Evergreen Alliance Staff
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Journalism: The over-exploitation of BC forests
Library: Destruction of wildlife habitat and loss of biodiversity
Journalism: Loss of forest-related employment
Journalism: The need to expedite final treaties with First Nations
Journalism: Loss of primary forest
Journalism: Loss of carbon sequestration capacity
Other notable forest-related writing and reports
Noteworthy writing and reports from the forest-industrial complex
Forest News
Library: The over-exploitation of BC forests
Library: Loss of primary forest
Library: Loss of the hydrological functions of forests
Make conservation of the hydrological function of forests a higher priority than timber extraction
Library: Loss of forest-related employment
Library: The need to expedite final treaties with First Nations
Transition from clearcut logging to selection logging
Library: Increase in forest fire hazard
Journalism: End public subsidization of BC's forest industry
Library: End public subsidization of BC's forest industry
Library: The need to reform BC forest legislation
Journalism: The need to reform BC forest legislation
Library: Creating a new vision for BC forests
Forest industry public subsidy calculator
Manufacturing and processing facilities
Forest Trends
Investigations
Community Forest Mapping Projects
Area-based calculations of carbon released from clearcut logging
Journalism: The increase in forest carbon emissions
Library: Increase in forest carbon emissions
To protect biodiversity, transition away from clearcut logging
Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance
Library: Loss of future employment resulting from exporting raw logs
Mapping old forest on Vancouver Island
Mapping old forest in Omineca Natural Resource Region
Mapping old forest in Skeena Natural Resource Region
Mapping old forest in Northeastern Natural Resource Region
Mapping old forest in Cariboo Natural Resource Region
Mapping old forest in South Coast Natural Resource Region
Mapping old forest in Thompson-Okanagan Natural Resource Region
Mapping old forest in Kootenay-Boundary Natural Resource Region
Forest Conservation Organizations
Mapping old forest on Haida Gwaii
Mapping old forest on the central coast
Library: Ecologically damaging practices
Journalism: Ecologically damaging practices
Critical Issues
Analysis
Comment
Listed species: Cascades Natural Resource District
Listed species: 100 Mile House Natural Resource District
Listed species: Campbell River Natural Resource District
Listed species: Cariboo-Chilcotin Natural Resource District
Listed species: Chilliwack River Natural Resource District
Listed species: Fort Nelson Natural Resource District
Listed species: Haida Gwaii Natural Resource District
Listed species: Mackenzie Natural Resource District
Listed species: Nadina Natural Resource District
Listed species: North Island Natural Resource District
Listed species: Peace Natural Resource District
Listed species: Prince George Natural Resource District
Listed species: Quesnel Natural Resource District
Listed species: Rocky Mountain Natural Resource District
Listed species: Sea-to-Sky Natural Resource District
Listed species: Selkirk Natural Resource District
Listed species: Skeena Natural Resource District
Listed species: South Island Natural Resource District
Listed species: Stuart-Nechako Natural Resource District
Listed species: Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District
Listed species: Thompson Rivers Natural Resource District
Listed species: Coast Mountains Natural Resource District
Action Group: Divestment from forest-removal companies
Fact-checking mindustry myths
First Nations Agreements
Monitor: BC Timber Sales Auctions
BC Timber Sales auction of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island
Monitoring of forest fires in clearcuts and plantations: 2021
Library: End public subsidization of forest industry
Examples of engaging the mindustry:
Portal: The over-exploitation of BC forests
Portal: The need to reform BC forest legislation
Portal: The need to expedite treaties with First Nations
Portal: The need to get more organized, informed and inspired for change
Portal: Develop a new relationship with forests
Portal: Destruction of wildlife habitat and loss of biodiversity
Portal: Loss of the hydrological functions of forests
Portal: Increase in forest fire hazard
Portal: Loss of carbon sequestration capacity
Portal: Increase in forest carbon emissions
Portal: Ecologically damaging forestry practices
Portal: Loss of forest-related employment
Portal: Loss of future employment resulting from raw log exports
Portal: Costs of floods, fires and clearcutting of watersheds
Portal: The economic impact on communities of boom and bust cycles
Portal: Loss of economic development by other forest-based sectors
Portal: The true cost of subsidies provided to the logging industry
Help
Loss of trust in institutions
Portal: The instability of communities dependent on forest extraction
Portal: The psychological unease caused by forest destruction
Portal: Loss of trust in institutions caused by over-exploitation of BC forests
Portal: Social division caused by over-exploitation of BC forests
Journalism: The instability of communities dependent on forest extraction
Journalism: Psychological unease caused by forest destruction
Journalism: Loss in trust of institutions as a result of over-exploitation of BC forests
Journalism: Social division caused by over-exploitation of BC forests
Library: The instability of communities dependent on forest extraction
Library: Psychological unease caused by forest destruction
Library: Loss of trust in institutions as a result of over-exploitation of BC forests
Library: Social division caused by over-exploitation of BC forests
