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C2 Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 8, 1991

THE CHANGING LA
FOREST MAN

by Tod Strachan

Positive progress in policy devel-

| opment often goes unnoticed by

the general public. This is particu-
larly true of advances in forest
management policy in B.C. made

‘over the last decade. In the Kalum
-Forest District alone, four separate

Integrated Resource Management

_ Plans are currently in the planning

stages: the Kalum, Thunderbird,
TFL #1 and TFL #41.

Also in the works are park, old
growth and -ecological reserve
proposals as well as the preserva-
tion of the wilderness fishing ex-
perience. And there are more tech-
nical advances, like the Biogeo-
climatic Classification System that
ensures the future health of our
forested land.

Managing our forests well is a
complex task often driven by the
trends of the day. There are social

" pressures that require greater atten-

tion be given to land use. People
in the 1990’s are interested in the
quality of lifestyle and recreational
opportunity. '

There are environmental pres-
sures that demand more effective
harvesting and forest management

_ practices. We must conserve the

timber resource for future gener-

_ations and at the same time pre-
_serve a sampling of nature.

There are economic pressures.

Declining timber resources mean

we must place a greater emphasis
on reforestation and we must util-
ize the resource more wisely. But
logging isn’t the only economy of
concern. Tourism is big business
and requires access to a part of or

- forest resource as well.

In responding 10 these pressures
and trends the Ministry of Forests
has made significant changes over
the past decade, On Oct. 1, 1987,
forest companies were given
greater management responsibil-
ities. As of that date for exarnple,
forest companies, not the province,
are responsible for replacing what
they harvest.

Stand tending on forested land
outside Tree Farm Licenses has

_ feceived a huge financial shot in
" the arm. Ministry of Forests spend-

ing on stand tending in the Kalum
Forest District. has risen from
$511,000 in 1980/81 to $6.6 mil-
lion in 1990/91. Stand tending
includes site preparation, planting,
stocking and free-1o-grow surveys,
and brushing and weeding.

The privatization of tree nurscties
has had a significant impact on
reforestation. When nurseries were
operated by the Ministry of Forests
the demand for seedlings was far
greater than the supply. Under
privatization, however, this is no
longer the case. Private industry
has Introduced competition, and
not only is there a sufficient sup-
ply of scedlings now, but the qual-
ity of scedlings and the range of

available species has also becn

vastly improved.
With the implementation of the

Biogeoclimatic Classification Sys-
iem in the mid-1980s, reforestation
is now carried out with a far
greater certainty of success. The
Biogeoclimatic Classification Sys-
tem was developed over a 30-ycar
period by UBC professor Dr. VA.
Krajina anid is designed to assist
professional foresters and ecol-
ogists in the complex interaction of
climate, elevation, topography, soil
moisture and nutrients, vegetation,
and site components of our forests.

This means thal reforestation is
now based on sound scientific
study, not guess-work as it has in
the past. The forester "knows"
which species or mix of species
will grow best on a particular site,
and disasters like the total devasta-
tion of a 25-year-old spruce stand
by spruce leader weevil should
now be nothing more than a chap-
ter in the history of our forest
industry.

There are other problems still
begging for solutions, however.
Yesterday’s loggers were unaware
of the fact that huge clearcuts and
excessive slash created the ideal
habitat for porcupines, who would

in time destroy new growth.

Smaller clearcuts and planned
harvesting will solve the problem
in the future, but how to treat areas
that are already infested is still a
mystery.

But things like porcupines and
voles are minor problems com-
pared to the overall future health
of the forest industry. No one can
say with any cerlainty what the
future holds, but there are three
possible scenarios. In the first, the
"fall down effect" will become a
reality. We will strip bare the 24
percent of our province that con-
tains forested land and their will be
no forest industry. We'll build
homes out of brick, stone or clay.

In the second, we will solve the

impending fall down effect but one
large company will wind up with
tenure to most or all of our for-
ested land. As smaller non-inte-
grated companies succumb to
financial pressures, larger inte-
grated companies — companies
with forest tenure, a sawmill and a
pulp mill — will buy up their
holdings. The ultimate end to the
demise and buy-up of small forest
holdings would in effect place a
corporate board in charge of the
province.

The third scenario, the "Swedish
solution", may be a better choice
but far more difficult to achieve.
The Swedish solution would
involve restructuring our entire

system of tenure. Instead of mass-
ive Tree Farm Licences, we would
have small privately owned timber
plantations where individuals
would "farm" the land... Similar to
Woodlot Licenses that exist today.
The large companies would still
have their sawmills and pulp mills,
but no forest tenure at all.

In reality, though, there may be a
combination of these three scen-
arios, or perhaps we will see other
changes we haven’t even thought
of yet. We can look to the future
with some hope, however. Both
the province and forest companies
are well aware, of their past mis-
takes and as a result are: planning
the future with far greater wisdom.
Proof of that can be seen in the
progress they have made in the
past decade.

For more information on. major
developments within the Kalum
Timber Supply Area, you can
contact the following people:

@ The "Arbour Bridge" to access
timber for the Small Business
Forest Enterprise Program (on the
Nass River about 140 kilometres
north of Kitwanga) — Don Varner,

BCFS, 638-3290.

# Class 1 (Wilderness) Fishing
Experience int the upper Copper
River — Cathy Stuart, B.C. Envi-
ronment, 638-3279, Archie Mac-
donald, Skeena Cellulose, 635-
6550, John Perras, BCES, 638-
3290. .

# Ecological Reserve proposal
Hanna-Tinting — Jim  Pojar,
BCS, 847-7500.

+ Nisga’ a park proposal at Lava
Lake —- Nisga’a Tribal Council,
633-2234, or Mike Murtha, B.C.
Parks, 565-6270.

@ Old Growth Reserve proposals
in the Kitlope and Hanna-Tintina
areas — Warren Mitchell, BCFS,
356-7778.

# Provincial park proposals —
Mike Murtha, 565-6270.

NDSCAPE OF
AGEMENT IN B. C.

¢ Pulp mill proposal, Swan Lake
— Frank Foster, Orenda Forest
Products, 926-4445, or Dave Par-
sons, B.C, Environment, 387-9674.
@ Re-inventory (complete) and
setting the Annual Allowable Cut
of the Kalum South — Glenn
Smith, BCFS, 638-3290.
¢ Re-inventory of the Kalum
North (will be complete in 1993)
— Glenn Smith, BCFS, 638-3290.
@ Wilderness designation proposals
— Eric Buss, BCFS, 847-7500.
+ Integrated Resource Management
planning:

TFL #1 — Archie MacDonald,
Skeena Cellulose, 635-6550.

TFL #41 — Scott Marleau, West
Fraser, 635-6336.

Kalum Resource Management
Plan, Glenn Smith, BCFS, 638-

-3290.

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"Tomorrow's Forests,
Today’s Challenge"

Everyone is welcome!

to attend the official opening of
the Red Sand Demonstration Forest
Friday, May 10 at 12 noon
at the Red Sand Recreation Site
located 26 km north of Terrace
on the West Kalum Road.

_ For more information, contact:
‘Kalum Forest District
Phone 638-3290

x Ministry of Forests |
- Honourable Claude Richmond,
ened Minister

nal Forest Week
May 5 - 11

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