What is a forest? How do we define it? Is it the trees? The wildlife? The soil or the water? What about a place to find food or a spiritual connection? Forests are all of these things. So when we talk about sustainable forest management shouldn’t we be talking about all of these factors? Today’s conversation was about how to move forest management into the future. It was about how we can ensure that our forests are sustainable for everyone forever.
Resources
Biodiversity and its relationship to ecosystem health and integrity
Sustainable development in Canadian forestry in the face of changing paradigms
Sponsors
Quotes
11.26 - 11.36: “For me, sustainability is as much about the message as about the… ecosystem out there in the forest.”
41.40 - 41.56: “What we need to do is be much more conscious of our success in forest renewal and be much more diligent in speaking to that success and in raising the consciousness of other folks.”
Takeaways
Forests and faith (08.35)
Milo is a recently retired professional forester who spent his career working primarily in reforestation and at the interface of ecosystem services and forest management planning. Although he worked to renew the forests he harvested for wood fibre, he finds that people’s concerns are not addressed even if 95-97% of the forest is restored. He finds it important to talk about the work foresters do with the public and with peers.
Regeneration for sustainability (12.58)
Robert is Department Head and Professor, Forestry and National Resources at Purdue University. His research focus has primarily been silviculture and forest regeneration across North America. His interest in sustainability was the genesis of his forestry career because he believed “unless we could regenerate forests after harvest, that forests weren’t sustainable by definition”. Forest regeneration was not guaranteed in the 1970s.
The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to keep all the pieces (17.04)
Daniel is a Professor of Wildlife and Forest Ecology at the University of Maine and has worked at the interface of academia and commercial forestry, specifically on maintaining certain species as coarse filters of wildlife biodiversity in managed landscapes. It is important to keep viable populations of all the species in the landscape, along with keeping the structure, age class distribution, species composition and area of the landscape.
Wildlife biodiversity isn’t simple to measure (19.55)
Daniel shares that the public asks them to maintain species they value at acceptable levels and they view sustainability through that lens. Meeting the public’s expectations of species numbers is difficult because many species need viable forest landscapes which rely on interactions among forest stands that will promote species persistence in the future. He explains this using the example of Canada lynx, snowshoe hares and American martens.
Forest and political sustainability (25.11)
Robert notes that the dilemma for forest managers is that public expectations of the forest are constantly changing. Foresters who work with large landscapes in Alberta agree that maintaining the native forest on the landscape over a long period of time is most important. However, forest and political sustainability are not the same, since some ways to achieve forest sustainability may not gain a social licence from the public.
Clear communication (27.28)
Milo adds that Alberta has several other landscapes and they struggle with the public equating mining or oil and gas operations with forest harvesting when they are quite different disturbances in terms of impact on habitat. The public has often used the Federal Species at Risk Act to take the provincial and federal governments to court for not protecting species at risk. Foresters need to be able to communicate the benefits of their work to the public.
Managing expectations (30.59)
Daniel talks about how the public perceived clear-cutting to manage a bug outbreak coupled with the paper market boom in the 70s and 80s as unsustainable, pressing for the Forest Practices Act. Its enactment in 1991 saw a fragmentation of our existing mature forest patches with lots of small, scattered clear cuts, which led to 3 referendums to ban clear-cutting. Partial harvesting left only small fragments of intact forests that species need, but some clear cuts do restore forests.
The unsustainable political nature of forest management practices (35.10)
Robert believes that “the minute courts are making forest management decisions, they are not holistic”. Narrowly focusing on one issue creates an unsustainable landscape over a period of time, but forest managers have the tools and training to deliver a sustainable forest landscape. He has worked in various forest types and political conditions and discusses Hamish Kimmins’ stages of sustainable forestry.
The forests the public wants (38.43)
Milo talks about how he worked on forest regeneration by using a whole array of ecological measures to be able to talk about reforestation in terms of sustainability. The forests being put back on the landscape were quantitatively very diverse. They have also created a self-guided tour package to help the public identify what they see, and they also did field tours to show the public that the forest they want is possible, just not in a homogenized way.