Resources: Psychological unease caused by forest destruction
Resources: The economic impact on communities of boom-and-bust cycles
Resources: Loss of economic development potential in other forest-based sectors
Journalism: Cost of floods, fires and clearcutting of community watersheds
Journalism: The economic impact on communities of boom-and-bust cycles
Journalism: Loss of economic development potential in other forest-based sectors
Library: Cost of floods, fires and clearcutting of community watersheds
Library: The economic impact on communities of boom-and-bust cycles
Library: Loss of economic development potential in other forest-based sectors
Portal: Permanent loss of forests to logging roads
Portal: The economic costs of converting forests into sawdust and wood chips
Journalism: Permanent loss of forests to logging roads
Library: Permanent loss of forests to logging roads
Journalism: The economic costs of converting forests into sawdust and wood chips
Library: The economic costs of converting forests into sawdust and wood chips
Resources: The economic costs of converting forests into sawdust and wood chips
Resources: Ecologically damaging forestry practices
Resources: Conversion of forests to permanent logging roads
Library: Getting organized
Journalism: Getting organized
Forest politics
Forest Stewards
Portal: Plantation failure
Library: Plantation failure
Journalism: Plantation failure
Library: Loss of carbon sequestration capacity
Portal: Soil loss and damage
Journalism: Soil loss and damage
Library: Soil loss and damage
Resources: Soil loss and damage
Journalism: Loss of employment resulting from export of raw logs
Journalism: Destruction of wildlife habitat and loss of biodiversity
Journalism: Loss of the hydrological functions of forests
Journalism: Increase in forest fire hazard
Action Group: Sunlighting professional reliance
Making the case for much greater conservation of BC forests
Science Alliance for Forestry Transformation
Bearing witness:
Economic State of the BC Forest Sector
Big tree mapping and monitoring
Reported Elsewhere
Protect more
Start a forest conservation project
Get involved
Article reference pages
Physical impacts created by logging industry
Nature Directed Stewardship at Glade and Laird watersheds
References for: How did 22 TFLs in BC evade legal old-growth management areas?
References for: BC's triangle of fire: More than just climate change
References for: Teal Cedar goes after Fairy Creek leaders
References for: Is the draft framework on biodiversity and ecosystem health something new? Or just more talk and log?
IWTF events, articles and videos
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Everything posted by Evergreen Alliance Staff
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By David J. Mildrexler et al Large-diameter trees store disproportionally massive amounts of carbon and are a major driver of carbon cycle dynamics in forests worldwide. In the temperate forests of the western United States, proposed changes to Forest Plans would significantly weaken protections for a large portion of trees greater than 53 cm (21 inches) in diameter (herein referred to as “large-diameter trees”) across 11.5 million acres (∼4.7 million ha) of National Forest lands. This study is among the first to report how carbon storage in large trees and forest ecosystems would be affected by a proposed policy. We examined the proportion of large-diameter trees on National Forest lands east of the Cascade Mountains crest in Oregon and Washington, their contribution to overall aboveground carbon (AGC) storage, and the potential reduction in carbon stocks resulting from widespread harvest. We analyzed forest inventory data collected on 3,335 plots and found that large trees play a major role in the accumulated carbon stock of these forests. Tree AGC (kg) increases sharply with tree diameter at breast height (DBH; cm) among five dominant tree species. Large trees accounted for 2.0 to 3.7% of all stems (DBH ≥ 1” or 2.54 cm) among five tree species; but held 33 to 46% of the total AGC stored by each species. Pooled across the five dominant species, large trees accounted for 3% of the 636,520 trees occurring on the inventory plots but stored 42% of the total AGC. A recently proposed large-scale vegetation management project that involved widespread harvest of large trees, mostly grand fir, would have removed ∼44% of the AGC stored in these large-diameter trees, and released a large amount of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Given the urgency of keeping additional carbon out of the atmosphere and continuing carbon accumulation from the atmosphere to protect the climate system, it would be prudent to continue protecting ecosystems with large trees for their carbon stores, and also for their co-benefits of habitat for biodiversity, resilience to drought and fire, and microclimate buffering under future climate extremes. (2020) Large Trees Dominate Carbon Storage in Forests East of the Cascade Crest in the United States Pacific Northwest.pdf -
