Remember when you were in high school? A big part of learning was reading. Books, so many books. History, ideas, theories—all communicated through words and images on paper.
Maybe you were a straight-A student who devoured textbooks, wore out a pathway to the library and couldn’t wait for your next homework assignment.
Maybe you were less enthusiastic about book learning, spent more time navel gazing and expressed your creativity through the wild excuses you conjured to explain why your homework wasn’t done.
Regardless of where you landed on the spectrum of classroom participation, every now and again, an opportunity arose that engaged everyone.
Yes. You guessed it, the ever-popular field trip.
The rare moment when you, and your classmates, buoyed by the promise of somewhere new, piled onto a yellow school bus and bounced your way to a never-before-visited destination.
Forests, First Nations, marine biology, whatever the subject, it suddenly came alive. The abstract world of textbooks brought to life through the tactile experience of sensing, feeling, seeing, real things in real life.
It turns out, of all the communication tools PFLA has at our disposal—events, presentations, networking, Facebook, Twitter, newsletters, website, blog posts, briefings—the most valuable communication tool we have is the ever-popular, time-tested field trip.
Taking key audiences—elected officials, government staff, regulatory agencies, media folks, interested community members—into the woods and showing them, firsthand, how we manage our private forest land is the most effective form of communication we’ve come across yet.
“Show and Tell Forest Tours”, as we like to call them, are a staple of the PFLA communications program.
Most recently, forestry experts from Island Timberlands and TimberWest took the Private Forest Managed Land Council on a tour of their Shawnigan and Koksilah (respectively) operating areas. This latest tour focused on our larger, active owners. We’re already planning our next tour to highlight one of our smaller forest owners.
Domenico Iannidinardo (Manager of Resource and Environment Integration—TimberWest) and Morgan Kennah (Manager of Sustainable Timberlands and Community Affairs—Island Timberlands) hand out information packages.
Private Managed Forest Land Council members study information used in the assessment, planning, and implementation of forest management activities. Detailed data marks tree height values, forest retention areas, fish bearing streams, riparian zones, biodiversity, and terrain hazard stability.
Ken Dodd (RPF), Island Timberland's field planner, and Morgan Kennah, explain some of the tools and processes used in riparian management and planning practices.
Domenico Iannidinardo, Manager of Resource and Environment Integration (TimberWest), describes the planning and implementation process for designing and installing this permanent bridge structure built in 2005.
This is the happy stream the bridge mentioned above crosses.
We can’t emphasize enough what a valuable tool these field trips are in helping people understand our commitment to the stewardship of BC’s private forests.
If you’re a managed forest owner interested in hosting a tour, or if you’re a stakeholder interested in visiting a managed forest, let us know. We’d love to have you participate. Leave us a comment here, give us a call or send us an email.
Each year PFLA recognizes a managed forest owner for outstanding commitment to, and demonstration of, private forest stewardship in British Columbia. The award acknowledges, and celebrates, the exemplary contributions that individual forest owners make to overall forest stewardship excellence in the province.
This year’s recipient will be presented with the prestigious award at the PFLA 2012 AGM (June 20-21, 2012 in stunning Langford, BC — more details to follow).
Please submit nominations to info@pfla.bc.ca before June 1st, 2012. Include the name of the nominee, and a brief description illustrating why they’d make an excellent recipient of the Private Forest Stewardship Award.
The short video below shows last year’s recipient, and host of the 2011 PFLA forest field tour, Ken Robertson, at work in his managed forest (Van Isle Forest) near Victoria, BC.
Here it is: another short, snappy video in a series of edited footage from a recent trip to a private managed forest on southern Vancouver Island.
The video above shows Joey, a technician in this orchestra of well-trained harvesting engineers, operating yet another instrument.
First, Dale impressed us with his harvester/processor skills. Then, we saw Bill gracefully maneuvering a feller buncher. After that, Grant showed us around a cable harvesting system, and we got to see Dale (there’s two of them) work magic with a grapple yarder.
