April/May 2013 1

Wisdom in the Woods

Tapping into the high-end birch syrup market

WAM to tackle province-wide firewood safety concernsBy Sheilla Jones

The growing market for firewood in Manitoba has been a boon for woodlot owners, but it comes with an alarming down-side. More and more people who are buying firewood don’t seem to have a basic understanding of the safe use of firewood and fireplaces.

“The knowledge about using wood stoves has really dropped,” said Murray Bedford, a former inspector with the Office of the Fire Commissioner in Brandon. “Too many people don’t have a clue about wood seasoning and creosote.”

The fallout from a lack of understanding about firewood and fireplace safety issues is injury and

property damage. In 2011, according to the Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC), there were 60 house fires in Manitoba that were the direct result of chimney fires and safety issues with fireplaces and woodstoves. That number, said Bedford, is likely higher, since there are always a significant number of house fires where the cause cannot be determined with certainty.

WAM is taking the problem seriously. With a grant from the Manitoba Community Services Council, WAM is developing a firewood safety program to address safety issues. The new program, said WAM president Irene de Graaf, will include hands-on workshops in

The birch syrup business is hot, intense, and sweet, and timing is everything when most of the work is concentrated into the few weeks in the spring when the sap is running.

Glenda and Rory Hart are in the second year of their birch syrup business, The Canadian Birch Company, on their 47 acres of birch trees in Grand Marais, and they’ve had a steep learning curve.

“We tried the first year to make our own syrup,” said Glenda, the featured speaker at the WAM AGM in April, “and we boiled it for days. We gave up. We said we can’t do it without the right equipment and we don’t have enough trees.”

That prompted the Harts to buy the lot of large birch trees next door, and invest in the high-end ultra-violet pasteurizer and reverse osmosis equipment needed to reduce the fresh-tasting, pale blue sap into golden brown syrup.

Timing is critical for sap collection and for processing.“We have a very small tapping window,” said Glenda,

“between the trunk thawing out and the roots thawing out. And we stop tapping the moment the buds on a tree pop. Whenever the buds pop, we’re done, because the sap changes right away and turns cloudy.”

She noted that all the trees don’t produce buds at the same time, so tapping can continue in different parts of

Continued on page 2

By Sheilla Jones

Glenda Hart answers questions from Bob Austman about the pellet fuel-fed evaporator in The Canadian Birch Company “sugar shack” during a WAM tour of the operation in Grand Marais in April.

Continued on page 9

2 The Manitoba Woodlot

The Manitoba Woodlot is published six times annually as a service to the membership of the Woodlot Association of Manitoba (WAM). WAM seeks to promote an understanding of sustainable woodlot management, increase income and employment potential for the woodlot sector, promote the use of woodlot products in the place of non-renewable and imported products, and develop human resources in woodlot management. WAM represents the interests of our members within the Canadian Federation of Woodlot Owners (CFWO). The CFWO makes those interests known to forestry ministers at both levels of government. WAM also has a representative to the Manitoba Model Forest, another organization that promotes sustainable management of Manitoba’s wooded areas. WAM is a non-profit organization led by a volunteer Board of Directors, which meets monthly. Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is held each year before the end of March and is open to all members in good standing.

Woodlot Association of Manitoba Board of Directors 2013/2014

President: Irene de Graaf, Narol, (204) 661-2068 Secretary-Treasurer:

•Allan Webb, Stonewall (204) 467-8648 Past President: Len Riding, St. Malo Directors:

•Mike James, Winnipeg, Beaconia•Bob Austman, Beausejour

•Tom Dykstra, Balmoral•Bruce MacLeod, Winnipeg•Louise Matthewson, Gimli•Clint Pinder, Stony Mountain•Chris Matthewson, Oakbank

THE MANITOBA WOODLOTEditor: Sheilla Jones

Email: wameditor@shaw.caWebsite: manitobawoodlotassociation.com

Woodlot Association of Manitoba900 Corydon Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3M 0Y4

Winnipeg, rural Manitoba and First Nations, and a comprehensive and easy to use website that will be a clearing house of information on firewood and firewood safety.

Ernie Reimer, who runs a busy firewood yard on Highway 44 near Tyndall, said his business has more than doubled in the past three years. He anticipates selling two-thousand cords of firewood this year.