By William Moomaw et al Climate change and loss of biodiversity are widely recognized as the foremost environmental challenges of our time. Forests annually sequester large quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), and store carbon above and below ground for long periods of time. Intact forests—largely free from human intervention except primarily for trails and hazard removals—are the most carbon-dense and biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems, with additional benefits to society and the economy. Internationally, focus has been on preventing loss of tropical forests, yet U.S. temperate and boreal forests remove sufficient atmospheric CO2 to reduce national annual net emissions by 11%. U.S. forests have the potential for much more rapid atmospheric CO2 removal rates and biological carbon sequestration by intact and/or older forests. The recent 1.5 Degree Warming Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identifies reforestation and afforestation as important strategies to increase negative emissions, but they face significant challenges: afforestation requires an enormous amount of additional land, and neither strategy can remove sufficient carbon by growing young trees during the critical next decade(s). In contrast, growing existing forests intact to their ecological potential—termed proforestation—is a more effective, immediate, and low-cost approach that could be mobilized across suitable forests of all types. Proforestation serves the greatest public good by maximizing co-benefits such as nature-based biological carbon sequestration and unparalleled ecosystem services such as biodiversity enhancement, water and air quality, flood and erosion control, public health benefits, low impact recreation, and scenic beauty. (2019) Intact Forests in the United States- Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good.pdf
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By Jim Pojar Seven Forest Carbon Myths, Misconceptions, or Oversimplifications (2019) Forestry and Carbon in BC.pdf
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By Sierra Club BC Our planet is in the midst of a climate crisis, and the latest science calls for reducing global emissions by half within the next decade to avoid catastrophic climate change. Most of the world’s intact forests, particularly primary (unlogged) forests, help slow climate change by taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in living and dead trees and soil. However, according to provincial data, as a result of destructive logging and climate impacts like beetle outbreaks, forests in B.C. have released more carbon than they absorb for over a decade. Forest clearcutting is a major contributor to carbon emissions and loss of carbon capture in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Clearcutting causes a rapid and large loss of carbon from decomposing organic matter and soils, particularly when old-growth forests are logged. Additionally, it takes 13 years or more before the replanted young forest begins to absorb more carbon than is still being released from the area cut. For at least 13 years, these areas are “sequestration dead zones”: clearcut lands that emit more carbon than they absorb. For this report, Sierra Club BC reviewed B.C. government data to identify the total area of old-growth and second-growth forest logged across the province over 13 years (2005-2017), and to estimate the carbon emissions and the loss of carbon capture caused by this logging. The analysis shows a total area of about 3.6 million hectares of “sequestration dead zones,” an area larger than the size of Vancouver Island. This includes over 1.9 million hectares of old-growth forest and close to 1.7 million hectares of second-growth that were cut. The “sequestration dead zones” make up 9.1% of the total area of relatively productive provincial forests. (2019) Clearcut-Carbon-report Sierra BC.pdf
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By Bronson Griscom et al Better stewardship of land is needed to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goal of holding warming to below 2 °C; however, con- fusion persists about the specific set of land stewardship options available and their mitigation potential. To address this, we identify and quantify “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and improved land management actions that increase car- bon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We find that the maximum potential of NCS—when constrained by food security, fibre security, and biodiversity conservation—is 23.8 petagrams of CO2 equivalent (PgCO2e) y−1 (95% CI 20.3–37.4). This is ≥30% higher than prior estimates, which did not include the full range of options and safeguards considered here. About half of this maximum (11.3 PgCO2e y−1) represents cost-effective climate mitigation, assuming the social cost of CO2 pollution is ≥100 USD MgCO2e−1 by 2030. Natural climate solutions can provide 37% of cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed through 2030 for a >66% chance of holding warm- ing to below 2 °C. One-third of this cost-effective NCS mitigation can be delivered at or below 10 USD MgCO2−1. Most NCS actions—if effectively implemented—also offer water filtration, flood buffer- ing, soil health, biodiversity habitat, and enhanced climate resilience. Work remains to better constrain uncertainty of NCS mitigation estimates. Nevertheless, existing knowledge reported here provides a robust basis for immediate global action to improve ecosystem stewardship as a major solution to climate change. (2017) Natural climate solutions.pdf
