The Economics of Salvage Harvesting and Reforestation in British Columbia's Mountain Pine Beetle-affected Forests


Book Description

In stands with significant mountain pine beetle (MPB) mortality, forest managers face a range of choices including clearcut harvesting, partial cutting, various rehabilitation strategies, and non-intervention. These choices involve many long-term costs, benefits, and risks, some of which can be assessed through economic analysis. After reviewing the context for this issue, the authors provided case studies that span the more likely stand-level problems faced by decision makers. All analyses were conducted from the perspective of the landowner (i.e., government) rather than the user of the resource (i.e., licensee). The insights from the case studies form a basis to answer the following core questions: Are some stand types better left unsalvaged? What economic/silvicultural assumptions produce higher stand values when salvaging is foregone? In areas that cannot be salvaged, is reforestation a profitable investment? Finally, does partial cutting make sense economically?--Document.







Battling the Beetle


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The CCPA would like to thank the following organizations for their financial contributions to this work: The BC Federation of Labour, The BC Government and Service Employees' Union, The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, The Endswell Foundation, The Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and The United Steelworkers of America District 3. Cover beetle image courtesy of The Canadian Fores [...] While a significant portion of the trees attacked will be profitably logged, an even greater portion will not, leading to a looming gap in available timber that will result in the loss of one quarter of existing income in many Interior communities.1 Given the severity of the outbreak and its implications for the wellbeing of forests and communities, the BC government's action plan speaks comparati [...] The area includes 30-plus communities ranging from 100 Mile House in the southern portion of the Cariboo Forest Region through Prince George and west to Smithers in the Prince Rupert Forest Region.20 The full extent of the beetle What the authors of that report could not have known was that in the attack remains poorly ensuing three years the very definition of "susceptible" has changed along quan [...] Two central questions before British Columbians are whether the province is responding adequately to the challenges posed by the beetles, in particular in the area of reforestation, and whether we are getting a fair return from logging companies in the midst of an unprecedented, government-mandated, logging increase in response to the beetles. [...] It also heavily influenced the thinking of government-appointed bodies such as the Forest Resources Commission, By the Ministry of Forests which made many recommendations to the province in 1991 on the need own estimate, we are on the for permanent and secured investment pools for reforestation efforts.




Information Forestry


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Unasylva


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Big Lonely Doug


Book Description

Finalist, Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing Finalist, Banff Mountain Book Competition Finalist, BC Book Prize Globe and Mail best books of 2018 CBC best Canadian non-fiction of 2018 In the tradition of John Vaillant’s modern classic The Golden Spruce comes a story of the unlikely survival of one of the largest and oldest trees in Canada. On a cool morning in the winter of 2011, a logger named Dennis Cronin was walking through a stand of old-growth forest near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. He came across a massive Douglas fir the height of a twenty-storey building. Instead of allowing the tree to be felled, he tied a ribbon around the trunk, bearing the words “Leave Tree.” The forest was cut but the tree was saved. The solitary Douglas fir, soon known as Big Lonely Doug, controversially became the symbol of environmental activists and their fight to protect the region’s dwindling old-growth forests. Originally featured as a long-form article in The Walrus that garnered a National Magazine Award (Silver), Big Lonely Doug weaves the ecology of old-growth forests, the legend of the West Coast’s big trees, the turbulence of the logging industry, the fight for preservation, the contention surrounding ecotourism, First Nations land and resource rights, and the fraught future of these ancient forests around the story of a logger who saved one of Canada's last great trees.




Salvage Logging and Its Ecological Consequences


Book Description

Salvage logging—removing trees from a forested area in the wake of a catastrophic event such as a wildfire or hurricane—is highly controversial. Policymakers and those with an economic interest in harvesting trees typically argue that damaged areas should be logged so as to avoid “wasting” resources, while many forest ecologists contend that removing trees following a disturbance is harmful to a variety of forest species and can interfere with the natural process of ecosystem recovery. Salvage Logging and Its Ecological Consequences brings together three leading experts on forest ecology to explore a wide range of issues surrounding the practice of salvage logging. They gather and synthesize the latest research and information about its economic and ecological costs and benefits, and consider the impacts of salvage logging on ecosystem processes and biodiversity. The book examines • what salvage logging is and why it is controversial • natural and human disturbance regimes in forested ecosystems • differences between salvage harvesting and traditional timber harvesting • scientifically documented ecological impacts of salvage operations • the importance of land management objectives in determining appropriate post-disturbance interventions Brief case studies from around the world highlight a variety of projects, including operations that have followed wildfires, storms, volcanic eruptions, and insect infestations. In the final chapter, the authors discuss policy management implications and offer prescriptions for mitigating the impacts of future salvage harvesting efforts. Salvage Logging and Its Ecological Consequences is a “must-read” volume for policymakers, students, academics, practitioners, and professionals involved in all aspects of forest management, natural resource planning, and forest conservation.