Manitoba Agro Woodlot Program - Overview

Manitoba Conservation’s Forestry Branch is partnering with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) to foster private land forestry. Based on the Manitoba Agro Woodlot Program’s history of maximizing economic returns to landowners and rural communities, MAFRI integrated the program into its Growing Opportunities (GO) initiative, in the fall of 2005. Forestry and MAFRI are partnering to deliver an umbrella program in partnership with the Manitoba Forestry Association. The goal is to help landowners make informed decisions by delivering free high quality technical services and guidance to landowners throughout agro Manitoba.

The Agro Woodlot Program was created in 1992 to help landowners conserve and restore wildlife habitat in southwestern Manitoba. Its staff of foresters provide landowners with technical assistance and guidance on how to integrate woodlot management and agroforestry into their farming operations. Agroforestry is the art of using the right tree, in the right place, for the right purpose. Agroforestry solves farm problems and reduces operating cost. Well designed tree plantations can manage snow, reduce energy consumption, provide visual barriers or reduce stream bank erosion.

Although many people think that the best way to care for their woodlot is to leave it alone, the fact is without natural disturbance, woodlots get old and decline. Carefully planned harvesting not only generates income, it improves woodlot health, vigour and value. At the same time, planned management enhances wildlife habitat and sustains environmental benefits, while diversifying on-farm family income and creating jobs. The Program fosters expansion of local micro-forestry business and actively promotes value-added processing in rural Manitoba. Our goal is to link urban buyers with a chain of loggers, sawyers, kiln operators, furniture and cabinet makers who make their living as a result of landowners who manage their woodlots sustainably.

The Manitoba Agro Woodlot Program is funded through the Agricultural Policy Framework, a federal-provincial initiative. MAFRI delivers the Program from GO Centre offices located in Gladstone,Somerset and St. Pierre-Jolys

The Manitoba Forestry Association delivers the Program from offices in

• Winnipeg
• Swan River

Partners agencies include:

• Conservation – Forestry Branch
• The Manitoba Forestry Association
• Manitoba Conservation Districts
• Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration
• The Woodlot Association of Manitoba
• The Manitoba Christmas Tree Grower's Association
• Local agriculture conservation groups

 

The Manitoba Agro Woodlot program is part of the federal-provincial Agricultural Policy Framework (APF).