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By Heather Keith, David Lindenmayer et al Management of native forests offers opportunities to store more carbon in the land sector through two main activities. Emissions to the atmosphere can be avoided by ceasing logging. Removals of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can be increased by allowing forests to continue growing. However, the relative benefits for carbon storage of managing native forests for wood production versus protection are contested. Additionally, the potential for carbon storage is impacted upon by disturbance events, such as wildfire, that alter the amount and longevity of carbon stocks. Using a case study of montane ash forests in southeastern Australia, we demonstrated that the total biomass carbon stock in logged forest was 55% of the stock in old growth forest. Total biomass included above- and below-ground, living and dead. Biomass carbon stock was calculated spatially as an average across the landscape, accounting for variation in environmental conditions and forest age distribution. Reduction in carbon stock in logged forest was due to 66% of the initial biomass being made into products with short lifetimes (<3 years), and to the lower average age of logged forest (<50 years compared with >100 years in old growth forest). Only 4% of the initial carbon stock in the native forest was converted to sawn timber products with lifetimes of 30–90 years. Carbon stocks are depleted in a harvested forest system compared with an old growth forest, even when storage in wood products and landfill are included. We estimated that continued logging under current plans represented a loss of 5.56 Tg C over 5 years in the area logged (824 square kilometres), compared with a potential gain of 5.18–6.05 TgC over 5 years by allowing continued growth across the montane ash forest region (2326 square kilometres). Avoiding emissions by not logging native forests and allowing them to continue growing is therefore an important form of carbon sequestration. The mitigation value of forest management options of protection versus logging should be assessed in terms of the amount, longevity and resilience of the carbon stored in the forest, rather than the annual rate of carbon uptake. (2014) Managing temperate forests for carbon storage (opt).pdf
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By Mark E. Harmon, PhD, Richardson Endowed Chair and Professor in Forest Science, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University. Testimony before the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands of the Committee of Natural Resources for an oversight hearing on “The Role of Federal Lands in Combating Climate Change”, March 3, 2009. (2009) Harmon Testimony.pdf
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By Cortex Consultants for TimberWest The project is a forest conservation project that will reduce emissions of GHG to the atmosphere through the avoidance of harvesting activities and post-harvesting debris management. The protection of the old-growth forest will increase the long-term storage of carbon in the project area. (2008) TimberWest Ecosystem Conservation Project.pdf
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By Andrew Black et al for PICS This White Paper describes the potential of forests in the northern hemisphere in general, and in British Columbia in particular, in sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus mitigating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, apart from providing environmental and economical benefits. We first describe the extent of forest C stocks and C sequestration rates, and how they are affected by climate change and natural and human-induced disturbances. This is followed by a discussion of management for conservation and efficient utilization of forest C stocks and management options for increasing C sequestration rates. We do not attempt to compare the economics of different management options for maximum C sequestration. Rather, we focus on future research needs required for developing an appropriate adaptive management response framework. (2008) Carbon sequestration in BC's forests and management options.pdf
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By the Ivey Foundation Climate change will, and is, having a profound impact on these forest ecosystems. Many impacts, such as increases in average temperature and seasonal shifts, are happening in a more compressed timeframe than originally projected by climate scientists. Insect outbreaks, such as the mountain pine beetle, are occurring at a scale that was unimagined ten years ago and some scientists are beginning to warn that many ecosystems may have a “tipping point” beyond which their resilience will be overcome and completely new ecosystems will replace them. Clearly climate strategies in Canada must include those that address the role of this massive and globally significant forest asset. In parallel to these changes in the natural world, society is rapidly accelerating its discussions concerning how to mitigate against rising carbon emissions and climate change impacts. As a result governments, business and civil society are accelerating discussions concerning how to develop an effective mechanism to reduce carbon emissions. Strategies under development include an abundance of voluntary, and a few regulatory frameworks. While none are identical, many of them contain carbon trading measures that would enable transfers of money from emitters to entities that could sequester or reduce the net rate of carbon emissions. Most of these systems include forests. In Canada there is a need to grapple with this emerging market and determine how it can be influenced and directed in a manner that supports the carbon storage and sequestration capacity of forests and conserves forest biodiversity, while helping to reduces our total country-wide carbon emissions (not just those of forests). How to do this involves a strategic discussion among leading advocates for policy reform. It is only in this way that we can arrive at a consensus on the key elements of a carbon reduction strategy that includes forests and a plan to secure the outcomes we seek. (2007) Forest Carbon sequestration and avoided emissions.pdf
