The effects of unregulated logging on the environment
By Gray Jones, Executive Director, WCWC
In areas where clear-cut logging is now taking place on private lands, Alberta farmers and ranchers should be deeply concerned with water and soil conservation. Most of Alberta has a growing season water deficit. Massive clear-cut logging on private lands contributes initially to flooding and then results in the drying up of seasonal streams and wetland habitats, causing drought conditions during warm months.
Trees and ground cover plants control hydrology and local micro-climate. Forested lands reduce local wind velocities and act as 'a natural faucet', gradually releasing stored water from trees into the atmosphere and into the ground. Deforestation of private lands increase wind and soil erosion, and reduces plant and animal habitats, as well as biodiversity. Deforestation of private lands decreases the quality of life for many rural people.
Short-term profit has compelled many farmers and ranchers to log their land. Many fail to consider alternatives like selection cutting and supplying small, local sawmills. Horse logging, archaic as it may sound, is actually a viable alternative for small logging operators, and it results in little damage to the forest floor. Selective logging with machinery is also an option. Selective logging generally would result in several times more jobs than are created with large clear-cutting operators. Shelter-wood cutting systems eliminate most of the need for replanting, and result in minimal habitat disturbance. The natural environment can be used for profit and be truly sustainable if dealt with responsibly and with foresight.
As it is now, however, the sounds of nature are being overwhelmed by the roar of feller-bunchers and logging trucks as landowners cash in on the windfall profits from B.C. and Montana mills paying almost twice as much as Alberta mills.
Our forested crown lands are almost totally dominated by timber hungry trans- nationals. A handful of companies, including Louisiana-Pacific, Al-Pac/Mitsubishi, Weyerhauser and Daishowa literally control the destiny of our northern forests. Members of the Alberta Forest Service have publicly admitted that the government had over-allocated crown land leases to these giants. There companies have been promised more than the government has to give.
The long-term implications are even more shocking if one considers that 38% of crown land harvested to date have not regenerated successfully. It's an enormous stretch of the imagination to call this a renewable resource. But the pressure on private land comes from several angels. As forest fires rage across the province crown land allocations are shrinking. Already over-allocated timber leases are bound to be even more stressed by this. Similarly, as agricultural groups like ranchers and lobby groups like ATV enthusiasts gain momentum, more forested private lands will be liquidated. Taking all of this into account, the pressure on mills to find timber will increase dramatically, and private land resources are the natural choice.
Alberta's huge oil and gas industry has already fragmented 1/6 of the forest landscape of Alberta. The Alberta government has abrogated its responsibility for monitoring and policing crown lands to the oil and gas and forestry companies and they refuse to establish regulations and controls for logging on private lands.
Albertan's need to speak out. Not in my own back yard! Should ring out across the province, just as it has in the Cochrane area, where residents refuse to bow to the pressures of greed and opportunism.
Outside of our National Parks, only 2.8% of our forests are protected, leaving our boreal forests wide-open for business with almost no protection.
Alberta's myriad forest ecosystems flow through crown lands and over-stressed national parks and onto private lands, which are being pillaged. Animal species, including the grizzly and woodland caribou, do not recognize forest jurisdictional boundaries. They wander free but run a gamut of forest fragmentation and forest industrial overload.
Old growth trees on private lands are significant habitats for old-growth dependant species, including various wood warblers, pileated woodpeckers, martens, flying squirrels and others. The forests on private lands are important as wildlife corridors and refuges for many birds and animal species, which live in and travel through our parks and industry dominated crown lands.
Not in my own back yard! Is being shouted by many rural Albertan's concerned with clearcut, liquidation logging on private lands adjacent to their communities and homes. This issue has created a media storm and focused attention on wildland destruction, deforestation and lack of government control or direction.
A forestry meeting, the largest ever in Alberta, was held recently in that community. Over 400 people showed up to voice their concerns. These people were not so-called tree-huggers, but represented a wide spectrum of interests, including loggers, ranchers, guides and outfitters. They all voiced one common concern: the need for regulations for logging on private land.
Residents and local politicians in the Pincher Creek area have also stood up to be heard. Strict guidelines exist for logging on private land in the municipal district of Pincher Creek, and although they have no force and effect in law, they serve as a model for what should be done, and represent the will of the those directly affected by wholesale devastation of their forests.
The government of Alberta, despite the media coverage, and the obvious need for regulations for logging on private land, remains reticent to perform the task of government where needed. Instead, they will continue to allow the liquidation of Alberta's forests.
