Archive

Check out this article in Parry Sound Life magazine by our forester intern, Margaret Scott, about the history of logging in the Parry Sound area and how it has changed over time. A huge thanks to John Macfie, a local historian and retired employee of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, for telling us about the history of […]

Thursday, June 21 and Friday, June 22, Margaret Scott and Javier Cappella participated in the annual Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Silviculture Tour. The first day focused on yellow birch management including discussions about site preparation treatments, group openings, and a crop tree release study. The second day focused on discussions about pine management such as planting, tending/site […]

Last Tuesday, we wished Ken Webb a happy retirement with a party at the Parry Sound Golf and Country Club. Westwind Staff, former colleagues, friends, and family joined to celebrate Ken’s career in forestry through some golf, speeches, and food. Ken has been with Westwind since 1998 as a senior technician focusing on the southwest […]

Dianne Saxe, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, visited Parry Sound and the French-Severn forest last Wednesday. In the morning, Westwind Forest Manager, Barry Davidson (far right) attended a breakfast hosted by the Georgian Bay Biospshere Reserve in honor of the visit from Dianne Saxe (far left).  Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller (second from right) along with Parry […]

On Monday, Westwind hosted our annual operator’s meeting. Operators working in the French-Severn Forest gathered at the Magnetawan Community Centre. Staff from Westwind and MNRF provided updates on health and safety, planning, licensing, billing, and the annual work schedule. Operators also looked over harvest allocations for the 2019-2029 plan.                Everyone also […]

Yesterday, our forester intern, Margaret Scott, participated in a Hemlock Wooly Adelgid Training Tour. Participants travelled to Rochester, New York to learn how to identify and survey for Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (HWA) from staff from Cornell University and New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Discussions also involved detection and treatment strategies. Although HWA is not currently found in […]

On Friday, February 23, 2018, the University of Toronto Master of Forest Conservation class visited the French-Severn forest to learn about single tree selection, tree marking, and active harvesting. Tom Bryson, Senior Forest Technician, and Margaret Scott, Forester Intern, discussed the different silviculture systems, forest management planning, prescriptions, compliance, and audits with the students. The group had an […]

Westwind staff attended the Forests Ontario Annual Conference – “The Ripple Effect” last Friday, February 9th in Alliston, Ontario. There was a major focus on climate change at the conference with topics including seed transfer policy, the impact of climate change on animal species, carbon offsets, forest fire management, and adapting to climate change.  It […]

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from Westwind! Our office will be closed from December 25th to January 1st but we will be back on January 2nd. We hope you have a safe and happy season and we look forward to working with everyone again in 2018!