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Sustainable Forest
Management in British
Columbia
FRST 547
14 November 2014
Outline:
• Evolution of forest management
• Diverging views
• UNCED and the Montreal Process
• The changing nature of forest
management in BC
• Ecosystem-based management
Early logging – limited impacts
The amount of disturbance picked up
with mechanization
Early industrial logging
Clear vision in war years
One view of BC Forestry
• “Over-mature” forest
• “Decadent” forest should be liquidated
• Biodiversity = Constraint
• Size matters
• The solution is to cut production costs
• The USA is the cause of all BC’s forestry problems
• Most smaller resource-dependent towns are redundant
? Is this good forestry?
Progression of ideas
• Timber mining
• Sustainable yield
• Multiple use
• Zoning concepts
• Sustainable forest management
• Ecosystem management
• Ecosystem-based management
• Near-to-nature forestry
(not mutually exclusive)
Sustained yield
The idea of
maintaining an
indefinite supply of
timber has been
around for a long
time.
Sustained what?
By the mid-1960s,
foresters realized
that forests had to
serve multiple
values: timber,
water, wildlife,
recreation etc.
Multiple use?
By late 1970s, multiple use was
abandoned in many places
1972 Limits to Growth
• Global ecological constraints will have significant influence on global developments in the 21st century
• Capital and manpower might have to be diverted – possibly to the extent that the average quality of life will decline in the 21st century
• Argued for a decrease in the “ecological footprint” of humanity
1987 World Commission on
Environment and Development
• Also known as the Brundtland
Commission
• Landmark report “Our Common Future”
• Had political leverage
• “Humanity has the ability to make
development sustainable”
• “A new era of environmentally sound
economic development”
1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development
Known as the “Earth Summit”
• 100 World Leaders
• 500 NGOs
• 8,000 Accredited journalists
• 30,000 Private citizens
Two main themes:
Sustainable
development
Global environmental
change
Sustainable development
Development that meets
the needs of the present
without compromising
the ability of future
generations to meet their
own needs
Brundtland Commission,
1987.
Kamloops
Requirements:
• More and better international cooperation
• A shift in benefits from the rich and powerful to the poor and weak
• Political decision-making that involves effective public participation
• Community empowerment and active democracy
Concerns in 1992
Northern countries
• Loss of
biodiversity
• Climate change
• The ozone layer
• UV-B and skin
cancer
• Rising sea levels
Southern countries
• Poverty alleviation
• Food
• Economic growth
1992: Global recognition of
environmental problems
UNCED 1992
Convention on Biological Diversity
Aim: to conserve the
biological diversity of the world.
UNCED 1992
Framework
Convention on
Climate Change
Establishment of
mechanisms to
combat global change
Convention to Combat Desertification
UNCED 1992
Agenda 21
The basic (non-legally binding) action plan for sustainable
development.
Williston Reservoir, BC
Agenda 21 - Chapter 11
Four programme areas were identified:
1. Sustaining the multiple roles and
functions of all types of forests, forest
lands and woodlands.
Agenda 21 – Chapter 11
2. Enhancing the protection,
sustainable management and
conservation of all forests, and the
greening of degraded areas,
through forest rehabilitation,
afforestation, reforestation and
other rehabilitative means.
Degraded forest (salinization)
Western Australia
Agenda 21 – Chapter 11
3. Promoting efficient utilization and
assessment to recover the full valuation
of goods and services provided by
forests, forest lands and woodlands.
Agenda 21 – Chapter 11
4. Establishing and/or strengthening
capacities for the planning, assessment
and systematic observation of forests
and related programmes, projects and
activities, including commercial trade
and processes.
UNCED 1992
Statement
of Principles
on Forests
A (non-legally
binding) statement
of principles
concerning the
sustainable
management of
forests. Cowichan, Vancouver Island
Article 1a
States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies and have the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
UNCED 1992
Rio
Declaration
Non-binding
principles to guide
the course of
human development
Other
Conventions
UNCED added to many existing conventions, such as:
• Trade in endangered species
• Trans-boundary air pollution
• Heritage
Early 1990s: Sustainable Forest
Management emerging
1992 Guidelines for sustainable management of natural tropical forests
1992 Criteria for the measurement of sustainable forest management
1993 Guidelines for the establishment and sustainable management of planted tropical forests
International Tropical Timber Organization
ITTO
Guidelines
A major activity of
ITTO has been the
publication of
forestry
guidelines.
