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Series forms part of the Department of Lands and Forests fonds and contains records created by the Department’s Administrative offices, including (but not limited to) Office Administrator (particularly H. J. Lynch) and Accountant (A. M. Ferguson). Series documents the actions of administrative staff at the Department of Lands and Forests and supports programming, training, infrastructure, enforcement of Acts, and other interests. Records contain correspondence, memoranda, reports, circulars, catalogues, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and documentation of government programming. Series also includes departmental records on the Royal Commission on Forestry, as well as the Agricultural and Rural Development Agreement (ARDA), Forest Resources Development Agreement (FRDA), and the Youth Training Plan and National Forestry Program.

Correspondence files are organized chronologically, and then alphabetically within each year. The bulk of the correspondence is financial in nature, but it does address a wide scope of topics, including safety promotion, hunting and guide licenses, permits and regulations, royalties and fines, Crown Lands, and education and training, particularly around silviculture. Forest fires are a frequent topic, particularly in regards to equipment, infrastructure and cost recovery.

Series covers such Department initiatives as the Campgrounds and Picnic Areas Project, several different forestry programs, ARDA Wildlife Program, and the Recreation Tourism Program. Also included are records of the Maritime Lumber Bureau, Royal Commission on Forestry, and the Maritime Forest Ranger School. The Department frequently coordinated with private woodlot owners on forest management, which is represented in the series.

The National Selective Service Board (Mobilization Board) tasked the Department of Lands and Forests with reporting upon men who applied for postponement of military service. The reasons for the postponement in these cases were related to the applicants’ necessary work in the Nova Scotia lumbering and forestry industries. Employers wrote letters about the indispensability of employees.

The Youth Training Plan and the National Forestry Program are also covered in these volumes. The National Forestry Program was established in 1939 as a response to unemployment after the Depression. Lands and Forests was responsible for part of this Program, and a camp was set up in the Chignecto Game Sanctuary. The program only lasted a few months, ending with the onset of WWII.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and consists of correspondence and memoranda principally from Otto Schierbeck's tenure as chief forester. Series also includes speeches, annual reports, reports, land tax accounts, drafts of bills, estimates, photographs and negatives of forestry practices, and departmental displays. Series is arranged chronologically.

Series forms part of the Department of Lands and Forests fonds and contains records created by the Commissioner of Forests and Game office, particularly during J.A. Knight's tenure as Forests and Game Commissioner. The bulk of the correspondence is between the Commissioner and agents for the sale of forests and game licences and permits, and also regarding the enforcement of the Act. Series also includes correspondence with the Office of the Interior and Canadian National Parks Branch, copies of Acts and regulations, and extracts from reports of game inspectors.

Series is arranged chronologically and alphabetically by surname of correspondent within each year.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and contains correspondence relating to the granting of lands, leases to rights, maps, and surveying inquiries. The correspondence is between division staff and the chief clerk of the department. Series also includes registers of timber and oyster leases that pre-date the establishment of the department.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and consists of records predominantly from the tenures of deputy ministers F.A. Harrison and D.L. Eldridge. Series includes correspondence, memoranda, reports, draft laws, and copies of speeches concerning projects and policies of the department.

Series also includes correspondence with other government departments, associated organizations, records of consultations with departmental division heads, and files on employment and grant projects with the department. The earlier records (those of F.A. Harrison) are arranged chronologically; the later records are arranged by subject.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and contains microfilm copies of escheat case files. In an escheat the authority is given to call a jury to clarify title to land (ownership). The case files contain descriptions of the land involved, documents presented in evidence, and the verdict.

Series also includes two docket books of the Court of Escheats and Forfeitures, which provide case file number and name, date of grant, location of land, acreage, and date of escheat. Each docket book contains an index by grantee (owner) surname.

The Court of Escheats and Forfeitures was created by legislation in 1760 to recover crown lands on the peninsula of Halifax when conditions of grants had not been fulfilled. Its jurisdiction was later extended to include the whole province. The escheat process was initiated when the Governor in Council appointed a Commissioner of Escheats, who would then summon a jury to hear evidence regarding the abandonment or non-improvement of and/or other failures to fulfill the conditions of the grant. The jury's verdict would be filed with the Registrar of the Court of Chancery or, later, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. One year after the verdict, the Governor in Council could act to recover title to the land and re-grant it. The court was abolished in 1859 and the escheat process was changed so that the attorney-general presented cases to a jury in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and contains the records of David Dyer, extension forester until 1950. Series includes correspondence, reports, statistics, resource inventories, news clippings, pamphlets, bulletins, and journals. Series is arranged chronologically and alphabetically by subject within each volume or year.

Series forms part of the Department of Lands and Forests fonds and contains records created by the Inspector of Lands and Forests office, particularly during E. P. Buchanan's tenure as Inspector. The bulk of the series is correspondence between the Inspector and Forest Rangers from across the province, as well as reports and some financial records and returns. Topics addressed include the fur industry and fur auctions, firearms, employment and staffing within the department, game licensing, fire prevention, and land use. Many records detail the enforcement of the Lands and Forests Act, particularly the confiscation of firearms, reports of illegal fur trade, and the issuing and paying of fines, particularly for hunting on Sundays or on protected land.

Series is arranged alphabetically by subject or correspondent, and then chronologically within the file.

Forms part of Department of Lands and Forests and consists of land grant registration books containing official copies of land grants given by the Government or Crown to settlers in Nova Scotia. The books were used to record Crown copies of land grants as they were issued by the Crown to applicants.