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By the Canadian Forestry Service, Pacific Forestry Centre Research on impacts of forest harvesting on soils has shown that some operations are causing significantly reduced productivity for future crops. Additional stress on soils that may result from increasing wood recovery beyond the “close utilization” level is thus a matter for serious concern. The nature of operations directed toward increased wood recovery from cutovers is reviewed briefly. Literature dealing with physical soil impacts of forest harvesting and the subsequent effects on tree growth, particularly material published since 1970, is summarized, and the relevance of research results to increased biomass harvesting in British Columbia assessed. Additional wood recovery would involve mainly stemwood. Such recovery would be achieved primarily by conventional systems. Any increased physical soil impacts will likely result from an increase in traffic on existing roads and trails or a requirement for extra roads and trails to enable yarding of relatively small logs. As indicated by studies on stump extraction operations aimed at root-disease control, recovery of stumps and root systems would result in considerable additional soil disruption and a requirement for some nonconventional logging techniques. (1988) Impacts of forest harvesting on physical properties of soils with reference to increased biomass recovery-a review.pdf
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Compiled by J. Daniel Lousier All the available research information agrees that soil degradation associated with conventional forest harvesting is a major problem in British Columbia and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest. (1990) Impacts of Forest Harvesting and Regeneration on Forest Sites BC MoF.pdf
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Please let us know if you know of good journalism on this issue.
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Recommendations from BC's Science Alliance for Forestry Transformation to government regarding forest policy changes in response to the need for protection of biodiversity and a response to climate change. (2021) Informing Land Use Planning with Science.pdf
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Report from UNEP on preparations for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Is our spaceship and its life support systems in good hands at the global level? Or are global good intentions on biodiversity just more of what Greta Thunberg calls "blah, blah, blah"? Read this report and see how you feel afterwards. In decision 14/34, the Conference of the Parties set out the process for developing a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, established the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework to support this process and designated its Co-Chairs. Subsequently, the Open-ended Working Group at its first meeting requested the Co-Chairs and the Executive Secretary, with the oversight of the Bureau, to continue the preparatory process in accordance with decisions 14/34, CP-9/7 and NP-3/15, and to prepare documentation, including a zero draft text of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework1 for consideration by the Working Group at its second meeting. (2020) Global Framework to protect biodiversity-UN Convention on Biological Diversity.pdf
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Statement by 13 prestigious organizations calling for conservation of 30 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 30 percent of ocean areas by 2050. (2019) Joint Statement on Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework-Convention on Biological Diversity.pdf
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By Tara G. Martin et al Failure to act quickly on evidence of rapid population decline has led to the first mammal extinction in Australia in the last 50 years, the Christmas Island Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus murrayi). The fate of another iconic species, the migratory Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster), monitored intensively for over 20 years, hangs in the balance. To inform future conservation management and decision making, we investigate the decision process that has led to the plight of both species. Our analysis suggests three globally relevant recommendations for minimizing species extinction worldwide: (1) informed, empowered, and responsive governance and leadership is essential; (2) processes that ensure institutional accountability must be in place, and; (3) decisions must be made whilst there is an opportunity to act. The bottom line is that, unless responsive and accountable institutional processes are in place, decisions will be delayed and extinction will occur. (2011) Acting fast helps avoid extinction.pdf
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By the BC Forest Practices Board The province of BC has set objectives for establishing conservation areas for the protection of species at risk, ungulates and old growth forest. This report presents the findings of a Board investigation into the establishment of these areas in two forest districts in the lower mainland, Squamish and Chilliwack. The Board was particularly interested in investigating the role of the non‐contributing land base (NCLB) in establishing conservation areas as well as in determining whether harvesting in the NCLB was an issue. This investigation did not evaluate effectiveness of government objectives for conserving species, though related issues are raised in the report. (2008) Forest Practices Board report on effectiveness of Conservation Areas.pdf
