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‘This week:

It seemed like |

-a good

idea —

at the time —

Silviculture, What is it all about?
Perhaps the easiest way to explain
it is to first describe horticulture.
. According to the Merriam-
Webster dictionary, horticulture is
the science and art of growing
fruits, vegetables, flowers, and
omamental plants. In other words,
farming. Silviculture, then, is sim-
ply the farming of trees.

You may recall that a few weeks
ago we suggested that the forest
industry should think of their work
‘in terms of farming, and the term
silviculture implies that that is just
what the industry is doing. It
implies that the forest industry and
the provincial government have
been working together and "farm-
ing" our forest reserves. But if you
consider last week’s column, the
"Green [ilsusion", it’s difficult to
believe they have actually had
much success in putting their the-
ories into practice.

The green illusion was supposed
to be the beginning of a
silvicultural cycle. We planted
huge stands of spruce and pine in
the north and Douglas fir in the

south. These trees grew faster than —

others and they had the “highest
value.in the mill. So, from an

economic point of ‘view, these
monocultures — single specie
stands -- seemed a wise choice.

- And it wasn’t long before we had
proof of that. Barren hillsides and
wood-bare valleys were turing
into green portraits of wealth. A
few more years, though, and that
iilusion began to fail. The trees
were dying. |

Twenty years of growth were
being destroyed by the Mountain
Pine Beetle and the Pine Shoot
Moth, all the way from Montana to
Terrace. In southern B.C. the Tus-
sock Moth was destroying thou-
sands of acres of Douglas fir. In
our own area the Spruce Leader
Weavil was feasting on massive
stands of spruce. These moths and
beetles have always been around,
and in a natural stand would have
destroyed about 20 percent of the
new growth... but they wouldn’t
have tured whole forests into
pulpwood. The best efforts of
government policy and the forest
industry had failed.

So who do we blame? In hind
sight, probably no one. The gov-
emment believed they were right _ the
in demanding that the forest com-
panics plant trees where they

by Tod Strachan

logged... even though they didn’t
specify exactly how, where or
why. Tree nurseries responded to
the demand of the forest industry

_ by growing millions of pine,

spruce and Douglas-Fir seedlings,
and so the forest companies were
boasting of their contribution. in
preserving a renewable resource...
even though the dollar was the
driving force behind their scheme.

It would be casy to say that
government policy was naive and
the forest industry had put personal
wealth before any real concern for
the continued growth of our fore-
sts, but in reality they didn’t really
plant a disaster on purpose. It was
simply a matter of ignorance by
both parties. They had no back-
ground information. There was no
site-specific planting data. No soil
data.

This began to change in 1978
with the development of the Eco-
logical Classification System, but
there's still a long way to go, and
the Fall. Down Effect is.already
knocking at the front door. And
even though we are beginning to

The view from
Victoria —

by John Piter

VICTORIA — It didn’t take
long to set the tone of the new
legislative session which opened
last week. And the tone is
definitely low.

All predictions that this
would be a raucous pre-election
sitting came true on opening
day, which traditionally had
been full of pomp and circum-
stance and little politics.

However, the New Demo-
crats decided to come out with
all guns blazing in a two-hour
attack after the Throne Speech,
using the rules of the House to
debate four motions for special
‘committees to be set up to
review ethics and privilege,
women’s issues, housing, and
the Goods and. Services Tax.

Some of the guns misfired,
as members of the Social
Credit Cabinet entered the
fray. And with its majority
comrol of the House, the
government easily voted down
each of the motions.

When the smoke had cleared,
the NDP had ‘‘won” in the |
ethics and GST debates thanks
mainly to a strong performance
(the appropriate word) by ‘NDP

leader Mike Harcourt; the
Socreds had taken the women’s
confrontation, housing was a
draw, and the generally con-
vivial decorum of the last three
years had been eliminated. At
least, that’s the way I scored it.

With platters of cheeses and
grapes for the traditional post-
opening party wilting in the
corridors outside the House,
and the special invited guests
for the day wilting inside the
chamber, observers watched in
surprise and amazement as the
debate raged for nearly two
hours.

About an hour after Lieu-
tenant-Governor David Lam
had concluded the 60-minute
Throne Speech, the new
Speaker, Stephen Rogers (who
masterfully handled his baptism
by fire), wryly pointed out that
the live television coverage
would be ending in about 10
minutes, and perhaps that
would help to speed things up.

AfterwardsNDP MLA’s de-
fended the decision to raise
their concerns about the
government's action, or lack of
it, in “the” Four’ areds: They” said” |

be more site selective, much more
research is needed — on a regional
basis. It may be time for everyone
concerned to sit down and take
another look at silviculture and
what it really means.

