Low Impact Forestry- Profiles

Ken Thomas
Stanley, NB
Contractor Silvi Care Forestry
Ecoregions - Continental Lowlands, Grand Lake
Ecodistrict - Nashwaak River, Oromocto River,
Oromocto, Grand Lake

Ken Thomas started his business in the summer of 1994 to help earn enough income to help put himself the rest of the way through the UNB Forestry program. He’s been working in the woods in one aspect or another since he was old enough to lug a chainsaw. Ken’s Dad had conventional harvesting crews in the heyday of skidder logging of the 70’s and early 80’s. Upon finishing high school he worked a number of years for various harvest contractors and therefore was exposed to all types of commercial harvesting. After losing his job as a machine operator on a large scale mechanized harvest operation he decided it was time to return to school.

An instructor of a woodlot management course noted that he felt there would be viable opportunities in New Brunswick for somebody to offer a full range of professional woodlot management services. That comment combined with the ever-increasing negative media coverage over unsustainable forestry practices really caught Ken’s attention. His practical knowledge of harvesting and marketing of timber products combined with his forestry education made it possible to offer a type of woodlot service that was currently not prevalent in our area north of Fredericton. It was an even easier decision seeing that the vast majority of graduating foresters were heading to northern Ontario or westward to find suitable employment.

Services Offered

Silvi Care Forestry offers a range of services and as such they are usually busy doing something at nearly every time of the year. From late spring until early in the fall pre-commercial thinning on both private woodlots and industrial freehold takes center stage. Over the past few years we have done between 200-300 hectares/year. It is becoming increasingly evident how important this treatment is as stands that had a PCT treatment 15-20 years ago are now ready for a commercial thinning. The writing is on the walls with respect to the opportunity that lies ahead for commercial thinning operations.

The harvesting aspect of Ken’s business is geared up in mid to late summer until break up in the spring. The majority of the harvesting work is done with a Timberjack 225, which is a small cable skidder.

Skidders and Horses

Many landowners have visions in their head of skidders making huge ruts in massive clearcuts. A skidder can be a great machine for undertaking harvest operations as it is designed to travel over rough terrain. It is the operator that determines what kind of job is done. Ken has also, on a number of jobs, used horses as a way to pre-bunch trees for a skidder. This keeps the skid path sizes to a minimum as the horse hauls the treelength wood to the main extraction trail. This helps to eliminate the labor-intensive work of piling wood by hand, which is often the case when working with horses. In some instances where the volume removal is low but the individual size of the extracted trees is large this system works very well. This system is still expensive as the trees have to be handled an extra time and working with a horse can be dangerous, according to Ken.

Management Philosophy

Due to the diverse nature of most of the woodlots in the region around Fredericton, Ken’s maintains it is much easier to do an alternative type of treatment to the traditional clearcuts. Harvesting a woodlot that commonly has up to 10 or more tree species allows the woodlot manager to target a specific species or development stage thus maintaining some forest cover. Not all woodlot stands will allow for this type of treatment. Areas with low tree diversity will ultimately begin to break up at about the same time. Landowners normally don’t want to hear it but there are some areas that are better off to be clearcut with respect to getting a new crop of healthy trees growing there.

A wise old forester told Ken that one of the most important things to do when managing someone else’s woodlot was to make sure he knew their objectives for owning that woodlot. That in itself can be quite a challenge. When the landowner is not sure of his/her objectives then the various options must be explained in a clear and concise way. A local church that owns woodlots in Fredericton was one of Ken’s first clients. The varied objectives of that group really drove the point home. That job helped Ken learn that a woodlot manager needs to keep their client informed of what is going on at all times. Over the course of that job he arranged for a field trip one Saturday for anyone wanting to attend. That job helped shape Ken’s approach to management, as he tries to have clients on the job site at various times when the job is ongoing. According to Ken, the best way to ensure that expectations are met is through clear consistent and constant communication.

Ken believes, landowner education is very important to the long-term health of the woodlots in this province. If the landowner doesn’t fully understand the implications of letting someone have free reign on their woodlot they could be very disappointed with respect to the economic and environmental result. In Ken’s opinion, there are many contractors in this province that make a very good living off uninformed landowners. With an all-time high for stumpage prices, it can be tempting for unscrupulous contractors to sell the odd load without the landowner ever knowing about it.

According to Ken, he sees more and more people who want to do what is right for their property. It then becomes the land manager’s responsibility to ensure that the type of work that gets done is in the best interest of the landowner objectives.



