Nova Scotia homeowners might have a difficult time finding firewood this year, due to increasing demand from mills and power plants.
“We are already booking into the summer with some of our deliveries,” says Robin Barrett, a woodlot owner and operator in Beaver Bank, N.S.
“The Canadian dollar has dropped and a lot of industrial suppliers who weren’t really consuming have come on stream and have been very aggressively going after the contractors.”
As a result, homeowners like Todd Reteff are finding it more difficult to get firewood and they’re also paying more for it.
“Last year I tried to get wood for a couple guys and the supplier ran out and then you get guys coming with wood that is expensive and they don’t give you very much,” says Reteff.
Barrett says there isn’t a shortage of firewood, but there is a shortage of inexpensive firewood, as the increase in demand has resulted in an increase in prices. That’s causing some people to consider alternative ways to heat their homes.
“Using wood for space heat in homes the way many people do is one of the more environmentally forms of heat that we have,” says Matt Miller of the Ecology Action Centre.
Miller says he wants to see the needs of citizens met before the wood leaves the province.
“I think we should be having a look at the way we license access to Crown land and really expand upon the community forestry movement,” he says.
Meanwhile, Barrett says there aren’t enough contractors to harvest the trees needed for firewood.
“We are underutilizing a resource. We have the West slowing down, we could really use people in the harvesting industry here,” he says. “It is an excellent opportunity for the government to work with the industry and bring people home.”
Barrett says, until significant changes are made to the hardwood industry, his best advice to customers is to get their orders in early.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kelland Sundahl