“Forestry isn’t just removing trees but it’s creating habitat” (44.12)
Daniel laments that conservationists and the general public confuse sustainable forests with pristine conditions, but there are ways to enhance habitat, biodiversity and sustainability through altering forest structures to benefit other species. He proves how active forest management helped in the conservation of Canada lynx and conifers. “I think we need to better at communicating those benefits”, he remarks.
Foresters as custodians of the forest (49.17)
Robert points out that many foresters don’t understand why forests are an emotional issue for most people since most have given up the idea of nature in urban areas. People don’t take offence to sacrificing landscapes for agriculture, but do feel that a sacrifice has been made, so they look to foresters to protect the little nature left. Milo highlights that most forestry practices appear unnatural to the public, even though they are being done to fulfil their wishes.
Promise and passion (56.37)
Milo believes that foresters need to return to their original motivation of entering the profession. If they lead with their passion instead of the technical, the outcomes will be achieved in a positive way in the eyes of the public. Robert adds that finding a place of agreement with the public on the outcomes is a start, but they may not always agree with the means to that end. However, it’s important that the public understand that nature in the forest is not static.
“We need to lift our head up again to the landscape” (1.00.49)
Daniel says, “When we manage at the stand level and focus at the stand level, those outcomes are easy to quantify but don't really get us to the issue of sustainability”. Working better with the public to define what the landscape should look like and what everyone wants it to produce, is important to reach success. Milo believes conversations with stakeholders are needed to help them see the value in forest management practices.
Engagement for the future (1.07.04)
Robert states that few foresters wouldn’t understand the impact forestry has on a wide range of values. Daniel thinks, “defining where that line sits involves setting the scale, which we want to make our progress”. The challenge is to step back and look at the broader scale of how a pond or refuge fits in keeping the landscape of the future. Milo suggests using tools to provide data to stakeholders and engage them in planning processes for future impact.
Digital forestry (1.17.25)
Robert believes we are at the cusp of a revolution in forest management with artificial intelligence and big data. Technology is rapidly evolving to allow foresters to monitor and manage landscape-level properties for outcome-based forestry. He is excited about how this will help in documenting sustainability and getting public support. Dan’s real challenge is to find common ground with the public since tools exist to predict the outcomes of different scenarios.
The old way (1.22.13)
Milo believes that the systems available have so many trajectories that it’s better to stay on a coarse level right now. He has had success with reforestation in the northern forest. However, they’ve had perverse effects with broad cover group-based reforestation. He wants to talk to those interested in values associated with diverse outcomes and believes we need to think in terms of ecological function and values.
Managing for all values (1.26.35)
Robert shares how monetization of ecosystem services is being analyzed heavily. Wood is easily monetized, but not wildlife habitat, clean air, clean water, and aesthetic vistas, so wood has become the dominant value. There is a better understanding now of how management plans affect that range of values, so an acceptable optimal solution can be agreed upon. He is positive that communicating the balance to the public will lead to consensus.
Landscape luxury (1.30.47)
Daniel believes that once you know your goal, tools are available to reach it. He explains this using the example of a project in Northern Maine to ensure sustainability. Robert is concerned about the hysteria over forest sustainability in Alberta, even though their forests are much more intact than in Europe or New Zealand. He discusses the challenges in working with different private landowners.
Adaptive management (1.39.12)
Milo sees a passion for conservation and engagement in the current generation of forest professionals. The previous generations have been fibre-centric but the coming generation is reluctant to accept that. They let their love and passion for the forests show. The excitement and desire to do better will help foresters learn emergent skills to operate effectively. Milo and Robert say that foresters are learning along the way, leading to adaptive management.
Agreeing on strategic objectives (1.43.37)
Daniel believes foresters need to communicate better with the public so the green line isn’t a moving target. Robert finds that there are serious issues in public relations and policy, with the public being involved in the philosophical asks but not at the tactical level of execution. “If we can somehow find a way to elevate the public input at a strategic level, a lot of this conflict, I think, can be resolved”, he signs off.
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