The Truck Loggers Magazine has a useful article http://www.tla.ca/sites/default/files/tlbc_fall_2017_fnl_lores.pdf (page 32) regarding forest industry job statistics.
Author Archives: hfhc
Building confidence in forest management-Professional Reliance
Implementation of the 2005 Professional Reliance model has not generated the desired public confidence in BC forest management decision-making. Communities and concerned citizens are demanding more assurance BC forests are being managed for long-term sustainability and to meet community needs. Building public confidence-Professional Reliance is one of 3 opinion papers being posted that are directed at improving public consultation and engagement.
Building public confidence in forest management-consultation
The lack of adequate community consultation in forest management decision-making is eroding public confidence. Communities and concerned citizens are demanding more opportunity for input and influence. Building Public confidence-Community consultation is one of 3 opinion papers being posted that are directed at improving public consultation and engagement.
Teachers learn about forestry
The Festival of Forestry program exposes teachers to the forest and forest management. This year the tour was in Port Alberni. Take a look at this video https://tinyurl.com/yczkelyp to hear the views of teachers.
Video on history of wildfires
The video https://tinyurl.com/yb4lsmm3 is 15 minutes well spent if you are interested in the history of wildfires and what we need to do to prevent massive fires in the future. Thanks to BC Community Forests Association for the heads-up.
Wildfire salvage an opportunity
Expedite wildfire salvage while applying long-term forest stewardship practices is an opportunity. The debate presented in https://tinyurl.com/ybsp7jun should not delay harvesting. Foresters need to get on with collaborative planning to capitalize on the situation from the perspective of balancing short-term economics, long-term wildfire protection management and restoring/maintaining ecosystem integrity. Lets not miss the opportunity by focusing on debate and bureaucracy. Get on with it industry and government foresters! Politicians, enable this to happen but stay out of the technical exercise.
Long-term or short-term forest management
Government and industry are in discussions re: post wildfire season recovery actions https://tinyurl.com/y9owj89a COFI CEO says “discussions about changing forest-management practices are expected to continue beyond the current fire season.” Hopefully these are within the parameters of long-term forest stewardship and not focused on short-term economics. Government and industry need to provide assurances to the public such will be the case. We look forward to this commitment.
Pouring money into interface protection not enough
The Victoria Times editorial https://tinyurl.com/y7oetxne suggests more money is needed to treat forest-community interface areas from wildfire. Although this is correct, the cost is high but could be reduced if Government was to change some policies regarding harvesting of merchantable trees within these areas. These changes would generate revenue and off-set treatment costs while at the same time protect the interface area and contribute to long-term forest stewardship. These would also generate jobs and economic benefits for the community. The barriers to these benefits are well know within the industry and wildfire experts. Government just needs to listen!
Salvage of fire damaged wood underway
Norbord has begun salvaging the trees killed by the Gustafsen wildfire at 100 Mile House https://tinyurl.com/ybfr9s6f Great to see industry working quickly to fully utilize the available fibre as part of forest stewardship.
Use of wood waste for community diversification
The use of wood waste from forest harvesting or wood processing can have a greater value than its use for bio-energy as outlined in Logging residue-opportunities lost. Washington State University has developed a new technology for the use of lignin (a by product of wood processing and bio-chemical digestion technologies) for use in car manufacturing https://tinyurl.com/ya49amdb. Other research is on-going in Alberta in this regard to replace metals and plastics in car bodies. This is the type of technology we need in BC to utilize wood residue and increase community economics and diversification. Government and industry must work to remove the barriers to the encouragement of investors in use of these technologies and move communities forward in achieving resiliency.