“The increase in firewood sales,” said Reimer, “can be attributed to two groups. One group of new buyers is older people who used to cut their own wood but don't want that task anymore. The second group is people who are just starting to use firewood. This group may be people who have, perhaps, inherited a grandparent's cottage or want to replicate the time when their parents had a wood stove or a wood-burning fireplace, and that's where you see the knowledge gap.”

Bedford, who recently retired as a fire inspector, said people who are new at using woodstoves have got to educate themselves.

“One of the biggest problems is that people don’t know how to build a fire correctly. When I was a kid, the stove was stoked up first thing with an open damper to get it burning hot. Then the damper was shut down for a slower burn. You have to heat up the chimney or you’ll get creosote. Even with higher efficiency stoves and better chimneys, you still get creosote if you don’t warm up the chimney.”

Firewood seller Clint Pinder said that at least some firewood buyers are asking the right questions.

“One of the questions I get from a safety standpoint,” said Pinder of Firewood Manitoba in Stony Mountain, “is about what causes creosote.”

The WAM firewood safety program, said de Graaf, will be developed over the next few months and rolled out this fall.

WAM tackles firewood safetyContinued from front page

April/May 2013 3

The Woodlot Association of Manitoba was at the table in early May for the roll-out of Manitoba Hydro’s pilot project on siting transmission lines in southern Manitoba.

“This is important for woodlot owners,” said WAM president Irene de Graaf, who participated in the consultation. “It’s important when planning the location of power lines to know where there are managed woodlots and to avoid them.”

The draft Alternate Corridor Model has nothing to do with the controversial Bipole III transmission line, noted de Graaf, but rather a way to help Manitoba Hydro understand the many issues to consider before controversy arises when planning where to run new lines.

The workshops looked at the routing methodology developed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC), with focus on the three key areas of geographical and geotechnical issues, community issues, and natural environment considerations.

Participants in the geographical workshop, for instance, noted routing features such as wetlands and the 100-year flood plain, while natural environment workshop participants pointed out the need to identify areas of high-quality wildfowl habitat and the need to avoid woodlots under management plans.

Maggie Tisdale, senior environmental specialist with Manitoba Hydro, said the input from the consultation will be used to follow up directly with specialists for more detail in developing the Alternate Corridor Model.

“Once this is complete,” Tisdale advised in an email thanking participants, “we will proceed with testing the model on upcoming projects to visualize the alternate corridors that the model produces.”

Tisdale said that, at this stage, Manitoba Hydro would “invite all participants back to revisit our discussion on how the next steps of the routing methodology unfold as

they are built upon the foundation of this work.”Organizations participating in the Natural Environment

workshop included WAM, Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, Manitoba Lodges & Outfitters Association, Seine-Rat River Conservation District, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Bird Studies Canada, and Manitoba Conservation (Forest Management and Development, Parks and Natural Areas Branch).

WAM adds to consultation on locating transmission lines

The diagram used in the Manitoba Hydro consultations illustrates all the issues going into the "hopper" that lead to a preferred route for a hydro-electric transmission line. (EPRI-GTC Siting Methodology)

By Sheilla Jones

4 The Manitoba Woodlot

April/May 2013 5

Lively discussions at WAM AGMThe WAM AGM was, at times, both lively and

informative. Along with reports from president Irene de Graaf and newsletter editor Sheilla Jones, members were introduced to the Manitoba Forestry Association’s new Private Land Resource Planning woodlot management plans by MFA forester Andrea Kraayeveld. (For details of the plans, see page 6.)

Bob Austman updated members on the activities of the Canadian Federation of Woodlot Owners (CFWO), which has now joined the International Family Forest Alliance. He also said that the lumber and forestry business is about to enter a “super cycle”, where the rebounding of the American economy will fuel a house-building boom. But, he warned, the shuttering and dismantling of so many mills in Canada during the recession will make it difficult

to meet demand for dimensional lumber.Carl Smith, president of the Manitoba Model Forest,

spoke briefly about the impact of government funding cuts to forestry and MBMF.

“We’re reinventing ourselves,” said Smith, “and seeking out new partners. Our organization is going through a rough time.”

Austman noted how nice it was to have both current MBMF president and the first MBMF president, Bruce MacLeod, at the meeting.

The AGM concluded with a presentation by Glenda Hart of The Canadian Birch Company on the challenges of producing birch syrup, and a tour of the sugar shack in Grand Marais.

