Low Impact Forestry- Profiles

Girard Gagnon

Kedgwick
275 acres
Ecoregion - Northern Uplands
Ecodistrict - Upsalquitch

Girard Gagnon loves to work on his woodlots. He owns three separate woodlots totalling 275 acres; one near Kedgwick where he plans to build retirement home in the next couple of years, a second woodlot to the north near village of St. Jean Baptiste and a sugar bush at Menneval, a little farther north again.

Mr. Gagnon has been recognized for his woodlot management work. He was Woodlot Owner of the Year for the North Shore Syndicate in 1995, and in 1998 was nominated for Provincial Woodlot Owner of the Year.

His woodlots in north central New Brunswick are in the Upsalquitch Ecodistrict. The landscape is characterized by the northward flowing Restigouche, Upsalquitch and Northwest Upsalquitch rivers that cut across a plateau that has an average elevation of 300 meters. This district has a moderately cold wet climate.

The district has a history of high fire frequency and intensive harvest which is reflected by a high component of early successional forest tree species such as poplar and white birch, sometimes with an understory of fir and white spruce. The 1934 Restigouche fire burned 745 square kilometres, so its impacts can be found just about everywhere.

The upper slopes of the central plateau are covered with mixed wood forests comprised of balsam fir, sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch with the occasional white spruce and beech. In the steep river valleys, the forest is largely comprised of fir and white spruce with some white pine and black spruce. The limestone ridges in the area are dominated by tolerant hardwoods. In the valley bottom along the rivers, particularly on the poorly drained soils, there area mixtures of black spruce, white spruce, balsam fir and cedar.

Mr. Gagnon’s woodlot at Kedgwick is on a well drained hillside dominated by balsam fir and poplar which regenerated following the previous harvest, The woodlot at Minneval is on low lying land and has a high component of black spruce, except on the better drained sites where there is a more general mix of balsam fir, poplar, birch and spruce. The maple sugar bush has sugar maple on the ridge, a mixed wood on the hillside leading down to a low lying area dominated by black spruce.

Mr. Gagnon grew up on a small farm near St. Quentin and developed an interest in the forest at an early age. He graduated from Maritime Forest Ranger School and went to work with the Department of Natural Resources at Kedgwick and rose to the level of District Ranger. He resigned from the Department of Natural Resources (DRE) in 1990 and went into business operating a United Auto Parts (UAP) store in Kedgwick.

"My son will be taking over the store next summer and I will take my retirement. We have plans to build a log home. And then I will be able to spend more time in my woodlots."

Mr. Gagnon began managing his woodlots in 1980 when he took a lease from the Crown on the property where he has developed his Sugary. Each woodlot has a good, all season road. Mr. Gagnon and his son Eric have done most of the silviculture work, following management plans prepared by the North Shore Woodlot Owners Syndicate. Mr. Gagnon is proud of the management that he and his family have done.

"I Never Want to See it Clearcut"

"When we started, the woodlots had been picked over very hard. We have harvested more than forty cords per year through the thinnings. Now we have more than twice as much volume than when we started. Contractors have asked if I want to sell my wood. I say no way, I plan to cut my wood for the rest of my life. I never want to see it clearcut."

Mr. Gagnon says that there are not many woodlot owners in his region that are managing their woodlots in a manner that keeps it wooded and able to provide income from year to year. He says that many woodlot owners are selling the stumpage and as a result to entire woodlot is clearcut. Some of the woodlot owners are planting the cut-overs, but he points out that there will be no wood for the owner and his family, and also poor habitat for wildlife. He concludes with the statement that for many years, the land will not be producing any wood for area mills.

Mr. Gagnon likes to manage uneven aged stands, relying on natural reseeding. When he started to thin his stands he used a three wheeled all terrain vehicle (ATV) to forward the pulpwood that was harvested through the thinnings. Later on he moved up to a four wheeled ATV and presently has a 350cc four wheeled drive ATV. Mr. Gagnon is quick to credit his brother-in-law who built him a walking beam trailer and a skidding arch for his ATV. The trailer is set up to haul either 4 foot or eight foot studwood. The skidding arch is a two wheeled affair with a hand operated winch high on the frame so that the end of the log can be lifted up clear of the ground. "We have some pretty big Poplars that we are taking out, with the arch we can haul them - no problem."

Managing the Sugar Bush

The sugar bush at Minneval was the first that Mr. Gagnon purchased. Mr. Gagnon has had management plans completed for each woodlot and he and his son have done nearly 200 acres of thinning on their woodlots. He explained that he follows his management plan's recommendations fairly closely, except in one case. This occurred in an area at the back of sugar bush. The plan recommended to clearcut and plant a stand of black spruce and balsam fir. "I said, I don't think so. We can thin it and grow some good wood there. We harvested nearly 20 cords per acre from the stand and hauled it out with a three wheeler ATV. Now there is easily 30 cords per acre, growing really well. Most of the trees are black spruce, I can watch them grow for a long time and watch it regenerate itself."