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By BC Ministry of Forests This document provides an overview [2003] of British Columbia’s forests and their management. It describes the province’s forest lands, their ecological significance and their economic importance to the people of B.C. It also discusses the province’s efforts to manage forests by balancing environmental interests with economic and social considerations. (2003) British Columbia Forests and Their Management.pdf
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BC Ministry of Forests guidebook to provide managers, planners and field staff with a recommended process for meeting biodiversity objectives—both landscape unit and stand level—as required in the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act and Regulations. (1995) Forest Practices Code Biodiversity Guidebook.pdf
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By Julia R. Chandler, Sybille Haeussler, Evelyn H. Hamilton, Michael Feller, Gary Bradfield, Suzanne W. Simard Forests are being clearcut over extensive areas of western North America, but plant community response to harvesting and slashburning under varying climatic conditions in central British Columbia, Canada is still largely unknown. Evaluation of resilience is hampered by the short history of logging, lack of long-term experiments and methodological limitations. To test the effect of clearcut logging, prescribed burning and reforestation on forest resilience, we recorded vascular plant cover repeatedly after treatment between 1981 and 2008 in 16 permanent research installations in three biogeoclimatic zones: Engelmann Spruce- Subalpine Fir, Interior Cedar-Hemlock and Sub-Boreal Spruce. We created a plant-trait dataset for the 181 recorded species to define plant functional types representing groups of plants that behave in similar ways and/or produce similar ecological outcomes. These plant functional types, along with taxonomic analysis of diagnostic and indicator species, were then used to evaluate plant community response to disturbance. Twenty years post-treatment, species diversity increased in all zones and plant abundance was greatest in the Interior Cedar-Hemlock. Cover of understory plant functional types associated with mature conifer forests increased in all zones, constituting a significant proportion (> 40%) of the vegetation community by year 20. Response patterns varied by zone and with time. Understory species diagnostic of mature forests were present in all zones by year 20, but we identified indicator species sensitive to slashburning or requiring more time for recovery, including white-flowered rhododendron (Rhododendron albiflorum) and devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus). Overall, loss of compositional or functional diversity following harvest and site remediation was not detected, suggesting that montane and subalpine forests in British Columbia are resilient to this treatment. However, because these forests can be slow to recover from disturbance, the post-disturbance assessment window of this study may not have been long enough to detect diminishment of ecosystem resilience. (2017) Twenty years of ecosystem response after clearcutting and slashburning in conifer forests of central British Columbia, Canada (2017).pdf
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By Nick M. Haddad et al We conducted an analysis of global forest cover to reveal that 70% of remaining forest is within 1 km of the forest’s edge, subject to the degrading effects of fragmentation. A synthesis of fragmentation experiments spanning multiple biomes and scales, five continents, and 35 years demonstrates that habitat fragmentation reduces biodiversity by 13 to 75% and impairs key ecosystem functions by decreasing biomass and altering nutrient cycles. Effects are greatest in the smallest and most isolated fragments, and they magnify with the passage of time. These findings indicate an urgent need for conservation and restoration measures to improve landscape connectivity, which will reduce extinction rates and help maintain ecosystem services. (2015) Habitat fragmentation and its lasting impact on Earth’s ecosystems.pdf
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By Teresa Newsome et al (1990) Establishing Douglas-fir plantations in the Interior Dry Belt Zone.pdf
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THERE ARE FOUR MEANINGS INTENDED by the use of “plantation failure”: First, there is the failure of government to insure that clearcuts have been replanted at a rate matching that at which forests are being logged. Second, there is the failure of computer modelling to accurately predict the growth and yield of managed plantations. Third, there is the large-scale destruction of conifer plantations by fires, insects and disease. And fourthly—and perhaps most importantly: There has been a failure to recognize that widespread industrial clearcutting, followed by plantations, does not emulate any known natural disturbance; the belief that it does comes from hubris rather than knowledge or wisdom. All of the impacts of these miscalculations are increasing in size as the area logged each year grows. According to the ministry’s own records, between 2000 and 2017, 1.2 million more hectares were logged than were planted. This number does not reflect the backlog of unplanted logged area that had accumulated previous to 2000. Just how bad this problem actually is depends on which ministry record of how much logging has occurred is used: the one made publicly available (below in black), or the one based on the ministry’s best, but still incomplete, data (red). This fact—that the ministry is not ensuring that logged areas are being replanted—undoes the ministry’s and industry’s contention that logging in BC is not deforestation. In a recent press briefing attended by BC Chief Forester Diane Nicholls, a media reporter asked, “How will the COP 26 resolution about