Each land grant recorded in the books identifies the individuals receiving the land and provides the boundary description of the plot as well as the amount of land granted. In many instances grants were made to a number of individuals as part of a common land grant made to a township, or to individuals with some common connection, such as disbanded soldiers. In such cases the grants may not identify the precise location or amount of land received by each person. Additionally while early grants in the 18th century may not include a map showing the location of the grant, later land grants generally include a plot plan.

Each book usually has an internal index. There is also a master index created by the Department and available on microfilm. The index is organized by name of grantee and gives the year of the grant, the acreage of the grant and a reference to the page of the land grant book. The books have been labelled in three systems during the time period from 1730 to 1958 and the time periods for each system overlap to some extent. Generally books designated as "old books" date from the 18th century (1700s); "letter books" are generally before 1847 and "new books" date from 1847 to 1958.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and consists of microfilmed copies of petition registration books containing petitions for land in the Nova Scotia peninsular and Cape Breton sections. Series also includes petitioners name indexes to these books.

Books provide petition number, county, name of petitioner, extent, location, condition of property, price, payments made, and actions taken by the Land Board and Executive Council. From 1852, the books regularly provide the number assigned to the grant by the Nova Scotia Department of Crown Lands. As sales of Crown lands diminished after 1900, the books were also used to record other transactions involving Crown rights, such as oyster leases and campsite rentals. The books are either indexed internally or in a separate index book by name of petitioner. Series is arranged chronologically.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests and contains forest inventory maps showing tree species, density, height, and site classes, as well as the ownership boundaries of land. The planimetric maps show the ownership boundaries of land, roads, transportation lines, and some landmarks.

Forms part of the Department of Lands and Forests and consists of maps detailing the boundaries of lands granted to settlers by the crown and crown-owned lands in Nova Scotia.

Also includes an index map, which divides the province into a grid and gives each section a reference letter and number. Arranged by index number.

Forms part of Department of Lands and Forests and consists of topographical maps of sections of Nova Scotia, created under the Atlantic Provinces Surveying and Mapping Program.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and contains correspondence and returns relating to the payment of land taxes. According to the Land Tax Act of 1917 and 1941, any person who occupied over 500 acres was required to pay a tax and file a return with the Minister of Lands and Forests. Series is arranged alphabetically by surname of landowner.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and consists of correspondence of the Minister of Lands and Forests. Series includes memoranda, reports, newspaper clippings, financial records, and copies of speeches. Series also includes notices, agendas and minutes of meetings of various committees, associations, boards, federations, and councils associated with the department. Series is arranged mainly by subject.

Series forms part of Department of Lands and Forests fonds and consists of correspondence and memoranda. Series also includes applications for pesticide permits, statistics, forest management records, reports, copies of agreements, applications for assistance, and minutes of branch meetings. Series is arranged by subject matter.

Series forms part of the Department of Lands and Forest fonds and contains records of the Program Planning division. Programs developed by Lands and Forests predominantly focused on pest reduction and management, educational programs, forest management, and land use. Records primarily consist of correspondence, minutes, proposals and reports.

Spruce Budworm and Dutch Elm disease are the focus of most pest management records, though other pests, such as the Gypsy Moth, are also dealt with. These records include correspondence, meeting minutes, agendas, reports, and discussion items outlining problems and possible solutions. Documentation on herbicides, pesticides (particularly Bacillus Thuringinsis Kurstaki), pheromone studies and spraying programs as means of pest management are well represented. Series contains some related records of the Eastern Spruce Budworm Council.

Forest Management materials include correspondence, reports, and meeting minutes, as well as training development and facilitation materials. These records cover reforestation, silviculture, provincial tree nurseries and greenhouses, wildlife management, fertilization, and the Forest Inventory. Department of Lands and Forests facilitated courses on a wide number of topics, including silviculture, cone collection, forest management, safety, chainsaw operation, and farm woodlot management.

Series includes some documentation of the relationship and overlap of Department of Lands and Forests with groups such as Cape Breton Development Corporation (Devco), Maritime Lumber Bureau, Nova Scotia Forest Products Association, Canadian Forestry Association, Canadian Institute of Forestry, Christmas Tree Council, Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Timber Loan Board, Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers, and Forest Industries Development Committee.

Series also includes two films, one called 'Lumbering in Nova Scotia' and the other 'Shooks', a film by Margaret Perry about the Nova Scotia box making industry.

Series forms part of the Department of Lands and Forests fonds and contains records created by the Provincial Forester, primarily G. Wilfred Creighton and Robert H. Burgess. Series documents the actions and responsibilities of the Provincial Forester, and supports the work of the Department as a whole. Records primarily consist of correspondence, but also include reports, pamphlets, and field books.

The Provincial Forester corresponded with Forest Rangers, District Foresters and other employees of the Department, the Premier and Forestry Professionals. These files are organized chronologically, and then alphabetically by surname or subject within each year. Correspondence includes some personal engagements, but predominantly relates to Crown Lands and the forestry industry in Nova Scotia. Frequent topics include forest fires (equipment, infrastructure and cost recovery), employment opportunities, pest management (sawfly, fungus), departmental expenses, Christmas trees, pulpwood, timber licenses and use of Crown Land (leases on lots, lumbering, trespassing, crown stumpage, fires, and the purchase of land).

Papers and reports produced by the Department of Lands and Forests are included, created both for internal and external audiences, on topics of pulpwood, crown lands, lumber, and pest management. Other initiatives and projects covered include the Provincial Forest Nursery, Provincial Sanctuaries and Preserves (Tobeatic, Chignecto), and the Small Trees Act.

This Series also includes some records of the Federal Forest Service, Canadian Society of Forestry Engineers, Maritime Lumber Bureau, Mersey Paper Co Ltd, Nova Scotia Forest Products Association, and Canadian Forestry Association.