Mount Elphinstone Forest Eco-forest Proposal
Elphinstone Forest covers 8,000 hectares above the communities of Wilson Creek, Roberts Creek, Elphinstone, Gibsons, Granthams, Hopkins and Langdale. It holds the slopes in place, is home to many life forms, provides pure water to hundreds of residents, and could provide sustainable employment if managed according to the principles of eco-forestry.
Current clearcut logging practices are not sustainable. They eliminate old-growth species and ecosystems, lower the long-term productivity of the forest, and pose erosion hazards to communities downstream. But logging need not be destructive. Ecoystem-based forestry, or eco-forestry, can provide sustainable jobs and ecosystem protection. It has not yet been tried on public land on the Sunshine Coast.
Elphinstone Forest would be a good place to begin.
Holistic logging means never having to say you're sorry
Eco-Forestry or Holistic Forestry, is the future of Forestry in B.C.
It is based on these principles:
Activities in the forest should leave the forest ecologically intact.
All species and habitats in the forest before logging should also be present in about the same proportions after logging.
The capacity of the forest to hold water and release it to streams should be unchanged.
How do we change?
Current logging plans should be replaced by a community-based plan
Some areas, like the remaining old growth at higher elevations, and the Douglas-fir forest with old growth character at lower elevations, need to be protected from activity.
Erosion hazards, streams and wet areas, sleep slopes and critical wildlife areas also need to be identified and protected
Before any area is logged we need to decide on the best way of logging it to protect all values: timber, permanent jobs, soils, water, wildlife and recreation.
The Plan
The Eco-Forestry Institute, based in Victoria, is sending a group of students to help put together a holistic plan for Elphinstone Forest in June.
Eco-forestry is governed by a code of ethics which specifically bans clearcuts.
The students will likely plan various forms of natural selection harvesting, or slow-grading, in which the trees most likely to die of natural causes will be cut first.
Unlike some forms of selection logging, slow-grading tends to increase the value of the standing timber and each successive cut.
Green Timber
Timber produced in a holistically managed forest will fetch premium prices because it can be marketed world-wide as green timber.
A green stamp on timber is something like an organic label on produce. Buyers who care are willing to pay extra.
Because of the nature of slow-grading harvesting, and the excellent growing conditions on Elphinstone, we can expect to produce superior wood here.
Local Remanufacturing
One of the highest priorities of community forest management is to provide local employment.
Wood produced on Elphinstone should be made available to local industry for remanufacturing before it is shipped off the Coast.
The Community Forest
Public pressure will be needed to move the government to put the plan into operation.
While the forest companies know forestry is moving in this direction, they need further encouragement from the local community.
Ultimately, Elphinstone Forest should be run by a community forest board to ensure that local priorities guide forest management, and that we fulfill our responsibilities to the forest ecosystem.