Response of northern
countries:
1993 – the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) organized a meeting in Montreal to develop criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management of temperate and boreal forests. This evolved into the Montreal Process and involves 90% of the world’s temperate and boreal forests, including Canada and the USA.
European response
Although the Europeans were present at the 1993 Montreal Process, under pressure from the European Commission they decided to develop their own system of criteria and indicators. This evolved into the Helsinki Process.
Sustainable Forest Management
‘the stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that
maintains their biological diversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological economic and
social functions, at local, national and global levels, and that does not cause damage on
other ecosystems’
(UN-FAO)
Montreal Process
Criterion 1
Conservation of
biological diversity
Montreal Process
Criterion 2
Maintenance of
productive
capacity of forest
ecosystems
Montreal Process
Criterion 3
Maintenance of
forest ecosystem
health and vitality
Montreal Process
Criterion 4
Conservation and
maintenance of
soil and water
resources
Montreal Process
Criterion 5
Maintenance of
forest contribution
to global carbon
cycles
Montreal Process
Criterion 6
Maintenance and
enhancement of
long-term multiple
socio-economic
benefits to meet the
needs of societies
Montreal Process
Criterion 7
Legal, institutional
and economic
framework for forest
conservation and
sustainable
management
New concepts translated into
new policies
• Changing image of forestry – from logging to forest nurturing – associated with idea that forests are about more than timber
• Recognition of environmental, social and economic benefits of forestry
• Promotion of the forester as an environmentalist
The forester’s image
Forest research
Forest conservation
Public image
What does all this actually
mean for forest management?
Change of focus
Sustained yield
• Focus on outputs
• Resource conditions
are constraints on
maximum production
• Linear programming
Ecosystem
management
• Resource conditions
are the goal
• Outputs are the interest
on the resource capital
Strong lobby against logging
of remaining forests
Changing ideas
• Better planning
• Introduction of variable retention
• Better emulation of natural
disturbance
• Greater concern for environmental
values
• Greater concern for visual values
• Amelioration and rehabilitation
To illustrate some of these changes, a short tour of the south
coast of British Columbia may help
Past forestry – unacceptable today
Past forestry – unacceptable today
Past forestry – unacceptable today
Legacy of past forestry is still very evident
Past forestry – unacceptable, even though recovery has occurred
Old forestry Present forestry
Present forestry – variable retention
Variable retention – how much, and in what shape?
Variable retention – too little?
Variable retention – stability of remnant patches?
Variable retention
Variable retention
Blown out variable retention patch
The problems led to experiments on optimal designs
Dispersed retention – or future windthrow?
Dispersed retention: uneconomic and vulnerable to windthrow
Patches were unstable and of less value than maintaining continuous area
Retained trees limited to edges, not patches
Strip cuts – less liable to windthrow
Small patch cuts – also effective
Dispersed retention – works if the density is right
Dispersed retention – using heli-logging
Small patch cuts without roads – acceptable solution
Relatively large heli-block
Small heli-blocks
Heli-logging operation
The competition…
Other changes include improved road design
Improved bridge design
Better management of culverts
Better identification of unstable terrain
Riparian buffer
Greater involvement of people
• Public involvement in the
development of plans
• Benefit sharing with First Nations
and others
• Recognition of the values held by
others
• Public oversight of forestry activities
Community values must be incorporated
Other stakeholders must be accommodated
Recognition of economic
requirements
Sustainable forest management does
not mean making forestry uneconomic.
A requirement of SFM is that the
economic basis of forestry is
maintained, as is a recognition of the
value that such activity brings to
communities, regions and nations.
The changes have not made the cutting of old growth forests any more
acceptable to the general public
Ecosystem Management
• Through international and domestic
pressures, new forms of forestry
have emerged in North America
based on ecosystem management
and ecosystem-based management
Ecosystem management is
management driven by explicit
goals, executed by policies,
protocols, and practices, and made
adaptable by monitoring and
research based on our best
understanding of the ecological
interactions and processes
necessary to sustain ecosystem
composition, structure and
function. (ESA, 1996)
The ethical basis for ecosystem
management
The Land Ethic
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and
beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends
otherwise.
