The ASF is administering a mechanical site preparation pilot program on behalf of the Department of Natural Resources for the current field season. A limited amount of funding is available. Due to this, a request for the work to be completed must be approved prior to a claim being submitted. Requests must be sent in by June 13^th, 2025. For the site to potentially qualify, it must have 2 growing seasons or less since being harvested. Please see required forms below as well as mechanical site prep information package. For more information, contact the Association for Sustainable Forestry. Call 902-324-0811 or email ben@asforestry.com.

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ONLINE SITE PREP REQUEST FORM or PDF Version (373KB)
ONLINE SITE PREP CLAIM FORM or PDF Version (543KB)
Regeneration Assessment Form – PDF (169KB) – REQUIRED FOR ONLINE REQUEST FORM

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Instructions for Landowners and Contractors

General Information – Technical Standards

Mechanical site preparation is only to be recommended when stocking to acceptable natural regeneration is <30%. The treatment must create a site that has 85% stocking to plantable microsites (based on 2.4m x 2.4m spacing).

Plantable microsite definition: Free of slash overburden (that cannot be easily moved by hand) and has a mixing of mineral and organic soil components or has a forest floor 10cm thick or less, for a radius of 1.2m from the point of assessment.

Program Procedures:

1. Only sites that have 2 growing seasons or less (post-harvest) are eligible for this pilot program.  Special permission may be given through the ASF request process for older sites under certain conditions.
2. All sites must be pre-approved by ASF before submission of claims.
3. Submit a Mechanical Site Preparation Request form by Friday, May 30, 2025. 
4. Sites must have a completed Regeneration and Site Assessment to be eligible for assistance (attached).
5. Submit the Regeneration and Site Assessment along with accompanying shapefiles to ASF for review, monitoring as required, and payment for completed and approved treatments. Sites may not be claimed for assistance without prior approval from ASF.
6. ASF will field audit a minimum of 30% of treated sites.

ASF Shapefile Standards

1. All shapefiles must be free of errors, such as overlapping vertices, incorrect reference geometry (datum and projection), etc.
2. Standards:
   1. Projected Coordinate System: NAD 1983 (CSRS) v2 UTM Zone 20N
   2. Projection: Transverse Mercator
   3. Datum: North America 1983 (CSRS) version 2
3. Shapefiles must accurately define the extent of treatment areas.
4. Areas considered untreated (that are not part of the treatment protocol, i.e. retention/wildlife clumps, or other required retention that are part of the treatment design), and are fully within the overall treated area, and are greater than 0.2 ha, must be removed from the shapefile to calculate a correct area for claiming purposes.
5. All untreated portions that are outside of the treated area may not be included in claim shapefiles.
6. All roads and landings must be removed from claim shapefiles. This does not include hauling trails that are of no more than a single machine’s width.
7. It is the responsibility of the claimant to supply shapefiles that meet these standards.
   

Regeneration Assessment Tally Sheet & Summary – Instructions

Site information: Use legal landowner name, list all pertinent PIDs, and both the Assessor and Landowner must sign the appropriate spots at the top.

Regeneration assessment: Complete a detailed regeneration assessment using a 2.70m radius, stocked quadrant survey. Divide the 2.70m radius plot into 4 equal quadrants and look in each quadrant for healthy regeneration with acceptable regeneration per the following table:

Stocking based on	2.4m x 2.4m spacing (1736 stems /ha)
Required stocking for Full-Planting	<30% stocking prior to planting
Acceptable height of crop trees	Softwood Species >10cm
Acceptable crop tree species	RS, WS, WP, EH

For each plot, mark as 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 stocked quadrants for the plot along with species and average height.

Determine the average stocking for the site: Sum of stocked quadrants from all plots / (number of plots x 4).

Discuss with the landowner their expectations for reforestation and their commitment to ensure its success.

Other assessment considerations:

1. Was the site previously old-field white spruce? Yes/No
2. Approximate date of harvest completion (Sites must have a maximum of two growing seasons post-harvest. Exceptions for older sites will require pre-approval by ASF.)
3. Access condition (road and landings usable?)
4. Are portable bridges required to access the site for treatment? Yes/No and comments.
5. WHWP – are clumps and SMZs in place as required by regulation?
6. Is the site excessively rocky as to inhibit planting? Yes/No
7.  What is the drainage class? (well to imperfect are eligible only).
8. Confirm site productivity is >LC4.0(RS) (Ecosites AC6+, 7+, 9/10, 10, 11, 13, 14 only).
9. Slash loading – (light, moderate, heavy, softwood, hardwood, mixed, etc.)
10. Preferred method of site prep (type of equipment).
11. Indicate the species best suited to the ecosite for planting.
12. List any anticipated follow-up treatments.
13. Make any other comments you think are important to site planning.

Claim Rate: $350/ha
Includes:

• Regeneration and site assessment
• Site prep treatment and float