WAM Board of Directors 2013/2014

President: Irene de Graaf, Narol Secretary-Treasurer:

•Allan Webb, Stonewall Past President: Len Riding, St. Malo Directors:

•Mike James, Winnipeg, Beaconia (WAM rep on MBMF board)•Bob Austman, Beausejour (first vice-president, CFWO)

•Tom Dykstra, Balmoral•Bruce MacLeod, Winnipeg•Louise Matthewson, Gimli (alternate on MBMF board)•Clint Pinder, Stony Mountain•Chris Matthewson, Oakbank

WAM board members, L-R, back: Clint Pinder, Allan Webb, Len Riding, Bob Austman, Mike James, Tom Dykstra. L-R, front: Bruce MacLeod, Irene de Graaf, Louise Matthewson, Chris Matthewson.

WAM members, during a lively AGM, applaud president Irene de Graaf for agreeing to serve a second year as president.

Len Riding receives a plaque from WAM, presented by Allan Webb, recognizing Len’s many years as WAM president.

6 The Manitoba Woodlot

The Manitoba Forestry Association (MFA) has been delivering a Woodlot Program since 1992 throughout the Eastern, Interlake, and Parkland regions of the province.

In 2011, the Manitoba Forestry Association contracted with a private consultant, Vince Keenan, a former Area Forester with Tembec Inc. and now with Maskwa Ecological Consulting Inc., to engage in a review of the association’s Woodlot Program. The evaluation was conducted to determine if the program was continuing to meet the needs of landowners in its delivery area. The evaluation was required to provide recommendations for improvements that would assist in program management, address woodlot owner and funding partner needs, and consider new and emerging program areas. It was fully supported by Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship - Forestry Branch. The recommendations provided were based on stakeholder input, assessment of other woodlot programs and woodlot management plans (WMPs) being offered across Canada, and emerging trends related to forest certification, carbon accounting and ecological goods and services (EGS). The evaluation process was completed in October 2011.

In early 2012, the MFA entered into a second contract with Maskwa Ecological Consulting Inc. to start the implementation of the suggestions and recommendations provided in the evaluation conducted. As part of this process, a template for the new Resource Management Plan and associated Silviculture Prescriptions were created, as well as a GIS database to track information spatially, and related landowner map templates were developed.

In the later half of 2012, the MFA woodlot foresters conducted three test pilot deliveries of the new resource management plan. In addition, a new type of management plan was designed in the fall of 2012 after the early snow/wind storm in October—a more single purpose and focused plan—concentrating on forest harvesting. Three Harvest Plans were done in storm damaged woodlots in the southeastern Manitoba.

Officially in late 2012, the MFA’s Private Land Resource Planning (PLRP) replaced the Woodlot Program and now offers Resource Management Plans, Training and Extension and Forestry Services to private

landowners throughout the Province.The objective of PLRP is to promote sustainable

woodlot management for environmental, economic, and social benefits through the delivery of personalized and comprehensive resource management plans, in combination with skill development training and forestry services.

The Resource Management Plan (RMP) provides

MFA Private Land Resource Planning replaces and expands Woodlot Program

Andrea Kraayeveld, MFA woodlot forester, ages a poplar tree using an increment borer.

Article and photo by Manitoba Forestry Association

Continued on page 7

April/May 2013 7

landowners with specific information and necessary supporting documents they require to manage, enhance or rejuvenate the forested area of their property for economic, environmental, aesthetic, or wildlife purposes.

The RMP process starts with the landowner identifying their goals and objectives for the property. With the landowner goals and objectives in mind, a PLRP staff member will conduct a site visit to obtain information required for a detailed resource assessment. The information collected includes: tree species, height,

age and diameter; stand crown closure and canopy structure; soil surface texture, moisture, depth; topography and slope, vegetation type; stand type delineation; ecosite type; resource features; forest health and stand volume estimates.

Once the information is recorded, the plan is written and sustainable resource management recommendations are developed, combining the goals and objectives of the landowner with the resources available. All the resource feature information is tracked spatially in a geographic information system (GIS), allowing for the development of several maps highlighting the resource features, stand types, and operational areas. The RMP also includes a list of regional contacts, a comprehensive reference library, and fillable forms to continuously update the RMP.

