We have a lot to gain by different approach
A restructuring of forest tenure and management policies would have wide ranging benefits for both commercial timber and non-timber values. If the system were reorganized so that people were able to work in the existing second-growth forests, carefully managing them, the current timber supply crisis could be avoided, as would many future conflicts over forest use.
One of the major activities of such an approach would be the selective cutting of immature stands. The selective or partial harvesting of second-growth forests - sometimes called commercial thinning - when it is done properly, aims at improving the health and value of the remaining stand. The objective is not to increase the growth rates in the forest, but to achieve a range of benefits, some of which provide the financial returns to pay for the work.
A proper silvicultural plan, for example, can be of great benefit to wildlife. Thinning a coastal rainforest can open the canopy, which encourages the growth of forage plants that provide food for deer and elk. A multi-age stand can be created that has old growth attributes, providing habitat for species such as the northern spotted owl, which require old-growth forests. Partial cutting along fish-bearing streams and rivers avoids the problem of blowdown associated with leave-strips used in large clearcutting operations. The high costs of habitat management can be largely covered when it is done as part of a selection harvesting operation.
Dead and dying trees caused by suppression, disease or other factors can be recovered. The treatment or infestations, such as root rot, can be done as part of the harvesting cycle, in group-selection or small clearcuts, rather than as separate, expensive undertakings.
Thinning this second-growth Douglas fir forest at Horne Lake improved the value of the forest and provided jobs for loggers and mill workers - without destroying the diversity of the forest. Photo credit: B. Woods
In a commercially thinned forest, growth can be concentrated on fewer trees, of the desired species, increasing the value of the logs harvested. Suitable trees can be pruned during harvesting, increasing the value of the logs and the products produced from them - extending the concept of "value-added" into the woods.
Revenue can be generated throughout much of the life of a stand, rather than waiting for the "final" harvest, as conventional forest practice requires. This not only makes silviculture a self-financing undertaking, but it also pays for non-timber enhancement measures.
The scale of potential benefits from this approach in the Vancouver Forest Region, which covers all except the far northern coast, is substantial. The region's Tree Farm Licences and Timber Supply Areas contain about 500,000 hectares of good and medium growing site, second-growth forests, which are more than 40 years old. It is reasonable to assume that most, if not all of these stands are suitable for some type of selection cutting designed to increase their value and health.
The volume of timber obtained from an initial thinning of these stands would vary considerably, from 20 to 250 cubic meters a hectare. A conservative average of 100 meters a hectare is possible. If all 500,000 hectares were treated over a 20-year period - by which time a second selection cutting cycle could begin - this approach to managing the new forests would provide 2.5 million cubic meters of timber a year.
The impact of such a volume of timber on the coastal economy would be enormous. To begin with, it is approximately the same volume of wood now being removed from the Coastal Allowable Annual Cut under the Harcourt government's Timber Supply Review Project, so almost 1,200 jobs in sawmills and plywood plants could be saved. Depending on the harvesting systems used, this volume of wood would employ between 1,400 and 4,200 jobs in the woods. An additional 5,000 indirect jobs in the supply sector would be created - selling and repairing chainsaws, computer sales and servicing, transportation. It is probably safe to say that this level of activity in the second growth coastal forests would produce about 10,000 jobs, not to mention the so-called "induced" jobs.
There is one final benefit such an approach would provide. The availability of this second-growth timber would relieve the downward pressure on the timber supply and the threat it poses to the lives of coastal forest workers and the future of their communities, and allow some breathing space for the calm working out of resource-use decisions which still must be made.
