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Jim Smith

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  1. I'm a retired forester with a 40-year career in BC. Throughout those years I've had the privilege to practice the kind of forest management that Anthony mentions in his article. I want to tell you from experience that a completely different vision of managing our forests is entirely possible. Gentle Forest Stewardship - Over the years, I made use of partial cutting systems to implement a much gentler vision of forestry. Surprisingly, there are many "silvicultural systems" available to foresters other than clear cutting. These gentle systems have garnered public support because they respect how forests naturally function and how they protect values like water, wildlife, views and recreation. I used to love taking people out to look at cutblocks that used these systems. I would drive by several cutblocks without saying anything and then ask "well what do you think of the logging"? Invariably, they would respond, "what logging"? However, foresters have failed to make use of these systems to the detriment of healthy, diverse forests. For them, maximizing corporate profits demands the use of clear cutting almost exclusively. That system results in even-aged, simplistic stands in what I call "cornfield forestry". Consequently, I support Anthony's call to remove the responsibility of managing BC's forests from the hands of foresters. Changing our vision, and the people who implement it, requires scrapping our present forest legislation and replacing it with laws that favour the public interest instead of corporate greed. We need to employ other professions, as well as First Nations, who care for and genuinely respect nature-based forestry. Diversifying the Forest Economy - We need to transcend from a low value/high volume economy to one of high value that requires fewer logs. We can employ more workers per unit of wood while logging less. How is that possible? We had a great example in this province. I was involved in a government-run log yard in Vernon that operated from 1993-2002. That log yard proved that there are many more products and much more value in our timber. The idea is simple. Like Anthony mentions, regional government-operated log yards can be a powerful mechanism to stimulate a whole different forest economy. In those log yards the logs are sorted into products and sold on the open market via sealed tender auction to anyone. Yes, anyone, not just privileged licensees. Over the years our log yard manager, Tom Milne, responded to ideas from customers that ultimately resulted in 52 different products! Some examples include: wooden arrow shafts, roping saddle frames, guitar tops, feature logs in log homes, custom boxes for expensive wine, etc. As well, the Vernon log yard sold standard products like sawlogs, peelers and poles. It's a field of dreams: "if you build it they will come". We can have fully functioning forests that protect the public interest. We can reduce the burden on our forests by cutting less while generating many more jobs per cubic metre logged. A complete overhaul of our forestry vision and economy is essential. We have the tools and experience to make it happen. We can't continue to dither any longer. These opportunities will soon disappear, while the timber baron's move on, leaving us with degraded forests and few options.
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