deforestation affect BC?” Nicholls responded that “deforestation” was not occurring in BC. But her ministry’s own data shows this is not true. There are many strong indicators that logging in BC is not sustainable and the large replanting deficit is just one of them. Not only are clearcuts not being replanted at the rate they are being logged, but predictions of the rate of growth and yield of managed plantations, which are used to determine how much forest can be cut each year, have been shown to be based on corrupt and inaccurate data that hasn’t incorporated the likely impacts of climate change. In 2018, Anthony Britneff and Martin Watts, both registered professional foresters, made a 134-page joint submission to a panel of forest scientists and professionals assembled to investigate concerns Britneff had expressed in writing to then forests minister Doug Donaldson. In their submission, Watts and Britneff challenge a claim made by various chief foresters in many timber supply reviews that the “best available information” is used in coming to a determination of allowable annual cut. Britneff and Watts provided evidence in the case of the Bulkley Valley Timber Supply Area review, for example, that shows the “best available information” included data that an independent consultant had determined did not meet “Ministry Standards” on several counts. They also note that a major source of uncertainty in computer modelling is “ineffective data management,” and recount how, throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the Forest Analysis and Inventory Branch (FAIB) struggled to effectively manage forest growth-and-yield data, which, as a consequence, had become “corrupted.” The result, say Watts and Britneff, is that “any studies or models using FAIB sample plot data prior to 2017 are suspect.” That would impact most existing timber supply reviews and the corresponding allowable annual cut determination (AAC). A wildly optimistic timber supply forecast made in the 2004 State of the Forests report signed by then Chief Forester Jim Snetsinger. Using faulty growth and yield models, the ministry of forests predicted timber supply in 2020 would be about 50 percent higher than it has turned out to be. In 2004, the ministry was expecting the Mountain Pine Beetle to have a greater impact on timber supply than it actually has had, so the beetle was not the cause of the optimism bias. Watts and Britneff believe the growth and yield models themselves are problematic and cite numerous ways in which the models provide inaccurate and unreliable estimates. For example, consecutive versions of the models produce different results from the same data, and the difference is significantly greater than the timber supply review process reflects in its consideration of uncertainty. As well, an FOI request showed FAIB had no record of the actual data used to calibrate one of the computer models central to estimating timber volume in natural stands. Watts and Britneff also point out that the growth and yield models lack the sophistication needed to reflect actual forest complexity. All of those factors create a level of uncertainty about the growth and yield estimates for managed plantations used in ACC determinations that, Watts and Britneff say, create serious doubts about projected mid-term harvest levels. Astonishingly, the models cannot account for climate change. On this point, Britneff says, “scientists within the forests ministry have reported and published that our Interior managed forests will most likely experience increased tree mortality, reduced growth and reduced utilization as a result of an increase in forest health issues due to climate change.” Yet, because the models cannot accommodate climate change, none of the climate-related effects that are expected to reduce growth and yield are included in the timber supply reviews that determine AAC. Next on our list of the ways in which plantations are failing is their growing impact on forest fires, insects and disease. Plantations on the scale they are being created in BC—about 250,000 hectares each year on public and private land—are creating a much higher risk of each of these problems occurring at large scales. Let’s start with fire. Of the four general configurations of forest found in BC—primary forest, mature naturally-regenerated second growth, clearcut and plantation—the latter has the highest fire hazard (followed by clearcuts), especially in the first 25 years of a plantation’s life. The higher fire hazard of clearcuts and plantations is entirely a matter of the ease with which fuels in them can be ignited and the difficulty in controlling such fires once they start. A high level of fire hazard can be expected to persist for about 20 to 25 years following planting. When fires do occur in plantations, the damage is often severe. One group of US scientists studying fires in Douglas fir plantations found that the most severe burning occurs 12 years after planting. The prevalence of clearcuts and plantations has been growing. The ministry of forests’ record of the extent of logging on publicly owned land shows there has been a large increase over the last 50 years. In the first five years of the 1970s, an average of 105,000 hectares of Crown land were being cut each year. In the 5-year period ending with 2018, that had risen to 240,000 hectares each year, a 230 percent increase. It’s that growing prevalence of clearcuts and plantations that’s worrisome. Lightning strikes in those areas will be more likely to ignite and the resultant fires will be more difficult to control than in mature forest. Lightning is the most common cause of forest fires in BC. Obviously, then, if there’s more land where fires are easier to ignite, more