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Seeing
the Forest Among the Trees:
The Case for Wholistic Forest Use
Summary
(Photo
Essay)
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Forests
are interconnected webs held together by the fragile strands
of soil, sun, water, and air. Impacts to one part of that
web affect the whole forest...all forests...the earth. The
forest web exists on a scale from the microscopic to the planetary,
from bacteria and fungi decomposing a fallen tree to the planetary
scale of global water cycles and climatic change. There are
no compartments--only a gradual transition between endlessly
variable parts.
Forests function to sustain the whole, not to produce any
one part. Every part is essential, but no part is more or
less important than another.
People are part of the forest. For thousands of years we accepted
our place in the symbiosis of the forest. In the last few
hundred years, however, a few of us decided that we could
control the forest, forcing it to produce commodities we desired.
We believed that humans could increase in numbers with no
limit, and that the earth would meet our ever expanding list
of "needs." Problems encountered along the way could
be fixed by science and technology...or else bequeathed to
a future generation.
Some of us now see the folly in the idea of "sustained
growth." If any creature, be it bacteria or buffalo,
were to grow without limits, it would consume the earth. Such
would be the outcome of humans' plans for "sustained
economic growth," or for ever-increasing "sustained
economic growth," or for ever-increasing "sustained
timber yield".
The consequences of sustained economic growth are most obvious
in the forest. Since 1960 the rate of logging in British Columbia
has nearly quadrupled. Forests are diminishing at the rate
of 2.7 million hectares per decade. In one more decade, we
will have lost forever natural forests equivalent to more
than 400 Carmanah Valleys. On Vancouver Island, only 6 of
89 watersheds greater than 5,000 hectares remain unlogged.
We have been taught that such sacrifices are necessary--that
this is "human progress." But necessary for whom?
Human greed? Or planetary survival?
The time has come to understand that the forest sustains us--we
do not sustain the forest. We need to resume our role as a
natural part of the forest web, and abandon the arrogance
of remaking the forest to our liking. Wholistic forest use--the
protection of the whole forest with shared access for all
users (human and non-human)--offers that opportunity. This
book and this photo essay attempt to provide the tools to
change our relationship with forests by considering:
What are forests?
How do we use the forest?
Why has this occurred? What are the politics of forest use?
How do we change? How can we adopt wholistic forest use?
If we are to save the forest, indeed ourselves, we must answer
these questions and seek solutions together--logger, wilderness
advocate, millworker, fisherman, shopkeeper, corporate executive,
teacher, parent. We all have a role and our roles are equally
important. If anyone loses, we all lose.
Humans have engineered the destruction of the earth's forests.
We must now work quickly to maintain what is left and restore
what we can. In this task we will rediscover the power and
joy of being one with one another, with the forest, and with
the earth. |
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| The
Biological Legacy: Old Growth |
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Old
growth is an essential phase in the life of a forest. Through
its diversity of plants and animals and through its unique
ecological structures of large snags and large fallen trees,
old growth provides the biological legacy to perpetuate
the forest itself. Portions of the old growth forest ecosystem
carry over to young forests after a natural disturbance
begins the forest life cycle anew.
Human beings do not know how to create old growth forests.
The
biomass (total amount of living matter) in a Pacific Northwest
old growth temperate rainforest is three to eight times
as great as the biomass in a tropical rainforest. If plants,
animals, and microorganisms above, at, and below the soil
level are included, a northwest temperate rainforest may
be more biologically diverse than a tropical rainforest. |
Diversity—varying
tree sizes, snags, fallen trees, canopy openings—old
growth Western Hemlock- amabilis fir forest. (Obsevatory Inlet,
Northwest Coast) |
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Forests:
Landscapes in Time
Forests are clusters of ecosystems or forest types connected
in TIME across the landscape.
From the shrub/herb phase immediately following disturbance,
through the young forest stage, to the mature and old growth
phase, each stage in a forest's life cycle plays a role in
maintaining a healthy, diverse forest landscape. Shrub/herb
and old growth phases are critical for capturing and storing
nutrients for future forest growth. Trees in young and mature
forests produce wood fiber at the most rapid rates. Old growth
provides valuable habitat for a wide spectrum of animals.
Insects and birds which prey on forests "pests"
are found primarily in old growth forests. Old growth forests
- 200 to 1,000 years and more in the making - are the most
stable and abundant forests within a healthy forest landscape. |
Emergence
of Sitka spruce through an early successional shrub/herb forest.
