🚀 go-pugleaf

I've never said that there are no problems with the way forestry 
is done in BC.  I have plenty.  I'm not paid by anyone
to write anything here.  I'm not a Patrick Moore clone
(I agree with plenty of things Moore says, but I recognize that
Moore is fundamentally dishonest as he will only state
what is acceptable to the BIG PLAYERS in the forest industry).

No-one ever asked, but here's a partial list of my problems with the way
forestry is done in BC (in no particular order).

* In my experience the biggest violator of the Forest Practices Code is 
the Ministry of Forests.  They have jurisdiction over much of BC's forest 
land, and there is no-one there to police them.

* The two-facedness of major licencees regarding the FPC.  They go to the 
US
or Europe and proclaim that we have the best forestry regulations in the 
world, while at home they are busy whining about how they can't handle 
them.

* Clearcutting in old-growth rainforest:  I believe that disturbance 
caused
by forestry should at least attempt to mimic natural disturbance.  On the
wet coast that means a drastic reduction in the maximum size of clearcuts
(I have a max size, if anyone wants to ask).

* Tenure reform: Tree Farm Licences are dinosaurs and should be done away 
with immediately.  The reason why so many of the big licencees are 
whining about not being able to make any money is due to the fact that 
they are bloated and inefficient. _Not_ because stumpage is too high, but 
because they've been given replaceable tenure.  All timber sales in BC 
should be auctioned to the highest bidder.

* Tenure reform 2: The major reasons for US NAFTA complaints about BC 
lumber
are related to the way we cosset our big licencees.  Under the SLA many 
small 
labour intensive companies (which do have to submit competitive bids for 
their timber) couldn't get any US quota at all.  They weren't invited to 
the
table in the first place.  Canada, BC, and the major licencees were the 
only guys at the table with the American protectionists.

* Rotation projections for high elevation logging in the BC interior are 
a
joke.  The AAC is being based on projections that trees which took 200 
years to reach maturity will be replaced by trees that'll grow up in half 
that time.  We are gonna need global warming in a hurry for that to 
happen. 

* Too many infractions regarding streamside buffer FPC regs.  A few years 
ago
the Sierra Legal Defense Fund produced a study indicating that logging 
operations were in many cases ignoring the regs.  The study produced a 
range of shock, disbelief, and denial at the ABCPF convention in Kelowna.  
But the work of the SLDF is generally not put to ridicule in the forest 
industry.

* Overzealous fire protection.  If the fire is caused by lightning, and 
is not threatening forest development plan lands, or if it's in a park, 
let it burn! We don't believe in Smokey Bear anymore!

*Gentrification in the forest industry, and especially in the BCFS.  
A huge number of these old professionals went to school when forestry was 

simply about logistics and economics.  Both in private industry and 
especially in BCFS, the bosses have a 1960's and 1970's mentality.

In the BCFS enormous numbers of technical staff are in their late 40's or 
older. Many of them walked in off the street as high school grads.

Central point being that these people often have no clue how to implement 
modern forestry practices.

* Idiotic WCB rules.  You can't, under WCB regs, leave 'wildlife trees' 
in 
your cutblock.  Because (eg) they might suddenly fall over on somebody 
planting trees.
 
* Finally, I'm scared that Campbell will increase AAC's around the 
province
in order to increase his revenue stream.  The other day Pope & Talbot
was calling for an increase in their allotment.  It has been accepted for 
decades that as we approach 'falldown' (ie the time when we begin to 
harvest the majority of our timber from planted forest rather than from 
the old stuff) the best thing to do is to approach this gradually.  This 
means by slowly lowering the AAC, by practicing more intensive forestry, 
and by planting NSR lands.  There is no excuse for any increase in any 
AAC, but my guess is that you will see this in the next year.

E.Schild
haffabee@usa.net