		Ken Thomas Stanley, NB Contractor Silvi Care Forestry Ecoregions - Continental Lowlands, Grand Lake Ecodistrict - Nashwaak River, Oromocto River, Oromocto, Grand Lake
Ken Thomas started his business in the summer of 1994 to help earn enough income to help put himself the rest of the way through the UNB Forestry program. He’s been working in the woods in one aspect or another since he was old enough to lug a chainsaw. Ken’s Dad had conventional harvesting crews in the heyday of skidder logging of the 70’s and early 80’s. Upon finishing high school he worked a number of years for various harvest contractors and therefore was exposed to all types of commercial harvesting. After losing his job as a machine operator on a large scale mechanized harvest operation he decided it was time to return to school. An instructor of a woodlot management course noted that he felt there would be viable opportunities in New Brunswick for somebody to offer a full range of professional woodlot management services. That comment combined with the ever-increasing negative media coverage over unsustainable forestry practices really caught Ken’s attention. His practical knowledge of harvesting and marketing of timber products combined with his forestry education made it possible to offer a type of woodlot service that was currently not prevalent in our area north of Fredericton. It was an even easier decision seeing that the vast majority of graduating foresters were heading to northern Ontario or westward to find suitable employment. Services Offered Silvi Care Forestry offers a range of services and as such they are usually busy doing something at nearly every time of the year. From late spring until early in the fall pre-commercial thinning on both private woodlots and industrial freehold takes center stage. Over the past few years we have done between 200-300 hectares/year. It is becoming increasingly evident how important this treatment is as stands that had a PCT treatment 15-20 years ago are now ready for a commercial thinning. The writing is on the walls with respect to the opportunity that lies ahead for commercial thinning operations. The harvesting aspect of Ken’s business is geared up in mid to late summer until break up in the spring. The majority of the harvesting work is done with a Timberjack 225, which is a small cable skidder. Skidders and Horses Many landowners have visions in their head of skidders making huge ruts in massive clearcuts. A skidder can be a great machine for undertaking harvest operations as it is designed to travel over rough terrain. It is the operator that determines what kind of job is done. Ken has also, on a number of jobs, used horses as a way to pre-bunch trees for a skidder. This keeps the skid path sizes to a minimum as the horse hauls the treelength wood to the main extraction trail. This helps to eliminate the labor-intensive work of piling wood by hand, which is often the case when working with horses. In some instances where the volume removal is low but the individual size of the extracted trees is large this system works very well. This system is still expensive as the trees have to be handled an extra time and working with a horse can be dangerous, according to Ken. Management Philosophy Due to the diverse nature of most of the woodlots in the region around Fredericton, Ken’s maintains it is much easier to do an alternative type of treatment to the traditional clearcuts. Harvesting a woodlot that commonly has up to 10 or more tree species allows the woodlot manager to target a specific species or development stage thus maintaining some forest cover. Not all woodlot stands will allow for this type of treatment. Areas with low tree diversity will ultimately begin to break up at about the same time. Landowners normally don’t want to hear it but there are some areas that are better off to be clearcut with respect to getting a new crop of healthy trees growing there. A wise old forester told Ken that one of the most important things to do when managing someone else’s woodlot was to make sure he knew their objectives for owning that woodlot. That in itself can be quite a challenge. When the landowner is not sure of his/her objectives then the various options must be explained in a clear and concise way. A local church that owns woodlots in Fredericton was one of Ken’s first clients. The varied objectives of that group really drove the point home. That job helped Ken learn that a woodlot manager needs to keep their client informed of what is going on at all times. Over the course of that job he arranged for a field trip one Saturday for anyone wanting to attend. That job helped shape Ken’s approach to management, as he tries to have clients on the job site at various times when the job is ongoing. According to Ken, the best way to ensure that expectations are met is through clear consistent and constant communication. Ken believes, landowner education is very important to the long-term health of the woodlots in this province. If the landowner doesn’t fully understand the implications of letting someone have free reign on their woodlot they could be very disappointed with respect to the economic and environmental result. In Ken’s opinion, there are many contractors in this province that make a very good living off uninformed landowners. With an all-time high for stumpage prices, it can be tempting for unscrupulous contractors to sell the odd load without the landowner ever knowing about it. According to Ken, he sees more and more people who want to do what is right for their property. It then becomes the land manager’s responsibility to ensure that the type of work that gets done is in the best interest of the landowner objectives.