"When we started thinning, we didn't have very many hardwoods to work with, but in the area we did in 1999, there were more hardwoods and we kept more in the thinned areas. When we thin, we look for the best quality tree to leave whether it is hardwood or softwood."

Leaving the thinned stands and moving toward the front of the woodlot, the land rises and there is a larger component of hardwoods; red maple, white birch and yellow birch mixed with spruce, fir and cedar. Closer to the top of the ridge there are fewer softwoods and sugar maple and yellow birch dominate the stand. There has also been some thinning in the maple bush to provide a good spacing and remove species other than sugar maple. Going down slope to the Camp the softwood component, mostly fir and some spruce, increases.

When Mr. Gagnon first leased the woodlot he started thinning the softwoods near where the Sugar Camp. As time went on, he started to tap some of the maples, so the thinning focused more on developing the sugar bush.

Maple syrup production started with a big pot out under a tree. "I boiled one whole night for one 40 oz. bottle of syrup. When I was coming out of the woods, I said, "We either have to get a camp and a good evaporator or forget the whole thing." Now he has 1500-1700 taps, making about 150 gallons of syrup. There is expansion potential to about 3000 taps, probably more, as the trees increase in diameter.

In addition to the thinning in the sugar bush, there has also been some tree tagging and measuring, so that Mr. Gagnon can re-measure to see how much the trees are grow over time. stand.

The Gagnons have had plenty of visitors to the Sugar Camp since it was built in 1987. The camp is right on Route 17 about one half hour from Campbellton. "The first Saturday we had the Camp open during the boil, we sold absolutely everything we had. That day we made about $1500, we said, : Boy! Building the camp was a good idea!" "That was when we were selling at $46 per gallon, now the price is about $36, we don't have those days anymore." The Gagnons are now thinking about building a larger camp next to the Sugary so they can offer meals when the sap is running.

Mr. Gagnon's wife Noella helps with the Sugary when things get busy and when students visit from school she prepares taffy. Besides selling syrup, the Gagnon's make maple cream, butter and taffy in their home. All maple products are sold from the Sugar camp, their home and a small amount from stores in Kedgwick.

The Gagnons get a lot of weekend visitors stopping to see the operation and to purchase maple products. Occasionally there are visitors from other countries. "I once had a gentleman from France stop in to see what we were doing. He came in asked, What are you doing here? I showed him how we made syrup from the maple sap. I gave him some to taste. He said I cannot believe it, you must add some sugar. He stayed and watched me all day to see when I put in the sugar."

Mr. Gagnon relies on his woodlots for fuelwood for heating his own and his son's home as well as the UAP store. "Between the Store, my own and my son's homes and the sugar camp, we burn about 40 cords of hardwood. Right now we can harvest that amount with out running short."

Encouraging Marten

Mr. Gagnon’s oldest son, Eric, is school teacher who lives in Kedgwick. Eric loves to work in woodlots and recently purchased his own woodlot. His second son, Denis, works in the UAP store, doesn't like to work in the woods as much but he does enjoy the wildlife and nature aspect. "One day we were back bedside a beaver pond, just sitting along the bank and five little beavers came along and just played around. Then just as we were getting up to go, along came an otter. Denis still talks about that time."

As any maple producer, Mr. Gagnon is not terribly fond of squirrels in the Bush. He said, "But I have some help with the squirrels, I have seen a Marten track. I think I will build some nest boxes and place them in the woodlot and feed them with carcasses that I can get from a friend that is a trapper. There should be lots of squirrels to feed the Marten through the summer. It's the winter time when food is scarce that it is hard on the Marten."

"I once saw a mink take a rabbit on the bank of a stream. I have lots of grouse in the sugar bush. One time I was thinning and the grouse hit me in the back of the leg. It ran around acting really strange, chasing me. I looked around and found her nest, I had stepped on two eggs without seeing them. She hatched ten chicks that summer. There are not too many deer. We have a lot of snow and some coyotes, and we have too many clearcut woods, so there is not good habitat. We used to have a lot more deer, now we have more moose in the region. We have some bear in the area. I see tracks sometimes."

Surrounded by Clearcuts

"My neighbours are not interested in forest management. They clearcut their lots, now I have a lot of blowdown damage along the line. I will have to do some work there in the next several years to keep cleaning up the blowdowns."

Mr. Gagnon enjoys walking in the woods in the fall during hunting season. "I sometimes carry a gun, but I don't put any shells in it. I just enjoy seeing the wildlife on my woodlots. I also like to walk in the woods just before Christmas, at that time there are neither files or snow. The leaves are off and I can see if the trees are sick and will need to be cut."