(Kwinamass River) |
"High
yield timber" in mature western hemlock - red cedar forest.
(Valhalla Park) |
Sunrise
in an open-canopied old growth Douglas-fir forest. (Chilcotin) |
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Forests:
Landscapes in Space
From alpine and subalpine forests, through the middle slope
forests, to valley bottom forests, the forest landscape is
a web. Forests are clusters of interdependent forest types
connected in SPACE across the landscape. Energy and materials
needed for growth is exchanged between these clusters through
local climate, soil, and water.
Water
and nutrients, products of subalpine forests, flow down slopes
to enrich valley bottom forests. Part of the snowpack in subalpine
forests originates from water cycled through middle slopes
and valley bottoms. Riparian ecosystems around rivers, creeks,
lakes, and wetlands are connecting elements in the landscape,
serving as primary travel routes for animals and plants.
A diverse mosaic of forest types is necessary in forest landscapes,
both to maintain the health and dynamics of the landscape
and to maintain the health of each individual forest type.
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Riparian
zones are connectors and recyclers of energy and materials
in the forest landscape. (Khutzeymateen Valley, Myron Kozak
photo) |
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Interdependent
clusters of ecosystems from riverside to alpine. (West Skeena)
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Sources
of Growth
Four ingredients are needed for the development, growth, and
well-being of a forest: sunlight (light and heat), air (oxygen,
carbon dioxide and other gases), water, and nutrients (minerals).
Without pure, abundant supplies of all four factors, forest
development is slowed, and in some cases forests are lost
completely.
CLIMATE provides sunlight, air, and water. Forest canopies
intercept snow and rain. Some of this moisture cycles through
the trees and is purified. Other intercepted moisture evaporates
back into the atmosphere, moving across the landscape to furnish
water to other forests and non-forest ecosystems.
SOIL is the storehouse and transportation system for water
and nutrients. Decaying wood from large fallen trees holds
water in the soil like a natural sponge, and provides soil
nutrients for hundreds of years. Microorganisms in the soil
enable trees and shrubs to extract water and nutrients from
the soil for efficient growth. |
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Water droplets
caught by Douglas-fir needles gently reach the forest floor—one
drop at a time. |
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Nature's
storehouse—subalpine forest soil consisting largely of
decomposed fallen trees. (Omenica Mountains) |
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The
Source of Life
Water is the connector.
From rivulets on the forest floor to the oceans of the world,
water connects every part of the earth. What happens in one
location is transmitted to other places by water in the soil,
in a river, or in the air. Without pure, abundant, and ever-present
water, forests, indeed, all forms of life, decline and eventually
disappear.
In North America, all of our water comes directly or indirectly
from forests. Old growth forests provide the highest quality
of water in the world. Forests filter, purify, and moderate
the flow of water, as both liquid and gas, from one place
to another.
Forests are the natural sponges of the earth. During rain,
a forest may capture as much as eighteen times more water
that bare soil, and four times more water that soil covered
with grass and shrubs.
Water is a forest, and a forest is water. What happens to
one, happens to the other. |
Trees -
standing or fallen—are inextricably linked with water.
(KhutzeymateenValley) |
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Deforestation
In British Columbia, approximately 90% of the area logged
is clearcut. This method of logging has long been defended
because it "mimics natural disturbances." However,
after a natural fire or windstorm, some trees are left standing,
and all of the "bodies" are left as snags or fallen
trees. There never was a natural disturbance which cut all
of the trees, loaded them onto trucks and hauled them to a
mill.
Clearcutting as carried out in British Columbia fragments
or breaks the landscape connections in time and space, placing
the whole forest at risk. Clearcutting results in landslides,
water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and soil degradation.
Replanting after clearcutting can be extremely difficult,
and does not restore all parts of the natural forest.
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Landslides
from clearcutting. (Clayoquot Sound) |
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A fragmented
forest. The connections between different habitat types in
this landscape are strained or broken. (Near McBride) |
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| Tree
Plantations, Not Forests |
Trees for tomorrow?
Forests Forever? A malnourished seedling struggles to grow
on scorched gravel. (Upper Skeena watershed) |
After
clearcutting comes a sequence of activities designed to simplify
the forest, creating tree plantations devoted to timber production.
