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