From Seed to 8 Million Seedlings
Continued on page 2
Private Forest Matters
PFLA field tour stop, June 2015, Sylvan Vale Nursery in Black Creek on Vancouver Island.

2. Continued from cover
Pg 2
One of the highlights of PFLA’s 2015 Forest
Field Tour was a visit to Howie Griessel’s
woodlot near Union Bay for an interesting
discussion of forest health issues.
Woodlot 85 was advertised and awarded
in 1991. The Crown portion of the woodlot
license is 400 hectares. The site we visited
on the tour was a top up awarded in 1999.
When Howie took control of the area, they
did a forest health survey and found not
only a significant root rot problem on the
lower sites, but also a significant Douglas-
fir bark beetle infestation.
They set up a harvest schedule (a fifteen
year program) to harvest quite a large
swath of the woodlot in a series of parallel
entries to address the worst hit areas of
root rot and Douglas-fir bark beetles first,
and then progress in a harvest pattern and
post-harvest treatment designed to reduce
(and hopefully eliminate) further beetle
problems, as well as manage the root rot
issue.
Howie explains,“Part of the planning was
definitely driven by the Douglas-fir bark
beetle. People from Natural Resources
Canada Pacific Forestry Centre Burnside
Lab came up and confirmed it was
Douglas-fir bark beetle. They said it looked
like sleeper cells that had been around for
a while and hadn’t expanded.”
The population was kind of bumbling
along, but who knows what might trigger
a population explosion? Howie didn’t
want to take the risk so they decided to
try and get rid of the bark beetle and
developed a plan to aggressively harvest
over 100 hectares.
The stand was 79 years old with
different sized trees, no more than 15
years variation, and the bark beetle was
mostly in the dominant trees. Because of
saturated soil and blow down problems
associated with wind in the area thinning
wasn’t an option.
The Douglas-fir bark beetles were focused
on the root rot centres. Not dead trees,
but trees stressed by root rot. Howie
explains,“The beetles seemed to know
it and they’d get in there. We wanted to
wait until the adults had bored in, laid
their eggs and then fall the tree, and get
it out of there before the larvae pupated
and left the tree.”
It was a fairly aggressive pattern. They
logged a little over 100 hectares in 10
years. They cut the trees in April and got
them out as fast as they could. The plan
included a 3-phase cut they fashioned
after an approach used in Germany in
areas where serious windfall events are
a problem.
According to Howie,“The goal is to
create a step-stand profile, so we logged
a strip (90 meters wide) in phase one,
then phase two and then phase three.
The theory is that the stepped saw tooth
pattern starts to create turbulence with
the wind and stops the wind from going
as far into the stand.”
Re-planting the Stand
In the area we visited, they planted 1100
stems per hectare, but also got a fair
amount of volunteers from seeds. Planting
the area followed harvesting fairly tightly.
In general, they plant a mix on the
woodlot. Howie explains,“It’s anywhere
from 15 to 20 percent cedar in our planting
bags: 615 cedars to give it a chance to get
going, and 515 Douglas-fir.”
Managing for Root Rot
When Howie felled the area they had the
logger mark an X on the root rot stumps
to define the root rot area. Then the
excavator operator took the stumps out, as
well as anything within 4 or 5 meters of the
infected stump area. After that, they were
able to plant Douglas-fir in the stumped
areas again. They also planted red cedar
around the edges in case they didn’t get all
the root rot because red cedar is resistant
to root rot.
How to Manage Douglas-fir Bark Beetle and Root Rot
water, light and temperature levels.
Each greenhouse holds about 1530 blocks
(give or take). The two big greenhouses
hold 7350 blocks each so the gutter-
to-gutter connects are equivalent to 5
freestanding greenhouses.
Once the seedlings finish growing in the
greenhouses, they head to the lift line
where they’re removed from the blocks
and packaged into boxes for storage or
distribution into the field.
In the winter they lift by greenhouse. That
means, they bring in an entire seed lot,
lift it until it’s finished and then it goes
to storage. The summer harvest, Siriol
describes,“is a bit more chaotic because
we’re lifting to order.”
Sylvan Vale Nursery employs 10 to 15 full-
time workers and during the busy times
another 45 or so seasonal workers.
Like the seed line, the lift line equipment is
designed by George Shikaze of Vancouver
Bio-Machine Systems.