The steps include:
1. Burn debris left after clearcutting (slash burning): Slash
burning increases greenhouse gases, increases the likelihood
of soil erosion, decreases soil nutrients, and creates human
health problems.
2. Plant trees: Forest managers plant one or two species to
be grown in short cycles of 60 to 120 years. Natural forests
function in cycles of 250 to 1500+ years.
3. Remove "brush": Many plants are labeled "pests"
and eradicated, often with chemical pesticides. "Brush,"
however, provides shade for young trees and cover for animals,
enriches the soil, and repels unwanted insects. In natural
forests, all organisms play important roles in sustaining
the whole.
Tree plantations are not forests. Repeated "crops"
of trees on plantations will eventually exhaust the soils
built over many centuries, perhaps leaving landscapes with
only shrubs and stunted trees, and inhospitable climates.
Timber managers can plant trees, but no person can plant a
forest. |
A low diversity
tree plantation landscape (Clayoquot Sound) |
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Stumps,
Lumber and Pulp
British Columbia has the highest quality timber, the highest
volume of timber per hectare of any Canadian province, and
cuts 50% of all the timber logged in Canada. The average timber
volume on a hectare of land in British Columbia is more that
double the Canadian average. However, wood manufacturing in
British Columbia produces mainly lumber, pulp, and cants (squared
logs), with significant exports of whole logs. From 1980 to
1987, the value added to British Columbian wood products was
45% less per unit of wood that the rest of Canada. A higher
value added reflects higher levels of manufacturing and employment
from each tree cut. For instance, making lumber into cabinets
is adding value. British Columbia does less with more high
quality wood than any place in Canada. |
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Trees—cut,
milled, stacked to dry—unfinished llumber. (West Chilcotin) |
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Trees to
pulp, and polluted air and water-—our life support systems.
(Port Alberni) |
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Decreased
Benefits/Decreased Options
The number of people per tree cut is a good measure of the
timber industry's benefit to society. Direct employment in
industry per 1,000 cubic meters (approximately 33 truck loads
of logs) has diminished by half in the last 30 years. Currently,
less than one person is employed per 1,000 m3 cut in British
Columbia, compared to two people per 1,000 m3 in the rest
of Canada, and in the northwestern United States. Since 1980,
the timber volume cut has increased by 20% while the number
of forest industry jobs has declined by 17%. Forests are disappearing
faster while fewer people benefit.
Other economic benefits and options are being lost as "sustainable"
cutting accelerates. Many pristine wilderness areas in British
Columbia, long ignored by the timber industry due to poor
logging economics, are now "needed" to "meet
the cut." Subsidies in the form of low stumpage fees
(the fee charged by the government for cutting public forests)
enable the industry to deforest land which would be better
used as wilderness, animal habitat, and for tourism. The greatest
human indignity is directed to Indigenous people. Their rights,
culture, and options have been routinely destroyed. |
Mechanized
logging proceeds at five to ten times the speed of hand cutting,
and employs many less people. (Cariboo) |
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| Degraded
Soil/Degraded Water |
Landslide
caused by clearcutting. Note person circled in the center
of the photograph. (Clayoquot Sound) |
Trees,
soil, and water have a mutually beneficial relationship: remove
or damage one and you remove or damage the others.
Logging and silviculture activities scrape and gouge soil,
compact soil, (preventing normal movement of water and nutrients),
and the result is erosion. Soil degradation is permanent,
seriously slowing forest growth. We know how to prevent soil
degradation, but we cannot "fix" degraded soil.
Water transmits the damage from soil degradation from one
part of the forest to another. Logging roads and clearcuts
result in high spring runoff, increasing the likelihood of
erosion and landslides which damage water supplies. Degrade
fish habitat, and cause various forms of pollution and destruction
far downstream from the origin of the problem. Without forest
cover to retain water in logged watersheds, fall flows may
become inadequate. Water may easily become contaminated during
pesticide applications, transporting chemical poisons to plants
and animals throughout the system.
Water is the giver of life, but blindly following poorly conceived
and operated forest practices, water becomes a destructive
force with few equals. |
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Multiple
Use...Degrades the Landscape
The policy of "multiple use" employed by the British
Columbia timber industry suggests that other forest uses can
coexist with logging. However, most of the forest landscape
is only temporarily available for "non-timber" uses
such as fishing lodges, trapping, wilderness, animal habitat,
water supplies, public recreation, and most importantly, the
maintenance of biological diversity and healthy landscape
ecology. The public forests in British Columbia are really
timber supply warehouses. When "needed," the trees
will be clearcut and other forest uses and values foreclosed
upon.
