Brant Woodlot Owners Association: make new friends, love trees, sequester carbon and boost your income

BWOA executive members John Moffat and Nancy Van Sas in a re-treed former pasture on Moffat’s farm.

By Diane Baltaz

Utilizing strategic woodlot management techniques rather than leaving your treed areas “to nature” can provide greater pleasure and income, insist two farmers affiliated with the Brant Woodlot Association (BWOA).

Brant Woodlot president Nancy Van Sas of Kelvin and fellow executive committee member John Moffat of Onondaga Townline Road are two tree-savvy farmers who mentor woodlot owners about the benefits of healthy woodlots – and the social benefits of joining the BWOA.

“Woodlot associations attract many experienced members who willingly share advice,” said Van Sas. “They attract many great, knowledgeable people to our board.”

Says the BWOA website: “We are a group of men and women in Haldimand, Brant, Hamilton, and beyond, who are passionate about trees and woods. We have a lot of shared knowledge and experience of species, habitats, responsible harvesting, and tree health.”

The Brant group is one of 21 chapters affiliated with the Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) – the not-for-profit, grassroots stewardship organization which promotes restoration, woodlot management and advocates for healthy forest ecosystems. It includes both woodlot owners and individuals, forestry professionals and organizations that support its goals.

“We encourage people who are interested in trees and wildlife corridors (the elongated naturally vegetated parts of landscape that allows animals to move from one habitat to another),” said Moffat.

The OWA defines a woodlot as “any private or community-owned tract of land including all woodlands, wetlands and forest-forming habitats.” They use the term, “forest” to describe the larger treed landscape.

The OWA website states that the average member’s woodlot size is 20 hectares, with tree types ranging from hardwood forests to Christmas tree plantings, and other variations in between.

Many Brant members express a special interest in Carolinian tree species due to the county’s location in the Carolinian forest zone with tree species unique to Canada, such as pawpaw and sassafras. But a glance at this chapter’s workshops and field trips indicates a diversified range of forestry information.

Past field trips, held during spring and autumn, include nursery and sawmill tours, unique treescapes, members’ woodlots and even an oak whiskey barrel maker near St. George.

Some, like the association’s tour of Ruthven near Cayuga, are combined with the BWOA’s annual general meeting which is held each autumn; Van Sas said that this arrangement enabled members to learn from the site’s forestry officials in addition to exploring this historic natural woodland site.

Members also receive issues of the OWA quarterly, The Ontario Woodlander, which Moffat insisted “is worth the $50 plus tax registration fee alone.” There’s access to agroforestry and carbon offset programs, a woodlot buy and sell site, and notices about woodlot tours elsewhere Ontario, where different farming conditions and cropping practices require other forms of tree stewardship.

Besides tours, networking and knowledge sharing, members also enjoy landowner education programs and notifications on topics such as carbon sequestration, invasive species alerts. Local workshops cover topics such as woodlot safety with professional instruction on the proper use of chainsaw; recently, a Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) official taught proper pruning techniques that won’t invite disease through improper pruning

“You basically leave the farm to learn from other people, see other woodlots and take this info back to your farm,” said Moffat.

“We hold the trips during the season’s shoulders -- spring and fall –when farmers are freer to get involved,” said Van Sas, adding that the tours attract people of all ages and mobility levels, including OWA members from other chapters.

Moffat and Van Sas’s own farms and professional careers demonstrate how property owners can glean ideas for their own land.

Fourteen years ago, Moffat and his wife, Sharon, became the fourth owners of their 150-year old farm, located near the southeast corner of Brant County within eyesight of the edge of the Ontario Green Belt in Hamilton.

“We’re either the first or last farm you see when you enter or leave Brant County, depending which way you approach it.”

The farm was previously a dairy farm until 1994 and had bush and fields bordered with hedgerows, but Moffat, who grew up on a nearby farm on Book Road, Ancaster, cash crops hay, soybeans and wheat.

Also, after graduating from university with a biology degree, Moffat had an extensive tree-related career including the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Halton Conservation Authority. Therefore, since 2013 Moffat planted 5,000 trees throughout the farm, “seeking diversity of species – mainly Carolinian.” He planted trees in an old cattle pasture near the barn, in the woods, hedgerows, and in agriculturally unproductive areas, reforesting approximately 20-plus acres of land.