Seedlings are lifted by a set calliper and
height. The seedlings travel along the
conveyor belt and one person grades,
stacks and bundles the trees as they go by.
The trees are then carefully wrapped, top
to bottom to protect the roots from light
exposure, and packed upright into wax-
coated boxes. Each box holds between
180 and 270 trees depending on the size.
And that’s how things happen at Sylvan
Vale Nursery—from seed to seedling 8
million times over.
A big PFLA thanks to Sylvan Vale Nursery
for their hospitality.

3. Pg 3
PFLA is excited to extend a warm welcome
to our newest members. This month, we
shine our new member spotlight on the
North Cowichan Community Forest.
The North Cowichan Community Forest
is located on Vancouver Island, north
of Duncan and south of Ladysmith,
and includes about 5000 hectares of
forested area.
The mission of the North Cowichan
Community Forest is:“To maintain and
enhance North Cowichan’s valuable
municipal forest resources for all
users through sustainable forestry,
ecological stewardship and sound
fiscal management.”
Established in 1946, the North Cowichan
Community Forest remained un-managed
until the 1960s when the land was
divided into ten woodlots that were then
harvested by local operators who used
diameter limit cutting to harvest all the
trees greater than a specific diameter.
The land continued to be managed this
way until 1981 when the municipality
established a forestry department
overseen by a committee of three elected
officials, six appointed volunteer foresters
and three municipal staff.
Over the last thirty four years, the land
base has been managed intensively.
Logging practices are now patch cut with
green tree retention and all harvested
areas are replanted. The new crops of
third growth trees are juvenile spaced and
pruned to ensure future higher value.
The working forest is managed for multiple
uses, including: harvesting of forest
crops, recreational uses, forest education,
domestic water supplies, visual landscape,
economic development and revenue source.
The North Cowichan Community Forest
has a secure land base, access to local
labour, transportation and sawmills. The
forestry program is flexible, managed on
a long-term, sustainable basis and is self-
funded with no costs to the taxpayers of
North Cowichan.
Revenue from the forestry program also
funded the purchase of 35 acres of new
lands in 1995 and 26 acres in 1999 near
Chemainus Lake. A warm PFLA welcome
to all our new members!
Welcome to the latest article in our
harvesting planning series where we
borrow from the Non-forester’s Guide to
Small-scale Forestry in British Columbia to
provide some useful information for your
final phase of harvesting.
What is Scaling?
Scaling is the term used to describe the
measurement of the volume and grade of
all timber and forest products harvested.
In British Columbia, all timber cut from
private and Crown lands must be scaled
and marked.
Scaling requirements for small woodlands
can vary depending on regional or
individual circumstances, as well as the
volumes and types of products involved.
The district manager of the Ministry of
Forests, Lands and Natural Resource
Operations is the scaling authority. The
best way to determine the requirements
for your property is to contact the district
manager or scaling staff of your local
forest district.
How Is Scaling Done?
Scaling is carried out by independent
scaling firms or licensed individuals
authorized by the district manager.
New Member Spotlight: North Cowichan Community Forest
Scaling, Grading and Timber Marking Tips
The Forest Act and regulations set the
standards and procedures for scaling, and
the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural
Resource Operations carries out monthly
checks of all scalers and establishes the
conditions under which scaling is done.
Piece scaling uses the BC Cubic Metric
Scale to measure the firm-wood content
of a log. The calculation is done by
measuring the length of the log and its
top and butt diameters. The gross volume
is measured and calculated using a
detailed formula.
Licensed scalers use a scaling stick, which
is marked with volumes enabling the
scaler to calculate log volumes as
cylinders, based on measurements of the
length and radius of the log.
Weight scaling is another form of log
scaling in British Columbia.
Weight scaling is a quick and convenient
way to measure wood quantity, but
what you gain in efficiency you loose in
accuracy. In other words, weight scaling is
slightly less accurate than volume scaling.
As a rough guideline, a standard
highway logging truck (maximum 2.6
metre bunk) holds approximately 30
cubic metres of wood.
How Are Logs Graded?
Scaling provides you with a measure of
the volume of wood logged from a stand,
but you’ll also want to know the value of
the wood removed.

4. The value of logs is determined through
a process called grading. Grading assigns
value according to the species, size and
condition of logs.
On the coast, all logs are graded when
scaled, and are bought or sold by grade
category for each species. Interior mills
also grade logs by species and size. There
are different grade rules for coast and
interior scaling.