Last, but not least, Joey demonstrates the art of stacking logs onto trucks with a loader (also known as a juicer).
It’s worth mentioning again: all the machines these guys operate are built, by Madill, right here on Vancouver Island, and have been since Sam Madill founded the company in 1911.
The logs you see in the video are headed for TimberWest’s Shoal Island log sort.
Thanks to Dave Barker and the workers from Malloch Logging for showing us around.
Visit the PFLA Facebook page to see more photos of Joey operating the loader.
BC log exports was a hot topic last week – in the legislature, in the newspapers and in the spirited conversations of workers, families and communities who depend on the forest industry for their livelihoods.
Like most hot topics, the log export debate is often riddled with misinformation, rhetoric and assumptions. Here at the PFLA blog, we represent people who directly benefit from private forestry operations. We’d like to take a few moments to clear things up from our perspective.
6 Basic Facts Everyone Should Know About Log Exports in BC
1. Log exports are essential to private forestry.
Without access to log export markets, none of the 3,000-plus people directly employed in the stewardship of BC’s coastal private managed forest land would be working today.
2. A surplus of timber is available to sawmills, pulp mills and value-added manufacturers on the BC coast.
We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: there is no log shortage. In fact, there’s a surplus of logs. Here’s the math:
Timber available for harvest and processing = 24 million cubic meters
Domestic processing capacity = 16 million cubic meters
The difference = 8 million cubic meters of surplus logs
3. Domestic sawmills need to take responsibility for their own “supply” problems.
There are plenty of logs available on the BC coast. If domestic sawmills want to ensure an adequate supply of logs, there are a number of ways to do it:
Offer competitive log prices.
Fully harvest public land timber quotas.
Buy logs on the open market from First Nations, market loggers, community forests, woodlot licences and BC Timber Sales (BCTS) operators.
Bid directly for timber available through BCTS timber sales.
4. Log prices are the issue, not log shortages.
BC has the world’s lowest log prices. Domestic sawmills offer prices lower than production costs. The result: No incentive to produce and sell logs to domestic sawmills. Here’s some more math:
Cost per cubic meter to produce a log from coastal public lands = $78
Typical log price offered (Teal Jones) = $60
Recent low-ball log price offer = $43
Average price of the same logs sold to export customers = $90
5. Log exports are NOT the cause of mill closures and job losses.
In fact, without log exports domestic mills wouldn’t have any timber at all. There would be no forest stewardship and no log production. The ability to sell some logs at a premium (log exports) is the only reason it’s economically viable to sell other logs, at artificially low prices, to domestic mills. Jobs, economic activity, crown land stumpage and tax revenues all grind to a halt without log exports.
6. There’s no such thing as a raw log.
Manufactured logs are no different than any other product – lumber, pulp, poles, veneer – they are but one in a mix of many forest products. A product, that at this point in time, plays an essential role in keeping the boat of BC forest stewardship afloat.
Here it is.The long-awaited third clip in our series of short, snappy edited videos from footage of a recent trip (thanks to Dave Barker) to a private managed forest on southern Vancouver Island.
First, we saw single-tree selection harvesting in action. Then, we saw Dale at work in a harvester-processor. And now, we have front row seats for a small-patch clear-cut operation using a cable harvesting system (grapple yarder + mobile backspar). Check out the video below!
Thanks to Dale and Grant from Malloch Logging for showing us around. Visit the PFLA Facebook page to see related photos of Dale and Grant hard at work.
Our recent trip to a managed forest on southern Vancouver Island illustrated just how important a carefully implemented harvesting operation is to a vigorously regenerating forest.
The silvicultural system on the property we visited combines single-tree selection with small patch clear-cut harvesting to strike a productive balance between profitability and the conservation values important to the forest owner.
Whatever objectives you have for your forest land, developing a well-thought-out harvesting plan is a key component of any successful forest management strategy. With this in mind, we’ve put together some harvesting BMP highlights from our trusted resource The Handbook of Best Management Practices for Private Forest Land in British Columbia.
