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| Guest Editorial - SARA | ||
| "La Peor Diligencia Es Aquella Que No Se Hace" |
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| GUEST
EDITORIAL
SARA Andrew de Vries, Director, Conservation Biology Forest Products Association of Canada At times SARA has been controversial, however, it represents an important piece of legislation for Canada not only to meet international commitments such as the Biodiversity Convention but also in trade circles. Other countries, including the USA, examine Canada’s environmental laws when negotiating trade positions. The USA has had endangered species legislation since the 1960’s so there have been times when the absence of similar legislation in Canada has been viewed negatively. Is SARA all about prohibitions? No, SARA has a foundation of stewardship to avoid having species become listed in the first place, and relatively strong provisions for involving stakeholders in recovering species at risk. Approximately 94% of Canadian forestry is conducted on provincial Crown land, so how does SARA, a federal act, apply to our business? Firstly, federal species, such as those protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, and fish, as defined in the Fisheries Act, are subject to SARA prohibitions if they are listed as Endangered, Threatened or Extirpated. SARA’s prohibitions include the destruction of residence, and harming, harassing or killing a species. There are very few fish (about 41) or bird species (about 21) that meet these criteria, and only a small number of these are found in forested environments so there is a manageable risk for the forest industry. However, some species such as Marbled Murrelet may have a significant negative affect on timber operations. Secondly, SARA has a provision commonly known as the “Safety Net” which the federal government can enact if it deems that the province in which a species at risk is found is not doing a suitable job of protecting that species. If the Safety Net is enacted all of SARA’s prohibitions will apply to the species for which the Safety Net has been applied. Thirdly, in developing recovery plans for species provinces should develop the plans to meet guidance for such plans set out in SARA. If plans do not meet these guidelines the province may find itself in a position of having the federal safety net applied. The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) has three very strong recommendations:
Andrew is the Director, Conservation Biology, at FPAC and can be reached at (613) 830-6179 or via email at adevries@fpac.ca. |
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Rob Popowich Timberline, Edmonton An
accurate inventory of stands that have been disturbed by harvesting, fire,
insect or disease is the basis of management decisions such as timber supply
projections and silvicultural prescriptions. Regenerated stand inventory
(RSI), a system Timberline has developed and refined over the past 20 years,
is a proven approach to obtaining accurate inventory information. RSI is an aerial inventory method that integrates intensive low-level helicopter surveys with frequent ground checks. The method can be used to inventory any vegetation type, but those of greatest interest to land managers are usually recently disturbed areas following traditional regeneration surveys. An RSI has two main objectives: 1.
To provide vegetation inventory information that meets or exceeds provincial
standards; and
A
typical RSI begins with existing or newly acquired black and white
or colour photography. These photos are then stratified – distinct
vegetation patterns are delineated in much greater detail than is
conventionally done in a forest inventory. RSI is usually used
to enhance existing forest inventories, and the more detailed stratification
becomes an integral part of the overall inventory picture. The
two stratification photos below clearly show the difference in detail
between a conventional forest inventory (bottom
left) where a cutblock is one homogenous feature and an RSI
inventory (bottom right) where a number
of polygons representing different cover types have been delineated.
These stratified photos then form the basis for field surveys, which
combine low-level helicopter visits of every stratified polygon with
numerous ground checks. This information is subsequently used
to label every polygon, and the data is digitally captured in a format
suitable to meet our client’s needs. Additional polygon attributes
such as stocking and growing status are also captured during the field
program. Associated data analysis can then be carried out on
the collected data to assist in timber supply analysis (e.g. regeneration
lag) and silvicultural planning.
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(* Loose translation: THE WORST BUSINESS IS THE ONE NOT VENTURED) |
| Chris
Hermansen, Magdalena Edwards A.
