The Wilderness Committee is in this report launching our strategy to see 41% of Vancouver Island set aside as protected areas based on the application of Conservation Areas Design, which builds on the principles of conservation biology. The report also lays out strategies to promote more value-added manufacturing, resulting in an increase of sustainable forestry jobs so we would get much more out of each tree logged.

Vancouver Island Conservation Vision

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.25 - No.05, Summer 2005

Old-growth Forests are NOT replaced by Treeplanting!

How do second-growth tree plantations differ from old-growth forests?

The dense tree plantations lack the structural and biological diversity of the wild forests. Photo: Chris Darimont.

Lush old-growth forests have greater structural and biological diversity. Photo: Ron Smid

Second-growth plantations have:

  • “single-layered” canopies (ie. all the trees are of similar height).
  • dense or “closed” canopies that block out the sunlight, resulting in shaded understories with fewer plants.
  • less woody debris (ie. dead trees), small diameter logs.
  • poorer water conservation qualities, more prone to forest fires.
  • poorly developed canopy epiphyte layers (ie. mosses, lichens, and ferns living on tree trunks and branches) and suspended soil (which form from the decay of these epiphytic plants).
  • few old-growth dependent species, less overall biodiversity.
  • lower value, weaker, coarse-grained wood.

    • Old-growth forests have:

  • “multi-layered” canopies (ie. trees of different heights).
  • many canopy gaps that let light through to allow well developed plant understories.
  • more woody debris, including large diameter logs and snags (standing dead trees) that provide food and shelter for birds, bears, salamanders, invertebrates.
  • better water conservation qualities, less prone to forest fires.
  • well developed canopy epiphyte layers and deep suspended soils on large tree branches.
  • old-growth associated and dependent species, like marbled murrelets, Queen Charlotte goshawks, Vaux’s swifts, long-eared myotis, canopy arthropods, and greater overall biodiversity.
  • higher value, strong, tight-grained wood.

    • Natural second-growth forests that have regenerated after forest fires, disease, or wind storms are also quite different from tree plantations. Veteran ancient trees (that survived fires or disease) and snags from the previous forests remain to provide homes for numerous species. Natural regeneration often allows more hardwoods like alder, maple, arbutus, and cottonwoods to grow, which are frequently killed with herbicides by the timber industry in tree plantations. Hardwoods provide particularly valuable habitat for many wildlife species.

    “For every tree we cut down, we replant another 3 trees!”

    Everyone has heard this common timber industry assertion. If it’s true what then, would be wrong with cutting down all or most of our remaining old-growth forests? The primary problem is that second-growth tree plantations and old-growth forests are very different. Unfortunately, the goal of B.C.’s forest management system is to replace our wild forests with tree farms that are clearcut after 40 to 120 years, long before they acquire old-growth features. Only by slowing down the excessive rate of cut and establishing large protected areas will we ensure that we always have ecologically viable tracts of ancient forests on Vancouver Island.


    Overcutting and Clearcutting

    Much concern has been focused on the practice of clearcutting, which destroys fish and wildlife habitat and leads to soil erosion. Companies are increasingly undertaking “variable retention harvesting”, which is essentially clearcutting while leaving typically 10-20% of the trees standing in the clearcuts individually or in small clusters. It is still a far cry from selection logging, where the forest canopy remains intact while individual trees are removed.

    However, the method of logging is less important than the rate of logging. If too much is cut, too fast, we’ll still convert all of our old-growth forests into younger age classes and run out of old-growth, regardless of whether we clearcut or selection log. Currently, the amount of wood that can be logged every year, the Allowable Annual Cut (AAC), is 78 million cubic metres (2.6 million logging truck loads). This is far higher than the long term sustainable level of 50 to 60 million cubic metres (1.7 to 2 million logging truck loads) estimated by the Ministry of Forests - which is still too high to sustain old-growth. Concerns for parks, forestry jobs, or First Nations’ resource rights will all become moot points soon if this overcutting continues.