A Frosty End to Spring

June 19, 2018 1:24 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

Hello Everyone!

I’m going to start this first blog by saying thank you to the FPAC for giving me the chance to be a Green Dream intern this summer, I’m so excited to share my experiences with you all. For those of you reading who don’t know me, my name is Mandy, and I grew up in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Growing up in a small rural community allowed me to develop an appreciation for the environment and all of its powers. In the fall, I will be entering my fifth and final year of my degree in Chemical Engineering at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS.

In January 2018, I had the opportunity to begin an 8-month work term as an Environmental Co-op Student at Louisiana Pacific Canada Limited in East River, NS. This East River location was established in 1967 and manufactures a high quality pre-finished composite hardboard siding known as LP CanExel®. The facility has an Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant onsite to treat all the water used in the process of turning the trees into hardboard siding. There is also a compost facility onsite, where bark and organic residues from the wastewater treatment process is sent to make compost. I’m going to keep the explanation of this facility fairly brief for this first blog post because I plan to dive into more details in the future.

For the past 4 months, I’ve been working alongside the Plant Environmental Manager, Jennifer Frotten, gaining valuable experience on how to keep an industrial mill environmentally sustainable. This work term has been my introduction to the forestry industry and there is so much for me to learn. My goal for my time as a green dream intern is to show everyone who reads my blogs that even in the industrial side of the forest industry, the environment is both protected and appreciated.

Since it has such a huge impact on forestry, let’s talk about the weather. I’m unsure of what other provinces are experiencing, but here in NS, we’ve had quite an interesting start to the year weather-wise. Record breaking temperature fluctuations have swept throughout the province for the majority of 2018. We had spring like weather in February and the majority of our winter snowfall in March. I know the weather usually is much more extreme the further west you travel, but May and June have been very confusing to us East Coasters. One week we will have 30 degree weather and then the next week its back down to 10 degrees. I think most people around here are wishing for some consistency.

Last week was the most destructive one yet. Following a very consistently nice week of summer weather, all the trees and plants were flourishing, farmers had planted most of their crop and everything was fine and dandy. Then, we had one detrimental night of frost that was not forgiving. Many vineyards and farmers lost the majority of their crops and many plants and shrubs have had their leaves and buds zapped off. There are a few photos below to give you an idea of the damage. Here’s to hoping the weather becomes warmer in the next few weeks – fingers crossed!

Shrubs that were killed by frost.

The ferns not under the trees were damaged by frost.

On a more positive note, I have been seeing lots of wildlife out around the mill. During one of our water sampling trips near the compost facility, we spotted some black bear tracks. There has also been a doe and a fawn frequently visiting a little field near the compost facility. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to capture a picture of the two deer – the doe is extremely good at hiding her fawn. I was able to snap a picture of a robins nest with three small babies in it. They look like they just hatched a few days ago.

Robin nest found near the Treatment Plant

Thank you for reading my first blog! Check back soon for blog #2 to see the progress of the robin babies.

-Mandy

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