Jim and Donna Webber were chosen as winners of the “Woodlot Owners of the Year Award” (WOYA) for the eastern Region of Nova Scotia, and went on from there to be selected as provincial WOYA winners. They are the first provincial winners from the Antigonish area since Mary Van den Heuval in 1995.
The WOYA program has been in place for approximately 20 years. It is intended to acknowledge the commitment and good works of landowners like Jim and Donna who sustainably manage their land and who have clear goals of what they want to achieve through their management activities. It is hoped that WOYA winners can be looked to as examples of how to do things right and who will share their experience with others. Jim and Donna certainly fit that bill.
The award is not about an attractive woodlot. It is about what the landowner does with what he and/or she has that counts. When you visit the Webber woodlot, you will see a working lot that has yielded income on an annual basis, either from low bush blueberries, christmas trees or commercial harvets for fibre.
Jim has spent much time on the executive of the North Eastern Christmas Tree Association and is currently president of the Christmas Tree Council of Nova Scotia. The many hours commited to helping other woodlot owners is another key reason why someone is chosen Woodlot Owner of the Year.
For more information on the award and this years winners, you can visit the Dept. of Natural Resources web site at www.gov.ns.ca/natr/woodlot/woya/.
On Saturday, Oct. 2nd from 9 am to 3pm there will be a field day at the Webber woodlot at 1850 Hwy #7 in North Lochaber.
A lot of LCDA activities are out there for everyone to see. But your community association also works behind the scenes on the residents’ behalf. Here’s one example.
As many of you are all too painfully aware, Elections Canada’s voters lists are in need of major revision. The LCDA has in the past worked with the Central Nova returning officer and, although she was very sympathetic to our concerns, there was really very little that she could do. Time to go to the top! The LCDA described the situation to our MP, Peter MacKay, and he passed on our concerns to Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer. Now Elections Canada officials, both in Ottawa and locally, are working to resolve the voters list problems. Hopefully, by the time the next federal election comes along, the lists will be more realistic.
This is another of those behind the scenes LCDA activities. For some time now, residents of West Lochaber have seen some of their mail (from large volume mailers) addressed to “xxxx Lochaber Rd, Antigonish, NS, B2G 2L9″. These addresses are just outside Antigonish on Hwy #7. What happened was that, with the goal of making postal addressess in sync with emergency 911 addresses, Canada Post planned to change “West Lochaber Rd.” to “West Side Lochaber Rd.”. Something went awry and “West Lochaber Rd.” got dropped from the Canada Post data base, but wasn’t properly replaced. Mailers who depended on the Canada Post data base were left without a proper address, and ended up using the “Lochaber Rd.” designation by default. Once again, the LCDA went to Peter MacKay and he brought the situation to the attention of the Canada Post CEO. Canada Post are now working to rectify the situation and, as of early August, hoped to have things straightened out by some time in September.
Incidently, from discussions with Canada Post officials, it was learned that Canada Post plans to eventually drop the “RR” section from rural postal addresses.
This year’s Lochaber Blueberry Festival will take place at Sylvan Hall, 1585 Highway #7 , on Sunday, August 22nd, from 1:30 to 4:00 PM. Come on along and join us for your choice from among a wide selection of mouth-watering homemade blueberry desserts. It’s a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, enjoying these delicious treats, while catching up on the news with folks you don’t get to see as often as you might like.
Hope to see you there. If you have any questions, drop us an e-mail at info@lochaber.ca .