		*Girard Gagnon* Kedgwick 275 acres Ecoregion - Northern Uplands Ecodistrict - Upsalquitch
Girard Gagnon loves to work on his woodlots. He owns three separate woodlots totalling 275 acres; one near Kedgwick where he plans to build retirement home in the next couple of years, a second woodlot to the north near village of St. Jean Baptiste and a sugar bush at Menneval, a little farther north again. Mr. Gagnon has been recognized for his woodlot management work. He was Woodlot Owner of the Year for the North Shore Syndicate in 1995, and in 1998 was nominated for Provincial Woodlot Owner of the Year. His woodlots in north central New Brunswick are in the Upsalquitch Ecodistrict. The landscape is characterized by the northward flowing Restigouche, Upsalquitch and Northwest Upsalquitch rivers that cut across a plateau that has an average elevation of 300 meters. This district has a moderately cold wet climate. The district has a history of high fire frequency and intensive harvest which is reflected by a high component of early successional forest tree species such as poplar and white birch, sometimes with an understory of fir and white spruce. The 1934 Restigouche fire burned 745 square kilometres, so its impacts can be found just about everywhere. The upper slopes of the central plateau are covered with mixed wood forests comprised of balsam fir, sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch with the occasional white spruce and beech. In the steep river valleys, the forest is largely comprised of fir and white spruce with some white pine and black spruce. The limestone ridges in the area are dominated by tolerant hardwoods. In the valley bottom along the rivers, particularly on the poorly drained soils, there area mixtures of black spruce, white spruce, balsam fir and cedar. Mr. Gagnon’s woodlot at Kedgwick is on a well drained hillside dominated by balsam fir and poplar which regenerated following the previous harvest, The woodlot at Minneval is on low lying land and has a high component of black spruce, except on the better drained sites where there is a more general mix of balsam fir, poplar, birch and spruce. The maple sugar bush has sugar maple on the ridge, a mixed wood on the hillside leading down to a low lying area dominated by black spruce. Mr. Gagnon grew up on a small farm near St. Quentin and developed an interest in the forest at an early age. He graduated from Maritime Forest Ranger School and went to work with the Department of Natural Resources at Kedgwick and rose to the level of District Ranger. He resigned from the Department of Natural Resources (DRE) in 1990 and went into business operating a United Auto Parts (UAP) store in Kedgwick. "My son will be taking over the store next summer and I will take my retirement. We have plans to build a log home. And then I will be able to spend more time in my woodlots." Mr. Gagnon began managing his woodlots in 1980 when he took a lease from the Crown on the property where he has developed his Sugary. Each woodlot has a good, all season road. Mr. Gagnon and his son Eric have done most of the silviculture work, following management plans prepared by the North Shore Woodlot Owners Syndicate. Mr. Gagnon is proud of the management that he and his family have done. "I Never Want to See it Clearcut" "When we started, the woodlots had been picked over very hard. We have harvested more than forty cords per year through the thinnings. Now we have more than twice as much volume than when we started. Contractors have asked if I want to sell my wood. I say no way, I plan to cut my wood for the rest of my life. I never want to see it clearcut." Mr. Gagnon says that there are not many woodlot owners in his region that are managing their woodlots in a manner that keeps it wooded and able to provide income from year to year. He says that many woodlot owners are selling the stumpage and as a result to entire woodlot is clearcut. Some of the woodlot owners are planting the cut-overs, but he points out that there will be no wood for the owner and his family, and also poor habitat for wildlife. He concludes with the statement that for many years, the land will not be producing any wood for area mills. Mr. Gagnon likes to manage uneven aged stands, relying on natural reseeding. When he started to thin his stands he used a three wheeled all terrain vehicle (ATV) to forward the pulpwood that was harvested through the thinnings. Later on he moved up to a four wheeled ATV and presently has a 350cc four wheeled drive ATV. Mr. Gagnon is quick to credit his brother-in-law who built him a walking beam trailer and a skidding arch for his ATV. The trailer is set up to haul either 4 foot or eight foot studwood. The skidding arch is a two wheeled affair with a hand operated winch high on the frame so that the end of the log can be lifted up clear of the ground. "We have some pretty big Poplars that we are taking out, with the arch we can haul them - no problem." Managing the Sugar Bush The sugar bush at Minneval was the first that Mr. Gagnon purchased. Mr. Gagnon has had management plans completed for each woodlot and he and his son have done nearly 200 acres of thinning on their woodlots. He explained that he follows his management plan's recommendations fairly closely, except in one case. This occurred in an area at the back of sugar bush. The plan recommended to clearcut and plant a stand of black spruce and balsam fir. "I said, I don't think so. We can thin it and grow some good wood there. We harvested nearly 20 cords per acre from the stand and hauled it out with a three