New Scaling Manual Available Online

Updated legislation and regulations simplify and standardize the way Nova Scotians measure the quantity of wood products that come from harvested trees. And a new manual, which prescribes the procedures, is now available online.

The province has legislated scaling practices -- the measuring or estimating the quantity of products that can be obtained from harvested trees -- since 1942, when the first Scalers Act was proclaimed.

In October, updates to the Scalers Act and its associated regulations were proclaimed. The updates continue to ensure that standardized procedures are used to accurately measure everything from logs and stacked wood to pulpwood, sawlogs and all primary wood products. They also streamline training for scalers and provide a more efficient and timely means for future revisions to the scalers' manual.

Under the Scalers Act any individual or organization involved in measuring more than 1,000 cubic metres of primary wood products per year must use the services of a licensed scaler.

The accurate measurement of primary wood products affects woodlot owners, woods workers, contractors, truckers and the saw mills or paper mills that use those products. The implementation of a fair and consistent provincewide scaling system helps create the winning conditions needed for sustainable prosperity within the industry.

For more information about Nova Scotia's new scaling manual, see the website at www.gov.ns.ca/natr/forestry/scalers/ .