Letter to the Executive Director of OWC:
(Editor's note: We encourage you to send in point-of-view letters. We'd love to hear from you)
Dear Shannon
Thank you for your comment on my recent guest blog posting on this topic. In it, you posed the above question. But the real question is this: Best for whom? Best for Spray Lake Sawmills? Best for timber production, or best for a comprehensive list of other values?
Thank you for your comment on my recent guest blog posting on this topic. In it, you posed the above question. But the real question is this: Best for whom? Best for Spray Lake Sawmills? Best for timber production, or best for a comprehensive list of other values?
What's best for society as a whole? What's best for headwaters integrity? What's best for grizzly bears and AB's native trout?
What does the populace want? Interestingly, recent opinion polls provide guiding insight, and the people of AB have expressed profound dissatisfaction with current timber harvest practices.
The world's forests can be divided into those that offer an economic capacity for timber harvest and those that don't. Here in southwestern AB, I suggest that even our most productive—in terms of economic viability—"low elevation," valley-bottom forests cost society more to maintain than the resultant timber crop is worth.
Contemplate this: What does it cost society to manage a tree crop for a full century, attempting to protect it from fire and insects? Also, what might it cost, in 100 years, to harvest a tree planted today? And what might climate change do to alter yesterday's anticipated outcome?
Managing southwestern AB's cold, dry, high-elevation forests as a merchantable timber crop appears to be a social welfare program, one that benefits one small industry—and a cadre of government employees—at the expense of society as a whole.
The salient question, I believe, is whether this forest is being managed for, and within, society's best interest, and within a vision that's societally supported.
The United States Forest Service (USFS), back in the '70s, began to involve the populace in its forest management plans, and it did this even within forests that were among the world's most productive, most valuable timberlands. The result: wholesale change in the way these forests were managed. Today, the USFS is comprised of scientists representing a broad-spectrum of disciplines. It works closely with universities, it's involved in cutting-edge research projects. Its goal: serve society's complex, multifaceted wishes while protecting the ecological integrity of the resource.
Here in southwestern AB, society continues to issue dissenting "votes" via its public rants against forest harvest plans, but it's never been allowed to alter government-issued timber harvest prescriptions. The result: A decades-old forest harvest model continues to be rammed down society's throat.
Headwaters ideal: Society articulates its wishes, and those entrusted with headwaters management, working with the best available science, deliver.
The government, currently assigned with the management of this province's headwaters landscape, has not demonstrated an ability to serve the populace's articulated wishes, nor protect the ecological integrity of southwestern AB's forested landscapes.
I believe AB's public lands should be managed by a continually rotating, multidisciplinary team of university scientists working to deliver on a mandate prescribed by the people of Alberta.
Comments from SLS:
ReplyDeleteThe wood products industry in Alberta is the third largest industry in the province. The industry is sustainable and renewable and is vitally important for sustaining Alberta families and communities. Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) products are made by Albertans and are sold solely within Western Canada. SLS believes communities benefit, due to job creation (manufacturing jobs are scarce in Canada), company and employee related spending (helping diversify and sustain the economy at large) and tax base contributions. Society as a whole also benefits in terms of maintaining forest health and biodiversity, reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires that can negatively impact municipal drinking water, air quality and important wildlife habitat.
Thanks
Jason Mogilefsky, B.Sc., RPF
Environment and Safety Manager- Woodlands
Spray Lake Sawmills
305 Griffin Road W. Cochrane, Alberta T4C 2C4
Office: (403) 851-3338 Cell: (403) 540-0325 Fax: (403) 932-6675
Email: Jason.mogilefsky@spraylakesawmills.com
Website: www.spraylakesawmills.com
Thank you for sharing Jason! Jobs and forest management are certainly important; people tend to disagree on the details of how that looks on the ground. And it is difficult to strike the right balance between our needs - economic, environmental and social-cultural. OWC believes we can find that balance by working together. And kudos to SLS for participating on our Headwaters Action Plan Steering Committee! It is encouraging to see so many people willing to help implement the plan!
Delete(Editor's note: ^ ^ ^ This was a response from OWC's Executive Director, Shannon Frank.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your perspective? )