As part of the process, Moffat worked with organizations such as the GRCA and completed an Environmental Farm Plan with the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OCSIA) – an OCSIA member sign hangs with his OWA sign by the roadside. He credits gaining additional knowledge from veteran BWOA executive member and former past president Neil Dunning, a professed “forest enthusiast” who issues the Brant group’s monthly e-letter and doubles as their primary pipeline with the OWOA.

Moffat’s plantings link with a neighbour’s woodlot to create wildlife corridor between both farms. Ornithologists have confirmed sightings of endangered or at risk species on the farm including red headed woodpeckers, bluebirds, three pairs of wood ducks and bobolinks.

Moffat previously hosted a BWOA tour; he demonstrated the use of his portable saw mill which he uses to selectively cut trees, and an outdoor wood-burning furnace which heats his 1800s farmhouse. He also produces charcuterie boards, showing members an additional means of making income from one’s bush and celebrating local forest-made products.

“My advice is to plant as many trees you think you can manage and according to the conditions – in heavily grassed areas you’ll want taller trees at least a meter high for watering and management,” said Moffat.

Van Sas assists her family in running a cash crop-broiler operation near Kelvin “in that part of Brant that lies within the Long Point Conservation Area Authority.”

She also works with the OSCIA where she runs stewardship workshops and works with farmers in to assess their farm operations for environmental concerns and cost-sharing opportunities. Van Sas’s day job informs her family’s woodlot management decisions.

“The OSCIA workbook has a chapter on woodlots; there’s farmer input to make you think about it differently,” said Van Sas. “The course advises you to not just leave it to nature”.

In her case, a forester assessed their woodlot and sustainably removed trees providing an additional $47,000 of income.

“If you manage your woodlot you get healthier trees and a steadier income,” said Van Sas. “It’s also good to leave some dead trees for species at risk—bats and woodpeckers – you still allow light to get in for the other trees.”

The Van Sas family has a “wish list” of two reforestation projects which they hope to do in 2026. One involves extending marginal farmland near their pond into a wetland as equipment does not pass well there; a three-acre triangle of marginal land located near a hydro line will be reforested as an income source for the next generation.

“A woodlot can be a production area if it is actively managed with proper cutting,” added Van Sas. ”Also deer will more likely remain in the woodlot for feeding and wildlife is attracted for your personal enjoyment.”

These two woodlot advocates describe themselves as “care takers of life” which they see as a critical agrarian duty in this time of climate change and erratic weather conditions.

“Farmers serve as carbon caretakers with properly managed woodlots serving as carbon sinks,” said Van Sas. “You don’t need to farm every last acre—marginal lands can be put into trees.”

Added Moffat, “Yes, big farm equipment exists on farms, but the parameters and hedgerows can serve other purposes; studies show that a field’s parameters provide more protection for the crop if they are treed.”

Moffat mentioned a study which demonstrated how strategically planted and managed trees such as black walnut can provide “high income when harvested after 45 years” providing income for the farm’s next generation.

“That creates the mindset for sustainable farming for children,” said Moffat. “They have the enjoyment of trees when they are small but potentially they can become a revenue stream for them.”

Consequently, when required, the Brant Woodlot Owners advocate with Brant County on topics such as the municipal tree bylaw and the Community Forestry Strategy; a county council representative at their meetings.

“We’re moving towards making changes on farms whether we want to or not,” said Van Sas. “We need to be sustainable, sequester carbon and that involves woodlots too.”

“With climate change we experience more moisture issues and we risk erosion when trees are removed from hedgerows,” added Van Sas. “We might get more plants in the field but there’s also less moisture; you end up giving your soil to the neighbours. That’s also part of the OSCIA – with farmers working for farmers.”

“We need trees to breathe,” concluded Nancy. “We’re learning in a time of change.”

Van Sas referred to the 2024 the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry report, entitled Critical Ground, which highlights soil’s impact on Canada’s multiple ecosystem services.

“If we continue farming the way we are now, how are we going to eat? Already California has water issues. If we cut down trees we will have less moisture; maybe we can consider what our parents did 100 years ago, adopting sustainable practices that can work even on today’s large farms.”