The training and extension section of the PLRP program aims to increase forestry related skills that support and promote sustainable woodlot management. Forestry related skills can be developed through hands on outdoor workshops such as chainsaw safety and low

impact logging training.Classroom education focusses on forestry concepts such

as forest ecology, silviculture, harvesting systems, best management practices, and other relevant and timely topics which will provide landowners with an additional source of information which supports sustainable resource management.

The PLRP program also offers additional forestry services on a fee-for-service basis. These include activities such as: boundary layout for harvest, tree marking for selection harvest, locating and mapping skid trails and landings, tree planting instruction and assistance, facilitation of timber sale agreements, log scaling, and recreational trail development.

Within the past six months, the PLRP staff has been establishing partnerships with other like-minded organizations to strengthen and unify the message of the importance of sustainable resource management. We are currently working with Conservation Districts, Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation, Nature Conservancy Canada, Manitoba Model Forest, Woodlot Association of Manitoba, MAFRI, and others to ensure service delivery duplication is limited and to allow for cross-promotion of resourced based programming to private landowners in the province.

In 2013, PLRP will be concentrating most of our efforts in the southeast portion of the province, due to the snow storm of October 2012. PLRP will also be focusing on some projects with our partners.

If you are interested in getting a new resource management plan from the MFA, please contact us at plrp@thinktrees.org or by phone at 204-453-3182.

Continued from page 6

…information is tracked spatially in GIS, allowing for the development of several maps highlighting the resource features, stand types, and operational areas.

8 The Manitoba Woodlot

Making Herbal Teas & Healing Salves from the Forest(Nature’s Pharmacy)

Boreal Woods Nature Centre(North on Hwy 59 across from Rd 100 N)

Saturday, June 8, 20139:30 am – 2:30 pm

Learn how to collect, process and package forest plants for herbal teas and healing salves.

Join Ken Fosty and Mike James, Certified Non Timber Forest Product Instructors in this one-day intensive workshop.

Indoor and outdoor sessions with hands-on instruction detailing how forest teas and forest salves are made. Participants make and take home their samples!

Enjoy audio-visual presentations on a variety of other wild-crafting products including balsam & pussy willow wreaths, diamond willow & tamarack walking sticks, candle holders, coat hangers, fruit leather, birch crafts, driftwood & antler crafts, wild and cultivated mushrooms, jams & jellies, maple & birch syrup, etc.

Rain or Shine - bring your own bag lunch and outdoor clothing.

45.00/personPre-Register prior to June 1st as space

is limitedPhone: 204-963-2209 or Email:

kenfosty@shaw.cafor detailed map see

www.theoutdoorclassroom.net

Herbal Teas & Healing Salves of the Forest

Boreal Woods Nature CentreJune 8, 2013

Agenda

9:00 – 9:30 Registration – Enjoy coffee, view displays & crafts

9:30 – 9:45 Welcome from Mike James – Introduction to day’s activities

9:45 – 11:30 Indoor Presentation - Non Timber Forest Products - Ken Fosty

Indoor Presentation - Teas and Salves – Mike James

11:30 – 12:00 Lunch on your own. Please bring bag lunch

12:00 – 1:30 Outdoor forest walk’n talk with Ken Fosty & Mike James. Exploring the forest and collecting plants for teas & salves

1:30 – 1:45 Refreshment Break

1:45 – 2:45 Indoor, hands-on session – preparing and processing teas & salves

2:45 – 3:00 Closing Comments by Mike James

3:00 Depart

April/May 2013 9

the bush.The trees are tapped by hand, said Glenda. “People think

that you hang a pail on a tap, and the sap goes into the pail. But we don’t want ants and twigs, so we have a closed system with a tube from the tap into a very tight opening in the pail lid.”

The pails are also collected by hand, making the job labour intensive.

“We can’t drive a quad through the bush because the birch roots are very close to the top of the ground, and if you drive vehicles over them, you’ll damage the trees. That means we are out emptying 3-gallon pails into 5-gallon pails every 24 hours. We have about a dozen people working when we’re going full tilt, and the smaller pails are easier for our ‘sap suckers’ to carry.”

The sap is collected into a larger tank for transport to the sugar shack.

“We pour the 5-gallon pails into ‘Miss Piggy’, which has a 0.5-micron filter at the top of the ‘pig’. The cleaner you are with the tapping, the better syrup you make.”

