Nova Scotia’s first land trust dedicated to stewarding private woodlands.
The Nova Scotia Working Woodlands Trust was established to address a gap in land conservation across the province, by offering a solution for landowners who want to continue working on their woodland while ensuring long-term stewardship and conservation through Working Forest Community Easements.
What is stewardship?
Forest stewardship is the careful and responsible management of forest resources, grounded in ecological understanding to maintain the health, function, and resilience of ecosystems.
It focuses on keeping forests productive and healthy for both current and future generations, while also conserving the natural environment.
-
NSWWT envisions a healthy, resilient forested landscape across Nova Scotia through a network of landowners with a shared commitment to long-term stewardship.
Mission and Objectives
The Mission of the Nova Scotia Working Woodlands Trust is to uphold and promote the long-term stewardship of private forested lands for the rich diversity of values that they provide through ecological forestry and conservation.
Objectives:
To maintain productive forest lands in perpetuity and managed through ecosystem-based forestry.
To develop, enter into, manage, monitor and enforce community easements as per the Nova Scotia Community Easement Act;
To acquire and own lands.
To provide woodlot owners with;
The opportunity to place working forest easements on their properties.
The organizational structure maintains working forests in perpetuity through gifts and acquisitions.
To solicit donations, including land to achieve the objectives of the Trust.
To work with partner organizations to provide sustainable forest management on private woodlots.
To promote healthy forest conditions in Nova Scotia while continuing to maintain or improve economic and social benefits to landowners and their heirs.
To build an inventory of healthy and diverse working forests to facilitate sustained rural economic growth.
To encourage sustainable forest management, which maintains or enhances conservation values.
To serve as a demonstration of forest stewardship and ecosystem-based forestry.
Our goal is to build long-term forest assets for rural communities by supporting healthy, resilient ecosystems that balance ecological and economic sustainability. We focus on promoting conditions for woodlands to thrive, mature, and generate higher-value products while preserving biodiversity.
By placing private woodlands under Working Forest Community Easements, we allow woodland owners and stewards to continue to own and economically benefit from their property without compromising future ecological integrity. Every property we place under Easement is guided by recommendations within a Forest Stewardship Plan developed by our staff foresters in collaboration with trusted regional service providers and certified through the Forest Stewardship Council. This plan is designed to align with your values and goals, ensuring that future owners will uphold the easement terms and protect your forest legacy for generations to come.
Through our work, we've found that many private landowners in rural Nova Scotia:
Care deeply about their woodlands and are concerned about their future when they can no longer manage them.
Seek to generate economic benefits from their land, not only for themselves but also for future generations.
Often face challenges with succession planning, as many older landowners do not have clear pathways to pass down sustainable stewardship practices.
Many woodlot owners face challenges in ensuring their properties continue to be cared for in the future. Too often, carefully tended family woodlands are sold, only to be liquidated by the new owner, erasing generations of care and stewardship. We want to help break this cycle and ensure that your land remains a thriving forest, preserving both its ecological and economic value for the future of your family and community.
Placing an easement on your property doesn’t mean you can’t continue activities like harvesting firewood or maintaining an annual harvest. By incorporating ecological forestry principles, our Easements allow you to keep working your woodlands while preserving biodiversity.