The Ministry of Forests, Lands and
Natural Resource Operations and the
Council of Forest Industries prepare
monthly, quarterly and annual
summaries of log sales by grade.
Many factors affect the grade of a log:
growth rate, the form or shape of the
log, the presence and size of knots, rot or
insect damage, and the size of the log.
Because grade is associated with the
presence, or absence, of criteria and the
actual size of the log (length and top
diameter), it’s possible to modify the
grade of any given log by bucking it into
separate log segments.
Whether you plan to buck the logs
yourself or sell the stand to a contractor
it’s important to know about log grades
to make sure you get the best value from
your logs.
What’s A Timber Mark?
Timber marks, like cattle brands, are
registered symbols that indicate where
a log comes from, who holds the mark,
whether or not the timber may be
exported in log form, and whether the
wood will be charged stumpage or
royalty fees.
Registered timber marks are required for
all timber cut from Crown and private
land, and are issued upon application
and payment to the Ministry of Forests,
Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
After an application is approved, the
operator will receive a timber mark
certificate with an assigned timber mark.
You then contact a local foundry to make
a hammer with the mark on it and then
the timber mark is hammered into each
end of a log.
Because protecting water quality is
fundamental to the Managed Forest
Program, the MFC is also looking closely
at water protection. The MFC is in the
process of evaluating the effectiveness
of water protection under the current
regulatory regime and best management
practices model.
Log Export Restrictions and Market
Access
Log export restrictions are another key
policy area PFLA continues to be diligently
involved with. PFLA is actively monitoring
international developments and, as
always, the goal is to obtain international
pricing for private land logs.
Galiano Island Residency Issue
PFLA has participated in a number of
productive meetings throughout the year
and continues to work closely with the
province to find a solution to the Galiano
Island residential issue. The objective is to
permit one residential dwelling per title
on Galiano Island, which is consistent with
the policy intent as reflected everywhere
else in the province.
Provincial Inventory Program
The province is currently undertaking an
inventory program for public land. PFLA
is working closely with MFLNRO staff to
achieve an appropriate level of distinction
for private land. PFLA has concerns about
access to information on private land and
is working hard to ensure private forest
owners in British Columbia are treated
with the same level of respect as forest
owners in competing jurisdictions
Wildfire Response Agreements (WRAs)
Wildfire Response Agreements (WRAs)
are set to expire at the end of March
2016. The province is revising the formula
they use to calculate the rates for private
landowners to have provincial resources
conduct initial attack and response on
their land. Government is engaged with
landowners and a rate adjustment based
on actual cost is anticipated.
Pg 4
Continued from page 3
PFLA remains actively engaged on a
number of important policy files relevant
to forest owners across the province.
Here’s a brief update, in no particular
order, to keep you informed.
BC Assessment and Property Taxation
Property taxation is a re-emerging issue.
There appears to be an upward pressure
on assessed property values, which
in turn could translate into upward
pressure on property tax bills for 2016.
PFLA is monitoring the situation closely
and will advocate on behalf of forest
owners as needed.
Eligibility and succession planning
within the Managed Forest Program is
another area we continue to work on
with the Managed Forest Council and
BC Assessment to obtain better policy
transparency and clarity.
Tina Ireland, Director Property Owners,
with BC Assessment expects business as
usual for the rest of the year as they work
toward finalizing any changes in 2016.
The Species at Risk Act and the
Migratory Birds Convention Act
Both the Species at Risk Act and the
Migratory Birds Convention Act remain
important policy file areas. PFLA continues
to work closely with the Canadian
Association of Forest Owners (CAFO),
the farming community, and other land
managers across B.C. and Canada to
make sure landowners are recognized for
the existing measures taken to protect
endangered species on private land.
The goals continue to be: 1) Receive
credit and recognition for the habitat land
managers provide on private property. 2)
Receive compensation when the ability to
grow and harvest timber is restricted.
Water Protection on Managed Forest Land
Water quality is one of the key public
environmental values protected within the
Managed Forest Program. PFLA is engaged
with the Managed Forest Council (MFC)
and Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural
Resource Operations (MFLNRO) staff on a
number of active local water initiatives.
The goal is to educate the public, local
government and communities about
the protections, practices, relationships
and programs already in place to protect
water quality on private forest land. This is
also an opportunity for PFLA to listen and
understand what local concerns are and
look for common ground.
PFLA Policy Update