Silviculture is the science of
growing ‘trees... from harvest to
harvest. It involves the identifica-
tion of seed-bearing stands, The
selection of seed trees. Seed col-
lection. Growing healthy seedlings.
Site preparation, in some cases
involving prescribed burns. Plant-
ing the trees, Stand tending —
which involves brushing and weed-
ing, juvenile spacings, _pre-
commercial and commercial thin-
ning, pruning, fertilizing, and in
some cases the use of herbicides.
And finally, it includes the most
appropriate method of harvesting
before the cycle begins again.

Many of these things are being
done but not always in the right
way. On the other hand, some of
these things are not being done at,
all. In some cases, herbicides are
abused, At other times they are

7

used responsibly but their use is
discontinued when faced with a
strong environmental lobby.. This
lobby isn’t bad, But in some

‘instances it is based on misinfor-

mation. Environmentalists are
possibly another group of people
who should be involved when the
forest industry and government sit
down to fully define silviculture.

Because even once the true
meaning of silviculture is fully
understood the name of the game
won't change. The game will
always be to try to find ways to
get the most valuable trees to grow
as quickly as possible. All we need
to do is to do it right.

Possibly the best place to begin
is by taking a closer look at nature
herself in order to find ways to
duplicate, and, if we're lucky,
improve upon the things she’s been
doing for eons. Next week, we'll
begin a brief biology lesson in

,..oTder to..first understand. the role

trees play in nature and why they
grow where they do.

Gran and her lobbying efforts
in Cabinet. I have been told
that those efforts received con-
siderable, perhaps surprising,
support from the likes of
Crown Lands Minister Dave
Parker, Parks Minister Ivan
Messmer and even the premier
himself),

Premier Bill Vander Zalim,

. who had railed in the House

that waiting cight-and-a-half
months between legislative
sessions meant there was no
time to waste before getting
down to business.

The Socreds condemned the
politicizing of a day of tradi-
tion, but some admitted
privately that the lively start
would make for the session
“becoming the best show in
town’’,

And after all, all’s fair in
love, war arid politics, isn’t it?

As far as the speech itself
was concerned, it was hardly
an election rallying cry.

Long on‘general promises to
stay on course with existing
policies, and short on actual
proposals, it was a low-key af-
fair which held only two sur-
prises.-—- a lightly-veiled threat
of wage controls over public
servants, and the pledge for
fair and equal pay for women,
also-in the public sector.

(Even getting pay equity
mentioned in a Socred govern-
ment’s Throne Speech must be
counted as a victory for
women’ 'S issues minister ‘Carol

against ‘‘the socialists’? during

' debate on the NDP’s four mo-

tions (at one stage using the
word six times in two
sentences), was serious and
statesmantike when he faced
the press fate in the day.

He defended the policy of
planning to conduct special
publis referendums on major
money matters, and even
hinted that an issue such as
whether or not the Carmanah
Valley should be logged might
be put to the people. (Methinks
he was only teasing on this
one, and that the government’s
decision on how much logging
it will allow in that Vancouver
Island watershed will be made
public before Easter).

Vander Zalm virtually kissed
off the Meech Lake Accord —
in fact, it was not mentioned
directly in the speech — and he
appeared to play down the
prospect of an early election.

That means we can expect
three of four months of what is
certain to be acrimonious,
rather than harmonious, ex-
changes in the House.

Watch for NDP critics Moe
Sihota, Glen Clark, Dale. - -

Lovick and Dan Miller to lead
the charge on their side of the
Legislature, and for house
Leader Claude Richmond,
Attorney-General Bud Smith,
and Environment Minister
John Reynolds to be the main
attackers from the govern-
ment’s front bench.

Speaker Rogers definitely
will have his work cut out for
him between now and July.
Stay tuned! |

- Parting Thought: Because of
the constricting confines of the
House some of the special
Socred guests, including wives
of several Cabinet ministers,
who were seated in the
chamber, found themselves
directly behind NDP members.
Surely the treat of the day was
in watching some of their facial
expressions on the live,
province-wide Rogers Cable TV
coverage —- especially when the
Opposition members were
debating their four motions.
Definitely a keeper.

Group home grant

The Terrace and District
Christian Council has received a
grant to assist with maintenance
of the Sparks Street Group
home, the Minister of Social
Services and Housing an-
nounced last week.

This grant will supplement a

grant made in September, 1989.

The grant in the amount ‘of.
$13,311 will be used for ‘repairs
and farniture. NRO te

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