HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (News release) - The Province's agreements with Port Hawkesbury Paper have been updated to support sustainable ecological forestry practices and management of public lands.

"The forestry sector is important to the economy of Nova Scotia. It can be sustainably managed and align with our environmental goals," said Tory Rushton, Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables. "We've refreshed these agreements to continue working with Port Hawkesbury Paper as an important employer, as part of the forestry sector and as a corporate taxpayer."

The Province has two agreements, first signed in 2012, with Port Hawkesbury Paper.

The company's forest utilization licence agreement is a long-term agreement that guarantees an annual volume of timber from certain parcels of Crown land and sets out terms and conditions. Originally for 20 years, it is now extended to 2043. Changes to the agreement include a lower volume of timber to ensure the Province can accommodate multiple priorities on Crown land.

The company also has a fee-for-service agreement. The Province pays the company to provide services that support sustainable forest management on Crown and private land. The original agreement was for 10 years. A new agreement, running until 2033, ensures services are aligned with current ecological forestry objectives, such as helping implement these types of practices on private woodlots.

Quotes:

Our company, its employees, contractors and suppliers - including sawmills - have long focused on supporting sustainable forestry. With the renewal of these agreements, we will continue to work with government and private woodlot owners to ensure that sound ecological forestry practices are used. This strong partnership means that we are able to maintain hundreds of family-sustaining jobs in rural Nova Scotia, as the facility has done for the last 65 years.Ron Stern, President, Port Hawkesbury Paper

Quick Facts:

• the company can harvest up to 275,000 green metric tonnes of timber per year on about 520,000 hectares of Crown land, down from 400,000 green metric tonnes on about the same amount of land in the original agreement
• the parcels of Crown land are in all counties in Cape Breton as well as Guysborough, Pictou and Antigonish counties
• the company must still go through the Integrated Resource Management process for approvals to harvest on Crown land
• to focus more on ecological forestry and account for inflation, payment for services the company provides is increasing to $5 million per year from $3.8 million