Athol Forestry Cooperative Limited
Athol Forestry Cooperative Limited (Athol), established in 1977, is a co-operative of independent woodlot owners, with holdings located in northwestern Nova Scotia. Athol employs a staff of dedicated forestry professionals who work on behalf of the members to manage and protect the many values of their woodlots. With membership exceeding 250 landowners, Athol currently manages in excess of 45,000 acres.
Athol provides a wide array of forestry services to landowners including woodlot management plans, forest improvement services (planting, thinning, harvesting, etc.) and consulting services such as woodlot assessments, timber marketing and scaling of forest products. We also perform GPS field measuring services for the purposes of mapping and identification of land areas, such as forestry/blueberry, etc.
Our retail store, located at our office in Amherst, caters to the needs of our landowners and the public providing a local source for forestry and safety supplies, culverts, flagging, etc.
News
Highlights of 32nd. Annual General Meeting
The 32nd Annual General Meeting was held on June 18, 2009 with 39 voting members and their guests in attendance. The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and expressed condolances on the passing of Marjorie Hoeg. A lovely roast beef dinner catered by Patterson Restaurant was enjoyed by all.
The business meeting began at 8:00 pm with the approval of the Agenda and the Minutes of June 17, 2008. Jane Berry welcomed everyone to the meeting and briefly reviewed the activities of the Cooperative over the past year. She indicated that the Forestry industry is going through a rough patch and should recover in the fall of 2009 or spring of 2010.
The Chairman, Gerald Read, welcomed Vicki Darragh and Marci Allen representing McIsaac Darragh, Chartered Accountants to the meeting. Ms. Darragh presented the audited financial statements for March 31, 2009 noting that harvesting and forest improvement revenues were down significantly, due mainly to weather and market conditions. Prior to leaving the meeting, Ms. Darragh reviewed the differences between and audit and review engagement, which was discussed later in the meeting. The Financial Statements were approved as presented.
The membership voted in favour of a Review Engagement being done for the 2009-10 fiscal year with the condition that it be brought back to the membership each year for their approval.
Amended By-Laws were presented and approved. A quorum was present.
The Nominating Committee put forth two names for the two vacancies. Eric Black had re-offered and Lyman Bacon was newly nominated. No other nominations were received.
Shelagh Rayworth welcomed Carl Bragg of Doug Bragg Enterprises to the meeting. Mr. Bragg spoke on his proposed wood pellet business, markets and supply of product. It was a very informative session and questions from the floor were answered. Shelagh thanked Carl for his very impressive and exciting presentation. Positive comments were received from several people who attended.
The winners of the silent auction items were announced and door prizes awarded. The Silent Auction raised over $700 for our Scholarship fund and many thanks to Lindsay Goldrich Sharpe for her hard work in sourcing donations. A Ducks Unlimited Framed Print will be raffled in December 2009, all proceeds going to the Scholarship Fund. Tickets are $2 each or 3/$5 and can be purchased in the Athol store. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 pm.
Mission Statement
To promote sustainable forest management beneficial to woodlot owners by: pursuing financial assistance, providing project management and marketing, promoting education and awareness, protecting wildlife and the environment.