But collecting the sap is only the beginning of the syrup-making process. It needs to be quickly pumped through the UV pasteurizer to get rid of any contamination and to prevent the sap from fermenting before it gets to the massive, chrome-plated evaporator.

The pasteurization, said Glenda, is necessary because of the time delay between the tapping and the cooking. “We do this because we send our sap into the reverse osmosis process, which takes out a lot of water, and we need to be able to keep it a couple of days before it’s cooked. We don’t want to have any kind of contamination.”

Removing water is a big part of the job. The sap from one tree, said Glenda, produces one litre of syrup. The ratio of sap to syrup for birch is 100-to-1, which is much high than for maple at 40-to-1.

“Reverse osmosis removes about 70 percent of the water, resulting in a concentrate which goes through the evaporator. The water is just like the stuff you buy for $1.89 in the store. Last year, we dumped it on the ground and I nearly cried. We need to find a use for it.”

Timing is also critical, said Glenda, when cooking down the concentrate.

“The major sugar in birch sap is fructose. It burns very easily, but it has a higher boiling temperature. And temperature is critical. As soon as you scorch a batch, it’s finished. You have to throw it out.”

The syrup coming off the evaporator is very hot, and goes into stainless steel pails.

“We run the hot syrup through a filter press, and what comes out is the clear syrup that is in the bottles.”

The long hours and intense effort that it takes to produce bottles of birch syrup are reflected in the price.

“For our first year, we offered introductory prices, and we knew we weren’t going to make much money. Our syrup is in stores in Winnipeg for about $19 for 100 ml, or $110 for a litre. But our prices will increase this year.”

The high price tag means the Harts are seeking out upscale markets in New York and in Europe.

“Marketing is a job in itself,” said Glenda, “and we both have full-time jobs.”

Timing critical in syrup productionContinued from front page

Sap doesn't flow until tree roots thaw, so it started late this spring. Shown here, from last spring, tubes draining birch sap into 3-gallon pails with tight-fitting lids in the Harts' birch stand.

10 The Manitoba Woodlot

Why become a member of WAM?

As a member you will be promoting active stewardship of Manitoba’s Private Woodlands. You will also receive a great deal, including:

—A Bi-Monthly Newsletter, complete with up-to-date information of upcoming events, current woodlot/forestry/conservation issues, and wood products/services available in your area. The Manitoba Woodlot newsletter can be mailed to a Canadian address or sent by email to a member. Using email is an opportunity to reduce the use of paper and receive the newsletter in colour.

—Access to the Woodlot Library, which is stocked full of woodlot-related information.

—Opportunities to Participate in Field Days/Demonstrations, Conferences and Meetings abut topics related to woodlot management.

—Free Ads in our WAM member classified section in The Manitoba Woodlot.

—If you operate a commercial woodlot or agrowoodlot, the WAM membership fee is a tax deductible business expense. WAM provides a receipt and member card for membership payment by request only.

Membership in WAM is open to individuals and businesses. Dues are $30.00. Those interested in membership can telephone (204) 467-8648.

If you find your arborvitae looking sickly and covered in black sticky scale, chances are you have Fletcher Scale, Parthenolecanium fletcheri. This soft scale attacks a variety of hosts cedars, arborvitae, yews, hemlocks, and occasionally junipers.

The most commonly seen stage of this insect’s life cycle is when the female forms an almost hemispherical brown protective scale where she is attached to the stem of the host tree or shrub. It is from this protective cover that she inserts her moth parts into the phloem of the plant and dines on carbohydrate-rich sap.

This sugar-rich diet results in the scale secreting the excess carbohydrate as sticky honey dew that coats the foliage below the scales. This sugar is then attacked by a sooty mould that turns the foliage black. If the infestation is severe the plant will turn yellow and will lose foliage.

These scales only appear as females. Reproduction is by parthenogenesis (without sex).

The female lays as many as 600 eggs in May, and these will hatch in June as crawlers that move a short distance to a feeding site. They remain on this feeding site as a second-instar nymphs (developmental stage) until next spring, when they rapidly develop into mature females.