Timber Harvesting
Harvesting trees is the first phase of healthy forest renewal. Carefully managed harvesting operations provide ideal conditions for vigorous regeneration. Many species, both naturally regenerated and planted seedlings, benefit from disturbed mineral soil and direct sunlight.
Planning Your Harvesting Operation
Executing an environmentally responsible and economically efficient timber harvest operation, especially one near or in sensitive areas, requires a thorough understanding of the land, the trees, the capabilities of the timber harvesting equipment, and the markets for timber products.
A few suggestions for getting started:
Identify stream crossing locations where impact to streams is likely to be minimal.
Carefully plan the harvest operation to minimize the number of crossings of lower risk streams required by machines.
Use an operational map to identify sensitive areas: riparian zones, ephemeral streams, unstable slopes and erosive soils.
Once identified, plan appropriate harvesting systems for these areas. Some situations may require special harvesting equipment and/or techniques.
Harvesting Best Management Practices (BMPs)
Ensure treatment area boundaries are clearly understood and/or marked.
Consider cable or aerial yarding systems to protect steep, sensitive sites such as stream banks, gully walls and potentially unstable terrain. When in doubt, consult a professional engineer or geoscientist.
Employ directional falling and yarding techniques to protect riparian zones.
Manage ground disturbance caused by ground-based machinery to meet the management requirements of relevant legislation (particularly when crossing gullies or sensitive sites).
Take precautions to minimize excessive rutting in easily disturbed soils, consider repairing ruts with the machine before leaving the site.
Monitor streams. Carefully remove inadvertently introduced harvesting waste and divert residue from streams to ensure the flow of water through drainage structures.
Protect and maintain all drainage structures concurrent with harvesting activities or as dictated by site conditions.
Consider weather conditions when planning harvesting activities.
Use locally appropriate, alternative techniques to minimize rutting and soil compaction, and to manage natural drainage patterns; for example:
defer harvesting until freeze-up;
apply debris mats on skid trails;
use high flotation equipment;
concentrate logs in felling and forwarding operations to minimize the number of skid trails;
employ track support structures for tracked equipment machines.
Harvesting Actions to Avoid:
Locating log decks in sensitive areas.
Removing culverts from stream channels following logging when the crossing will be used within ten years.
Using soil fill, either alone or in combination with woody debris fill, for skid trail stream crossings.
Avoid skidding:
on sensitive soils upslope from a stream channel;
straight up and down on steep hillsides if mineral soil is exposed. Where this type of skidding is unavoidable, use BMPs such as water bars and soil stabilization;
across perennial or large intermittent streams, except over an adequately designed and constructed ford, culvert, or bridge;
over small intermittent or ephemeral streams during wet conditions, unless the banks are protected by placing woody material in the water course.
If you have any questions about how best to approach your harvesting operation, or maybe you have a suggestion to add, leave us a comment below.
When opportunity knocks, we answer. That’s why, when Dave Barker invited us to visit a private Managed Forest on southern Vancouver Island, for the rare opportunity to see single-tree selection harvesting, we yanked on our boots, donned our hard hats, grabbed our cameras and leapt at the chance.
Dave’s managed the property since 1979. He knows everything there is to know about it. He says they’re ecologically lucky. The Coastal Western Hemlock zone is wetter and cooler than the Coastal Douglas-fir zone. This means, instead of a pure fir forest, they have a significant, healthy Red Cedar understory. With thinning, the forest will evolve, over the next fifty years, into a mixed fir/cedar stand.
The strategy on the property is to manage for a combination of forestry and recreational use. While fir poles are their focus, they produce close to 40 products – 5 cedar, 2 maple, 2 alder and about 30 fir grades – for 4 different suppliers. All the while, maintaining the wilderness esthetic and conservation values important to the owner.
The silvicultural system they use combines small patch clear-cut and single-tree selection harvesting. We were lucky enough to get a chance to see both operations in action (stay-tuned, small patch clear-cut video coming soon!).