fires will occur. If fires are initially more difficult to control, they are more likely to grow. And once a fire grows large enough to start encountering multiple areas of higher-hazard fuels—like clearcuts and plantations—the fire becomes more and more difficult to control. If the area of the province that’s subject to this higher fire hazard is growing—and it is—then larger fires will become more numerous. That’s exactly what we are seeing. Most big fires in BC, like the 2017 Elephant Hill Fire (above), now involve thousands of hectares of highly-flammable clearcuts and plantations. Once plantations reach 25-30 years of age they have a higher chance of surviving a fire. Before that, they are the most flammable feature on BC’s highly logged landscapes. A burned plantation is a failed plantation. But there are other factors causing widespread plantation failure. In southeastern BC, for example, forest scientists studied monoculture lodgepole pine plantations that had replaced cedar-hemlock primary forests. They found that 44 percent of the trees had unacceptable levels of damage from western gall rust, with the result that one-third of the plantations could not be considered “free growing.” Yet ensuring that a plantation reaches a free-growing state is a legal requirement for companies who obtain permits to log public land in BC. In northwestern BC, the choice of monoculture lodgepole pine plantations to replace primary forest has run up against Dothistroma needle blight. In primary forests, damage from dothistroma has historically been low. But replacing primary forests with monoculture lodgepole pine plantations has resulted in extensive defoliation and mortality in those plantations. Lastly (at least until someone points out a fifth way in which plantations are failing), let’s consider the fundamental but flawed assumption underpinning plantations: After clearcutting, new forests can simply be regrown by replanting whatever species most reliably satisfies the legal but short-term requirement to reach a free growing state. In 2020, forest ecologist Suzanne Simard wrote briefly about this fallacy in a submission to the Haida Gwaii Management Council. She was commenting on a proposed determination of allowable annual cut in the Haida Gwaii Timber Supply Area. Simard wrote: “Reforestation practices for clearcuts of Haida Gwaii, based on personal observations, have followed the industrial model of planting nursery-grown plug stock of cedar, spruce and lodgepole pine. In primary forests of Haida Gwaii, cedar naturally reproduces primarily by layering, where gap phase disturbances facilitate regeneration of cedar around parent trees. These saplings grow up in the neighbourhood of their elders, where they are protected and their growth facilitated. The industrial approach of planting cedar plugs in clearcuts does not emulate these natural processes. Moreover, the planting of lodgepole pine in the clearcuts of Haida Gwai appears to be geared at achieving early free-growing, and we should expect these trees to decline with age past free-to-grow age even more so than has been observed in the interior rainforests. “Furthermore, the changes clearcutting brings to the hydrology of forests will cause a redistribution of water in the soil profile, likely with saturation at depth and surface drying, and this could serve to amplify drought-related die-backs among planted stock. For these reasons, the industrial approach of clearcutting and planting does not emulate natural disturbance regimes and regeneration dynamics on Haida Gwaii. With climate change, the second-growth forests will likely severely underperform relative to primary forests as measured in permanent sample plots.” The Forest Practices Board, which is ostensibly independent from the ministry of forests, echoed Simard’s concerns about plantations in an investigation of similar issues the Board conducted for a different area of BC in September 2021. The investigation focussed on plantations in the Kamloops, Okanagan, Merritt and Lillooet TSAs, as well as the Cariboo-Chilcotin Natural Resource District. The report was politely—but firmly—damning. The investigation into the health of plantation regrowth on cutblocks in the Interior Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zone found that “[64] percent of the cutblocks examined were in poor and marginal condition and licensees may not be creating/regenerating resilient stands, which may have negative implications for future timber and non-timber values.” Of this opening, the investigation noted: “A cutblock where a strip selection silviculture system was used, was not site prepared and was left to naturally regenerate, resulting in very little regeneration due to grass competition.” Amongst other findings, the investigation found “an over-reliance on clearcutting” in the Interior Douglas-fir zone, and noted that clearcutting “is not appropriate for dry-belt-fir stands, as young trees do not regenerate well without the shade and shelter of overstory trees.” Echoing another concern expressed by Britneff and Watts, the Board recommended to the ministry that it “re-assess the long-term reforestation objectives for the dry IDF [zone], and update them based on the likely consequences of climate change.” The entire premise of liquidating BC’s primary forests was based on the assumption that humans could replace the natural processes that created those primary forests with their own, artificial and industrialized processes. Now the extent to which that decision was based in hubris is evident in the serial catastrophes overtaking BC’s plantation fantasy. You, no doubt, have additional issues with plantations. We welcome your comments below or in the forum on this issue.