Aldo Leopold, 1949, in A Sand County Almanac
Strong environmental theme
Public support for ecosystem approach came as a result of concerns about the environment
Introduction of a new management
philosophy
• Development of strong personal ethics
• Development of communication skills
• Ability to cope with change
• Sharing of responsibility
• Recognition that managers of publicly-
owned resources are ‘servants’ of the
public interest
Emerging themes
• Socially defined goals and objectives
• Holistic, integrated science
• Adaptable institutions
• Collaborative decision-making
Basic premises of ecosystem
management
1. Spatial and temporal scale are critical
2. Ecosystem function depends on its
structure, diversity and integrity
3. Ecosystems are dynamic in space and
time
4. Uncertainty, surprise and limits to our
knowledge affect how we manage forest
ecosystems
Application in British Columbia
The first real
application of
ecosystem
management in BC
was made in the
recommendations of
the Clayoquot
Sound Scientific
Panel (CSSP)
CSSP: Two basic features
• Recognition that ecosystems and the values with which they are imbued are dynamic, and that forest practices and policies must both anticipate and accommodate changing conditions
• Recognition that forest practices and policies reflect the knowledge, understanding, and values in existence at a point in time
Ecosystem-based Management
Defined by the Coast Information Team as:
“…an adaptive approach to managing human activities that seeks to ensure the coexistence of healthy, fully functioning ecosystems and human communities. The intent is maintain those spatial and temporal characteristics of ecosystems such that component species and ecological processes can be sustained, and human-wellbeing supported and improved”
Ecological integrity
…is a quality or state of an ecosystem in which it is considered complete or unimpaired; including the natural diversity of species and biological communities, ecosystem processes and functions, and both the ability to absorb disturbance (resistance) and to recover from disturbance (resilience)
Human well-being
…is a condition in which all members of society can determine and meet their needs and have a large range of choices and opportunities to fulfill their potential
Ecosystem-based Management
Key objective is to establish a system of protected areas and reserves at multiple scales that seeks to protect endangered, rare and representative examples of regional ecosystems; sustain sufficient habitat to support viable populations of all native species; and protect important heritage values
Ecosystem-based Management
EBM uses traditional, local and scientific knowledge of natural ecological patterns and processes and their historic variability to develop ecosystem-specific management targets. The goal is to ensure a high probability that ecological integrity is being maintained overall.
Ecosystem-based Management
EBM recognizes and accommodates First Nations Rights and Title and interests.
Ecosystem-based Management
EBM engages local community representatives and stakeholders explicitly in developing locally relevant goals and objectives, in making land and resource decisions, and in formulating and implementing strategies and plans that seek to improve family and local community well-being and economic health
EBM involves new administrative arrangements
Conservation planning
EBM involves the use of conservation planning
• Coarse filter strategies
• Fine filter strategies
• Landscape reserve design
• Managing biological legacies
Conservation strategies are
implemented through:
• Protected areas (relatively large, undeveloped areas designated under specific authority or legislation)
• Landscape, watershed and site reserves (no or very little extractive resource use, but not formally designated under legislation)
• Site/stand retention and management
Future forest managers are now trained
to take into account many different
values: it is not just about timber supply
However, many existing forest managers
are unfamiliar with the needs of SFM
• Ability to make trade-offs between
different values – factors affecting
timber supply are not simply
constraints
• Long-term approach to forest planning
and management
Many difficulties still remain
• Use of herbicides and pesticides
• Use of genetically modified organisms
• Invasive pests
• Links between forestry and local
industry
• How much is enough?
• Forest health
• Climate change
Brush control using herbicide, Vancouver Island
Log exports, Vancouver Island
Recent harvesting, Vancouver Island, 2014
Large areas are needed to maintain populations of large mammals
Conclusions
• Need to move from compilation of lists and
studies of new indicators to meaningful
targets and trade-off analyses
• Need to include these into forest
management plans (once foresters learn how
to write them)
• Need to learn from other jurisdictions where
the complexity has been slashed
• Need to start managing the Crown land base
for the benefit of all current and future
Canadians
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