Landowners who sell pulpwood to paper giant Stora Enso Port Hawkesbury ratified a deal with the mill Sunday that will bring the highest wood prices in the Maritimes.
"This is a significant victory for all Nova Scotians," Kingsley Brown, spokesman for the Nova Scotia Landowners and Forest Fibre Producers Association, told The Chronicle Herald on Sunday evening.
Although the 2,000-member group took a 10 per cent price cut, it will still be paid almost double what landowners in western Nova Scotia and New Brunswick receive, he said.
Landowners will get $84.50 for each cord of wood they sell to Stora Enso. Woodcutters in western Nova Scotia selling to Bowater get $47.05, while those in New Brunswick receive $39 a cord, Mr. Brown said.
The deal stipulates that even those woodlot owners who are not members of the association will still be paid the $84.50 rate.
The price per cord will allow landowners to pay for certification plans and audits, new standards that the Forest Stewardship Council requires.
"Stora Enso customers are demanding woodland certification," Mr. Brown said.
Certification requires that landowners "abide by the greenest environmental rules for sustainability" and pay attention to protected spaces and species, he said.The Chronicle Herald
