benefits - a vital concern, since good timber is often 
     
     found along watercourses. 
     
     Woodlot owners can easily find a great deal of mater— ‘I 
     
     ial about woodlot management. But finding information 
     
     about managing wildlife on woodlots is not so easy. 
     
     In order to plan a SMZ along a watercourse the wood- 
     
     lot owner should study the variety of wildlife using the 
     
     area. Frequent walks through your woodlot will reveal 
     
     tracks in the mud or snow, browsed plants, and droppings. 
     
     Glimpses of the disappearing creatures can also help you discover the 
     
     animals that share your forest. Identification guides are a worthwhile 
     
     investment. Some of these are available through the department of Lands 
     
     and forests, the Nova Scotia Museum and various recreation associations. 
     
     As you develop an understanding of the wildlife species in your woodlot, 
     
     your forest management planning can be expanded to include provisions 
     
     for wildlife. 
     
     The width of SMZs can vary from 10 to 330 feet or more (3 to 100 
     
     metres) on each side of a waterway. Base your width selection on the 
     
     following factors: 
     
     Land sensitivity 
     
     Soil type: Streams flow through areas with different soils. Some soils 
     
     erode more easily than others; disturbing such soils can result in stream 
     
     siltation. Thus clay soils can create more silt than sandy soils. Soil 
     
     maps can be purchased from book stores to assist you. You may need to 
     
     dig some holes near your stream or lake and pour some water on to the ex— 
     
     posed soil pit to determine the sensitivity of the site. 
     
     Water table: it is also important to determine how close the water levels 
     
     in your soils are to the ground surface. This varies with the time of 
     
     year. Most woodlot owners who ahve been stuck with their machinery can ‘ 
     
     spot wet areas and are willing to work around them. 
     
     Slope: The slope of the land near your stream or lake is also important. 
     
     Steeper slopes require a wider SMZ to prevent silt from crossing the buf- 
     
     fer strip and destroying good fish habitat. 
     
     Solar sensitivity 
     
     Trout and salmon thrive in water temperature between 57 and 61 degrees F 
     
     (14-16 degrees C). As water temperatures rise, the oxygen available for 
     
     fish decreases. When water temperatures exceed 72 degrees F (22 degrees C) 
     
     trout and salmon begin to die. In Nova Scotia summer water temp- 
     
     eratures above 86 degrees F (30 degrees C) are common in rivers 
     
     and open streams. Unless your brook is supplied by cold spring 
     
     water, forest shade is essential for trout and salmon to survive. 
     
     Leaving trees along a stream will keep temperatures cool enough 
     
     for young trout and salmon. The shade provided by individual 
     
     trees varies with sizes, shape and species, and by their posi- 
     
     tion in relation to our summer sun. For example, the south side 
     
     provides most of the shade for a brook flowing in an east-west 
     
     direction. The north side may not offer much shade, but it is 
     
     the side favoured by overwintering deer since it faces south. 
     
     Brooks oriented north-south are shaded by trees on both sides. _ 
     
     Woodlot owners considering SMZs along waterways must also anumm 
     
     consider wind and storm damage. It is common for overmature mixed—wood 
     
     (hardwood and softwood) forest, and pure softwood forests exposed by clear- 
     
     cutting, to blow down. The same is true of younger, closely-spaced stands 
     
     with small, competing root systems. Softwoods are shallow-rooted. Many 
     
     well-intentioned one-tree—wide buffers along small brooks serve to keep ‘ 
     
     machinery out of the brook, but fall down in autumn storms. These small