Control of this pest is not difficult if your timing is right. Treating early in the year with appropriate dormant oil reduces the number of overwintering second-instar nymphs. Verdant oil or registered chemical control must be applied when the crawlers are active and

Treating Fletcher Scale best done in springBy Brad Gurr

April/May 2013 11

Membership Application for 2013

New Members $30.00Renewal Membership $30.00

NameMailing Address

Email AddressTelephone

I am particularly interested in the following:

Providing shelterWildlife habitat enhancementSoil and water conservationLand stewardshipRecreationWood productsSpecialty or non-traditional products (i.e., berries, mushrooms, maple syrup)Christmas treesAll of the above

Would you like to receive your copy of The Manitoba Woodlot via email?Yes No (A high-speed connection is recommended due to the long download time on dial-up.)

Do you require a receipt? Yes No (WAM provides receipts only upon request.)

Thank you for becoming involved and for supporting Manitoba’s private

forests.

Mail to:Woodlot Association of Manitobac/o Allan Webb, Secretary-TreasurerBox 43Stonewall, MB R0C 2Z0

exposed. Typically this occurs early June to early July. Because timing varies due to climate, you know that

you are a week ahead of the crawler hatch when Japanese tree lilac or little leaf linden are blooming. Another simple way to determine crawler emergence is to take several infested branches from your plant, put them in a well-sealed zipper bag and put it on your desk or shelf out of the sun. Check the bag daily, and when the foliage appears to have fine orange dust or specks on it, the scales have hatched. Again, you will be a week ahead of the hatch in the outdoors, as your office should be warmer than the woods.

Fletcher Scale attacks junipers, cedars.

12 The Manitoba Woodlot

Publications Mail Agreement No. 41591026Return undeliverable Canadian addressed copies to:Woodlot Association of Manitoba900 Corydon Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3M 0Y4

EQUIPMENT FOR SALENyle 200 Kiln complete with controls and two fans, $2500. Call Len at 204-423-2180.

Moulder/Planer, 4-headed. Over $9,000.00 in tooling (v joint, flooring, 6 different casing knives, etc.). Blower unit, electrical, 2004 cat, generator, 60kw. Knives and profiles included. In excellent condition. Buyer could be set up and running in one day. Asking $30,000.00. Call (807) 344-7514.

1999 Model LT 40 Wood-Mizer Sawmill. Includes 33 HP Kubota diesel motor, power feed, power up/down, debarker, auto clutch, shingle maker, and lapsider, Lubemizer. Cuts to 36” diameter, 21’ long; with bed extension up to 27’. Comes on wheels. Excellent condition. Asking $18,900.00. Telephone (204) 429-2135.

All sizes of slasher, sawmill and cord wood new blades. Resharpening used 22”/42”/48”/50” sawmill blades and 26”

cord wood blades. Skate sharpener, chipper, blower, debarker, planer, circular sawmill, bandsaw mill, feller buncher ($200,000.00). Used drum roll band saw sharpener ($250.00). All types of saw blade sharpening equipment. 592 Talbot Ave., Winnipeg. Contact Norm at Dr. Saw (204) 667-6373 or see www.drsaw.ca.

EQUIPMENT WANTEDSawmill equipment and saw blades any size, shape and condition. If you want to sell/buy logs, lumber and sawmill equipment, we can provide you with contacts. 592 Talbot Ave., Winnipeg. Contact Norm at Dr. Saw (204) 667-6373 or see www.drsaw.ca.

SERVICESManitoba hardwoods. Elm, ash, maple custom cutting with Wood-Mizer mill. Bob Gass, McCreary, (204) 835-2631.

Saw blade repair/sharpening. We roll, tension, straighten and balance saw blades (instead of hammering). All types

of saw blades and tools sharpened. Weld all types of carbide tip saws (Slasher and Feller Buncher teeth). 592 Talbot Ave., Winnipeg. Contact Norm at Dr. Saw (204) 667-6373 or see www.drsaw.ca.

SAWLOGS WANTEDInterested in purchasing any type of saw log you have available. Contact Roger in Roseile at (204) 828-3386.

LUMBER FOR SALETimber Quota 41 cords softwood annual allowable cut $4500. Call Len at 204-423-2180.

Hardwood lumber: oak, ash and basswood. Air dried. Various sizes and prices. Contact Roger in Roseile at (204) 828-3386.

MISC. FOR SALETwo cases of mesh tree guards, with 500 per box. Price 20-cents per guard. Contact Barry at 204-423-2273.

Advertising rates: full-page $100; half-page $50; business-card $25; classifieds free for WAM members