wheeler ATV. Now there is easily 30 cords per acre, growing really well. Most of the trees are black spruce, I can watch them grow for a long time and watch it regenerate itself." "When we started thinning, we didn't have very many hardwoods to work with, but in the area we did in 1999, there were more hardwoods and we kept more in the thinned areas. When we thin, we look for the best quality tree to leave whether it is hardwood or softwood." Leaving the thinned stands and moving toward the front of the woodlot, the land rises and there is a larger component of hardwoods; red maple, white birch and yellow birch mixed with spruce, fir and cedar. Closer to the top of the ridge there are fewer softwoods and sugar maple and yellow birch dominate the stand. There has also been some thinning in the maple bush to provide a good spacing and remove species other than sugar maple. Going down slope to the Camp the softwood component, mostly fir and some spruce, increases. When Mr. Gagnon first leased the woodlot he started thinning the softwoods near where the Sugar Camp. As time went on, he started to tap some of the maples, so the thinning focused more on developing the sugar bush. Maple syrup production started with a big pot out under a tree. "I boiled one whole night for one 40 oz. bottle of syrup. When I was coming out of the woods, I said, "We either have to get a camp and a good evaporator or forget the whole thing." Now he has 1500-1700 taps, making about 150 gallons of syrup. There is expansion potential to about 3000 taps, probably more, as the trees increase in diameter. In addition to the thinning in the sugar bush, there has also been some tree tagging and measuring, so that Mr. Gagnon can re-measure to see how much the trees are grow over time. stand. The Gagnons have had plenty of visitors to the Sugar Camp since it was built in 1987. The camp is right on Route 17 about one half hour from Campbellton. "The first Saturday we had the Camp open during the boil, we sold absolutely everything we had. That day we made about $1500, we said, : Boy! Building the camp was a good idea!" "That was when we were selling at $46 per gallon, now the price is about $36, we don't have those days anymore." The Gagnons are now thinking about building a larger camp next to the Sugary so they can offer meals when the sap is running. Mr. Gagnon's wife Noella helps with the Sugary when things get busy and when students visit from school she prepares taffy. Besides selling syrup, the Gagnon's make maple cream, butter and taffy in their home. All maple products are sold from the Sugar camp, their home and a small amount from stores in Kedgwick. The Gagnons get a lot of weekend visitors stopping to see the operation and to purchase maple products. Occasionally there are visitors from other countries. "I once had a gentleman from France stop in to see what we were doing. He came in asked, What are you doing here? I showed him how we made syrup from the maple sap. I gave him some to taste. He said I cannot believe it, you must add some sugar. He stayed and watched me all day to see when I put in the sugar." Mr. Gagnon relies on his woodlots for fuelwood for heating his own and his son's home as well as the UAP store. "Between the Store, my own and my son's homes and the sugar camp, we burn about 40 cords of hardwood. Right now we can harvest that amount with out running short." Encouraging Marten Mr. Gagnon’s oldest son, Eric, is school teacher who lives in Kedgwick. Eric loves to work in woodlots and recently purchased his own woodlot. His second son, Denis, works in the UAP store, doesn't like to work in the woods as much but he does enjoy the wildlife and nature aspect. "One day we were back bedside a beaver pond, just sitting along the bank and five little beavers came along and just played around. Then just as we were getting up to go, along came an otter. Denis still talks about that time." As any maple producer, Mr. Gagnon is not terribly fond of squirrels in the Bush. He said, "But I have some help with the squirrels, I have seen a Marten track. I think I will build some nest boxes and place them in the woodlot and feed them with carcasses that I can get from a friend that is a trapper. There should be lots of squirrels to feed the Marten through the summer. It's the winter time when food is scarce that it is hard on the Marten." "I once saw a mink take a rabbit on the bank of a stream. I have lots of grouse in the sugar bush. One time I was thinning and the grouse hit me in the back of the leg. It ran around acting really strange, chasing me. I looked around and found her nest, I had stepped on two eggs without seeing them. She hatched ten chicks that summer. There are not too many deer. We have a lot of snow and some coyotes, and we have too many clearcut woods, so there is not good habitat. We used to have a lot more deer, now we have more moose in the region. We have some bear in the area. I see tracks sometimes." Surrounded by Clearcuts "My neighbours are not interested in forest management. They clearcut their lots, now I have a lot of blowdown damage along the line. I will have to do some work there in the next several years to keep cleaning up the blowdowns." Mr. Gagnon enjoys walking in the woods in the fall during hunting season. "I sometimes carry a gun, but I don't put any shells in it. I just enjoy seeing the wildlife on my woodlots. I also like to walk in the woods just before Christmas, at that time there are neither files or snow. The leaves are off and I can see if the trees are sick and will need to be cut."