Timberline, Vancouver Last November, as part of the Canadian Natural Resource Group, or CNRG (http://www.cnrg.org) we visited Chile and México to learn more about forestry and development opportunities in these countries. Initially, the trip was planned only for Chile, in order to take advantage of a large forestry conference in Chile's "forestry capital", Concepción; but with additional moral and logistical support from the Mexican Trade Commission in Vancouver, Western Economic Diversification, BC Trade and Investment Office, and Industry Canada, the group decided to add on a few days in México on the way back from South America. Additionally, in-country support was provided by the Canadian embassies in Santiago and México City, and by the Canadian Consulate in Guadalajara. Host organizations in Chile included Instituto Forestal (INFOR, the national forest research institute), Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF, the national forest service), Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO, the national development agency), Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena (CONADI, the national agency for development for indigenous peoples), Corporación Chilena de la Madera (CORMA, the national association of wood producers), Forestal Mininco (one of the largest Chilean forest companies). Host organizations in México included Comisión Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR, the national forest service), Proyecto de Conservación y Manejo Sustentable de Recursos Forestales en México (PROCYMAF, the national sustainable forest management project organization), and Centro de Investigación en Geografía y Geomática "Ing. Jorge L. Tamayo" A.C. (CENTROGEO, the geomatics research institute). One of the many compelling reasons to investigate trade relationships with Chile and México is that Canada has free trade agreements in place with both countries. These free trade agreements facilitate not only an exchange in goods, but also in professional services, which in turn means they facilitate investment. All three countries have strong legal frameworks in place to attract foreign investment. Chile's forests total 16 million hectares, of which 13.5% are used for production of wood products. A further 14 million hectares, about 18% of the total area of Chile, are administered by CONAF as Protected Wilderness Areas. Large areas of Chilean forests were cleared in the past for agriculture and ranching; much of this cleared land was not subsequently used for these activities due to its marginal productive capacity and remoteness. This cleared land has not naturally self-reafforested, and in many cases significant soil loss and general watershed damage has resulted. For the past three decades, Chile has encouraged the recovery of this degraded land through legal and financial incentives. Currently, over 2.1 million hectares of this land has been recovered as productive forest land, primarily with fast-growing radiata pine and eucalyptus plantations. This recovery plan has proved so successful that today 95% of the forest economy is based on these plantations. Radiata pine is noted for its rapid growth of 1.5 to 3 centimeters of diameter per year, producing merchantable 40 meter tall trees in 20 to 25 years. The wood from this tree is useful for structural material, panels, moldings, and for fiber. Eucalyptus globulus also grows very rapidly, producing 50 centimeter trees 60 meters tall in 20 years. While its wood is used primarily for pulp, it is also used in floors, furniture, moldings, and veneer. The forest industry in Chile is dominated by a few large companies such as CMPC. CMPC has been involved in forestry for more than 80 years, producing solid wood and paper products. CMPC owns more than 540,000 hectares of forest lands in Chile and more than 90,000 in Argentina. Its three pulp mills produce more than 1 million tonnes per year, and its five paper mills produce a broad range of cardboard, newsprint, writing, and wrapping material. Chile faces two significant challenges in fully realizing the beauty and productive capacity of its forests. The first is the marginalization of indigenous peoples, which has resulted in a dispute, sometimes violent, between indigenous communities, the forest companies, and the government over indigenous land rights. The second is the marginalization of its native forests, a seemingly natural outcome of the focus on economically recovering degraded agricultural land with fast-growing exotic species, which has significantly reduced the motivation to manage native forest ecosystems for a broad range of social, environmental, and economic benefit. México has more than 140 million hectares of forest lands and wilderness. These ecosystems include more than 10% of total global biodiversity, and are key to maintaining México's water and soils, as well as providing a source for more than US$1.5 billion worth of total income in non-timber forest products. Unfortunately, México has had to grapple with one of the largest deforestation rates in Latin America over the past twenty years, which has left its forest sector in an untenable position and created a situation where México imports a significant amount of forest products. México is implementing a wide range of programs to reverse this significant degradation of forests and forest capacity. These programs must deal with a complex set of factors, including significant population growth, urban migration, a very broad ownership of forest resources primarily in small communal holdings, a huge demand for fuelwood, and conflicts with other crops and grazing. The net impact of these factors can be easily seen by examining the commercial forestry use of Méxican forests. Of the 21 million hectares of potentially commercial forest lands, only 7 million are currently under management. Those managed lands yield approximately 7.5 million m³ per year. More than 50% of this activity takes place in Chihuahua and Durango states, again with typical yields less than 3m³ per hectare per year. The national average is 1.3 m³/ha/yr, considerably less than half of Canada's average. From 1987 through 1994, the total forest production in México dropped from almost 10 million m³ per year to less than 6.5 million m³ per year. Over the same period, the volume of imported forest products increased from slightly more than 0.5 million m³ per year to almost 2 million m³ per year. The specific actions undertaken to reverse this decline in the forests and in forest productivity in México include land tenure reforms, environmental legislation, and new forest legislation. However, agricultural pressure and trade laws continue to marginalize forest conservation and forest production. In the first case, increasing population puts pressure on marginal agricultural land to the detriment of forests; in the second case, domestic timber prices are often higher than imported prices and there are few obvious market incentives to invest in forest management. Understanding the unique challenges and circumstances of each culture enables a greater understanding of what has been done in the past and what the future holds for these countries. [Sources: http://www.corma.cl; http://www.cmpc.cl; "Mexico's Forests Sector and Policies: A General Perspective", Gerardo Segura, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México] |
Introducing Timberline's Newest MemberTimberline
would like to extend an enthusiastic and hospitable welcome to Lisa
Hunka. Lisa is Timberline's new Corporate Marketing Coordinator.
She is a member of both the Association of B.C. Professional Foresters
and the College of Alberta Professional Foresters as well as a MBA
graduand. Lisa's background includes ten years in the private forest
sector of British Columbia in operations and valuation.
Feel free to email Lisa at lhh@timberline.ca should you have any questions about Timberline or its services. Lisa is based out of Timberline's Edmonton office and can be reached via phone at (780) 425-8826. |
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