Two thirds of our forests in Nova Scotia are privately owned and throughout our years of species at risk research we've listened to landowners about the need for support in managing private woodlands for biodiversity. We heard your thoughts and are developing a Biodiversity Assessment Tool to assess the special features and wildlife habitats on a woodlot. The assessment looks at a variety of ecological features such as tree species, tree ages and heights, forest dead wood and special habitats like wetlands, watercourses and old forests. All these features can go hand in hand with active forest management and our tool uses this information to recommend practices that ensures these special characteristics are maintained or improved.