124- Logging Jasper with David Argument, Landon Shepherd, Kari Stuart-Smith and Shelley Tamelin

That’s right, logging Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. Blasphemy you say? We have to protect the resource! We have to keep it “pristine”, “untouched”, “wild”! Well…you are not alone in that thought. However, we are now realizing that maybe “letting nature take care of itself” is not the best strategy. Time to think outside the box. Jasper had a problem, they took a risk, and a lot of people learned a lot of neat things.

In this episode, four members of the operational team who worked on logging operations in Jasper National Park share their stories.

Resources

David Argument

Kari Stuart-Smith

Shelley Tamelin

Canfor

Sponsors

West Fraser

GreenLink Forestry Inc.

Damaged Timber

Forest Proud

Giveaway

Enter YourForest10 at checkout at the Damaged Timber store for a 10% discount!

Quotes

17.11 - 17.24: “While we want to restore ecological integrity and meet our mandate, at the same time, we have to make sure that we don’t put people at risk and that’s our number one priority… making sure that everybody is okay.”

1.14.49 - 1.14.57: ”The more collaboration and… open and honest work that you can do with people upfront, the better off the project’s going to be.”

Takeaways

Then and now (04.56)

David is the Resource Conservation Manager at Jasper National Park, responsible for wildfire, risk, fire and natural resource management programs. He returned to a career here 5 years ago, at the peak of the pine beetle outbreak which impacted 230,000 hectares of pine forest in the valley bottom throughout Jasper. He speaks of the change in perspective from putting fires out in the early 1900s to shifting to Indigenous fire management and how fire protects the forest.

Reducing fire risk (07.11)

David notes that Jasper became an even-aged monoculture due to some management changes, which made it susceptible to the pine beetle epidemic. Considering the dry weather conditions and the people who live around the 100-year-old pine forest and the other landscapes adjacent to it, using fire as a tool was too risky an option. They began considering removing the fuel load from the landscape mechanically to reduce fire risk in the community.

Protecting the community (11.34)

David mentions that logging in a national park has become more common to deal with fire risks in the community. Landon, the Fire and Vegetation Specialist at Jasper National Park, recounts the history of logging in Jasper National Park. He emphasizes the restorative effects of fire on the landscape as a habitat renewal tool and to increase its resiliency, which mechanical efforts can only attempt to emulate.

Risk and reward (15.33)

Landon speaks about how they deliberated the balance of fire risk against that of mechanical removal of fuel, and the cost of hope with the number of people involved surrounding the park. Learning lessons from other fire events and acknowledging the discomfort of logging in a national park, they decided to go ahead with this approach to address the elevated threat in the interim. They wanted to be mindful of the partners they chose for this process to get results.

The best option (19.08)

David shares how he came to terms with logging a park when he considered himself as a protector of the environment. The smoky dry summer of 2018 was a turning point within the community to drive change and helped shift the perspective to embrace logging as the most reasonable option to enable the landscape to continue performing its ecological functions. Landon explains how bringing fire back to the landscape was a big goal of the fuel reduction. 

Doing right by the people (25.43)

David highlights that post logging, the smoke has cleared from Jasper but it has brought other concerns of bear attacks and other management issues. They wanted the logging to be at the lowest cost to the public, so they used the value of the wood logged to cover the cost of the project. This made the contracting process complicated, but Landon shares that they shortlisted 3 companies for their capacity and capability, and picked Canfor for their ecological focus.

The right people for the job (32.19)

Kari, Manager, Biodiversity and Wildlife at Canfor for the woodland operations in BC and Alberta, was informed by an excited staff member of the opportunity. The project would have been profitable for them for the wood, but they also knew they had the right equipment and experience from working on different projects with different organizations. Kari has extensive experience and education in ecology and sustainable forest management.

The top two objectives (37.59)

Kari identified the project as having two objectives - primarily to reduce the canopy fuel density to reduce the risk of severe wildfire and secondarily to maintain ecological integrity, but David and Landon gave both objectives equal importance. Canfor began making that mind-shift to accommodate the specific requirements of Jasper National Park and to minimize soil and ground vegetation disturbance.

Wins and challenges (40.29)

Kari describes the equipment, season and process used which protected the ground from disturbance. Clearing the debris after logging was important since it could create a fire hazard, and those were collected in specific piles to burn those and reduce fuel load. Due to the snow and delays in clean up, Canfor and Jasper National Park worked closely to address the risk of fuel build-up.

Protection and forestry (44.20)

David explains that they have a set of environmental standards to minimize ground disturbance but learned that having a professional forester balance those in order to achieve the goal is important. For Jasper National Park and Canfor, arriving at a common point of view and language was a necessary undertaking to achieve goals in time, especially since the area they were working on was used heavily by the public. They appreciated Canfor’s tools and approach.

Finding the balance (55.45)

Landon comments that ground disturbance can be prevented from the beginning of a process to help land recover well. Those involved with this project wanted to leave a good legacy, to have the soil be as unaffected as possible while logging. Canfor suggested some procedures in order to achieve the objectives and maintain ecological balance. Establishing a level of trust between Canfor and Jasper National Park helped both parties work well together to meet those goals.

The needed know-how (1.02.18)

Shelley, Project Manager with Parks Canada, has worked for many years as a professional forester in BC, and has recently been working with David and Landon at Jasper National Park on some projects. She viewed the logging project as a good fit for her to take on, given her experience navigating the complexities of contractual agreements and speaking the loggers’ language.

Finding a way out (1.06.35)

Kari shares some challenges Canfor ran into with the environmental officers but appreciated Shelley’s help as she came on to course-correct through those situations. Kari learned to focus on the objectives and be flexible with the methods. Shelley affirms that she also believes in the non-prescriptive approach with loggers so new possibilities can show up for both ecological and economical sustainability to be achieved.

The memories etched onto the land (1.10.45)

Landon and Kari narrate the process of appraising the debris piles and vegetation damage. Kari also talks about interacting with the people at the project site, listening to their values and hopes for the landscape, and recognizing that those are different in different cultures and languages. Different parts of the landscape are meaningful to different people, and balancing that with the economics of the task is challenging, Kari acknowledges, sharing how they worked through it.

The path forward (1.18.56)

Shelley discusses future projects she will be working on with David and Landon, and the lessons learned from past projects that are being incorporated for the ones ahead. David emphasizes that the logging was done to bring fire back safely. Some areas of Jasper National Park are marked for Indigenous partners to use for ceremonies and gatherings. He worked with Indigenous contractors to reduce fire risk in the area, as part of a continuing conversation to bring cultural burning back on the land.

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