Cutting beyond a minimal level (rarely more than 50% of the
ecologically stable area in a watershed every 150-250 years)
will usually damage or destroy non-timber uses and values.
Fish habitats are destroyed by high spring runoff which follows
intensive logging in a watershed. Multiple use "patch
cuts" fragment the landscape, reducing their populations,
and resulting in local extinction. Other human uses are damaged
and eventually destroyed; tourism, wilderness recreation,
trapping, and commercial fisheries.
Multiple uses for whom? For what? |
Logging
damages wetlands, destroying critical wildlife habitat in
the riparian ecosystem. (Cariboo) |
Healthy
stream in old growth forest—stable vegetated banks, pools
and riffles, large fallen trees in water. (Kwinamass River) |
Unhealthy
stream in logged landscape—eroded banks, unbroken stream
flow, no fallen trees in water. (Clayoquot Sound) |
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Public
Forests...Timber Industry Controlled
More that 85% of the total land base in British Columbia is
contained within the boundaries of various timber extraction
administrative units. While only about one-half of this area
is forest, the entire area is subject to the requirements
of timber extraction.
Thus, the British Columbia landscape has virtually been handed
over to medium and large (often multinational) logging and
milling companies. Timber corporations have been given "long-term,"
usually renewable leases or "tenures" in the form
of Forest Licenses and Tree Farm Licenses covering vast areas
of the province.
Through an extensive yet subtle lobbying campaign over many
years, the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) has exerted
control over forestry legislation, over Ministry of Forests
policy, over the character of the Association of Professional
Foresters, and over the content of forestry education. COFI
has also supplied or influenced much of the public information
regarding forests and timber management. As a result, forestry
is an inbred system in B.C. Balanced forest use is stifled
and the "truth" about the forest is coloured by
a short-term timber extraction bias. |
"Sharing"
the forest from the ocean to the ridgetop? (Clayoquot Sound) |
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The "partenership"
which administers British Columbia's public forests. |
Senior
Partner/Junior Partner
According to British Columbia legislation, the Ministry of
Forests/Forest Service is to "coordinate and integrate"
timber, grazing, water, fisheries, wildlife, and outdoor recreation.
In addition the Ministry is to "...encourage a vigorous,
efficient and world competitive timber processing industry."
A difficult balancing act . . . so difficult that a partner
was needed. Following a long courtship which began decades
ago, the timber industry and the Ministry of Forests were
joined by the power of legislation in what has proven to be
a lasting, blissful union.
However, equality has not been a part of this relationship.
Timber interests, being "more important" than other
"non-timber" forest users, were granted clear senior
partner status. The result has been "public forests"
which have largely become "private timber supplies,"
a degraded forest landscape, and a public purse which has
only recovered a fraction of the return owed for exploitation
of high value old growth forests.
The public is reminded constantly of the benefits of this
partnership by signs at the entrances of tree farms, by publicly
funded brochures, by professional foresters, and by educational
institutions.
This is B.C. forestry! |
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A
New/Old Way of Interacting with the Forest
The forest sustains us, we do not sustain the forest. If the
world's forests are to survive, we need to change our ways
of thinking about, and relating to, forests. Tinkering with
existing systems will not solve the problems. Different political
parties are unlikely to make needed changes. Trees, fungi,
frogs . . . the forest can't vote. |
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If
we are to save the world's forests . . . tropical, temperate,
boreal . . . we must see ourselves as a dependent part of
these systems. Indigenous cultures have always understood
this. We can learn much from their ways. We are as much a
part of the forest web as the spider, the mushroom, the tree,
water, soil . . . what we do to the forest, we do to ourselves.
Wholistic forest use puts the forest back on center stage
and moves human beings to a supporting role. The key priorities
of the approach are: first, protect the whole forest. Second,
ensure balanced uses across the forest landscape. Any use
must be ecologically responsible, maintaining the integrity
of the forest in the short and long term. |
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Protected
Forest/Balanced Use
A healthy forest landscape needs all its parts in order to
function. No single factor is more important than any other,
and the whole far surpasses the sum of its parts in complexity,
utility, and spirituality. The same may be said of a balanced
human society.
"Wholistic Forest Use Zones" are a practical means
of protecting forests and the diversity of forest landscapes,
while balancing various forest uses. Appropriate zoning identifies
and protects the most sensitive parts of the forest landscape
before designating areas for responsible human uses. Criteria
for various zones are based upon ecological (i.e. natural),
social, and economic factors. Priority is always given to
the protection of ecological/natural factors in decisions,
because societies and economies are based on ecosystems, not
the other way around. |
CONCEPT
OF
WHOLISTIC FOREST USE ZONES
First Priority: Ecologically Responsible Use(s)
Second Priority: Balanced Use |
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THE
WHOLE FOREST
Typical zoning categories include (in order of priority):
1. Cultural/Spiritual
2. Ecologically Sensitive
3.Fish
and Wildlife
4. Recreation/Tourism/Wilderness
5. Wholistic Timber
Watersheds are the basic landscape unit for zoning. In many
areas, 40-60% of the landscape may be designated for ecologically
responsible timber management.
Wholistic zoning includes full protection of wilderness areas
that represent the spectrum of major forest types. Large watersheds
are ecologically viable wilderness areas. Well-distributed
wilderness maintains landscape integrity and is necessary
for the survival of all beings.
We are part of the forest diversity and forest balance. Protect
forest diversity and forest balance. . . .protect ourselves.
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Reassuming
Responsibilities to Restore the Forest
A healthy forest community, like a healthy human community,
has place, is diverse, and all parts have and exercise responsibility.
Healthy human communities are the appropriate entity to steward
the forests, of which they are part. Neighbors truly listening
to each other, looking first for common ground, have the opportunity
to focus on the middle - the point of balance - rather than
being divided by the extremes.
We have given out community responsibilities away to institutions:
government and politicians, schools, companies. Centralized
institutions tend to see people and forests as problems. Institutions
are easily controlled by those who desire power over/control
over. This is not balance. This divides and conquers communities
and destroys forests. The further we are from each other.
. . from the forest . . . the easier we can rationalize harm
to each other . . . to the forest.
A system of community forest boards operating under wise principles
and direction from a well-conceived Forest Use Act can restore
our responsibility and protect the forest. Let us develop
power with each other and with the forest.
Whole communities are a part of whole forests. |
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Trust intuition—wisdom—to
guide forest use. Gitskan elder Simoghet Wiilitsxw of Lax
Gibuu. (Gitanyou, Skeena River; Ivan Velisek photo) |
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An interconnected
web held together by the fragile strands of soil, sun, water,
and air. (Omineca Mountains) |
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Conclusion:
The Challenge Forests Present to People
The problem is time.
People operate on a cycle of 70 to 100 years (if they are
lucky!). Governments and politicians operate on cycles of
4 years (if they are lucky!). Businesses operate on annual
profit and loss statements. Few shareholders would trade a
healthy dividend today for the promise of an old growth forest,
pure air, and pure water 300 years hence.
Forests operate on timetables from 200 to 2000 years, and
beyond. Forests are timeless.
And the problem is space.
Foresters and timber managers see forests as hectares, "stands,"
"timber,"largely "logs standing vertically."
They see only "local snapshots" in the life and
landscape of a forest. Stands of trees within a forest are
a "sustained yield of timber." People isolate and
compartmentalize that which is joined in a web.
Forests are a network of water, air, sunlight, and soil, manifesting
as clusters of plants and animals across vast areas.
Forests are fungi, bacteria, and insects; and forests are
valleys, watersheds, thousands of square kilometers . . .
landscapes.
Forests are dynamic and enduring lifeforms operating on timetables
and scales beyond human comprehension. We want things to be
the way we see them in our forest "snapshot." We
want absolutes, while the forest thrives on uncertainty.
But there can be no certainty for us or forests, or guarantees
in an uncertain world. As a humble part of the forest, we
maintain our options and sustain ourselves while we look for
the truth. Let us not confuse "facts" with linear
thinking and individual perception with the truth. We all
see the world through our own set of values, translated into
our own facts. Our challenge is to reach agreement starting
from our different values, out of different "facts,"
always directing our consensus towards the truth.
Let us all reassume the responsibility to protect each other
and the forest.
We understand enough to change out relationship with forests,
and with ourselves. Our challenge is to "think like the
forest." |
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