Not only is single-tree selection harvesting a rare event, but using a feller buncher in the process is particularly unusual. Of course, it’s not about the machine, it’s about the operator. In this case, it’s about Bill.
The video above shows the finesse, grace and ease with which Bill maneuvers the feller buncher through the forest. The machine’s gentle tracks have little or no impact on the forest floor and cause minimal soil disturbance.
Like the harvester-processor we saw Dale operating, the feller buncher is made by Madill and built right here on Vancouver Island.
Thanks again to Dave and Bill for showing us around.
Your forest is alive. It grows, adapts and changes over time and seasons. With your forest’s flexibility comes the need to regularly revisit, evaluate and reassess your plans. The new year is an ideal time to take stock and plan ahead for the coming year.
First up: a few words about reforestation. Nathaniel Stoffelsma of Arbutus Grove Nursery talks about their process for ordering and growing seedlings in the video below.
Reforestation Planning
Prior to harvesting, develop a reforestation strategy. You might:
Consider the value of reforestation through natural regeneration of residual and suppressed understory trees;
Improve planting stock and fertilizer to boost survival and yield, and at the same time reduce pest management problems and animal browse;
Protect seedling against damage from pests (deer, rodents) through tree species choice, tree guards, fencing and repellents;
Develop an integrated pest management strategy suitable for the size and intensity of your forestry operation.
Also, be sure to:
Obtain any permits necessary for site preparation and pest management (burning, pesticides, etc.)
If you plan on planting, make sure to order your seedlings ahead of time. Inspect the ordered seedlings prior to lifting and shipment.
Reforestation BMPs
Reforest with trees appropriate for the growing site and management objectives.
If planting, employ good quality seedling stock and ensure good storage and handling.
Take reasonable steps to protect the reforested areas from damage by fire and pests.
Employ remedial measures such as fill planting, brushing and other silviculture techniques as necessary.
If using pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers, follow directions on product labels and relevant regulations.
Isolate fertilizer from watercourses and where appropriate limit on-site quantities to daily application requirements.
Monitor planted areas to ensure trees are growing with sufficient density to achieve a stage free of competition from other plants.
Monitor successfully regenerated areas for forest health.
What do good quality seedlings look like?
Healthy! Without pale or discoloured foliage. No mould.
Large, abundant dormant buds.
Plug and bare-root stock should have a vigorous, fibrous root system.
Good ratio of roots to shoots.
How to store and handle seedlings?
Keep plants moist and cool.
Handle plants carefully (seedling mortality is directly related to rough treatment).
Avoid desiccation – keep plants safe from heat or high winds.
Meet Dale. Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Dale makes his living in B.C.’s forests. That’s right, he works in the woods. Dale harvests trees. He loves what he does and he does it well.
We ran into Dale at his office: a harvester-processor in a mixed stand forest on a piece of private land on Vancouver Island. Dale was happy to show us around. With damp coastal air against our skin and mud under our boots, we jumped at the chance to take a closer look.
The video below shows Dale at work — an impressive display of precision, timing and technique. With each push of a button, Dale makes a decision about the value of the logs he’s processing.
Along with the hum of the diesel engine, you’ll notice (or you will now) that the machine Dale operates, made by Madill, is built right here on Vancouver Island. Sam Madill founded the company in Nanaimo, B.C. in 1911. One hundred years later, Madill machinery is now built by Nicholson Manufacturing in Sidney, B.C.
Thanks to Dale for taking the time to give us a tour. Much appreciated.
What you do is important. Your values, goals, objectives – the things you stand for and the actions you take.
Here at the PFLA blog we stand for responsible stewardship of B.C.’s private forestlands – our actions as forest stewards support government policies that balance environment, community and commerce.
In 1990, the WFPA initiated a major public opinion survey. At the time, the general belief was that private forest landowners were careless with their timber harvests, and causing harm to forests, streams and wildlife. Not true in practice, pollsters believed the public’s negative reaction resulted, in large part, because forest owners weren’t communicating their story.
More than ten years later, public perception has changed. The WFPA spent time and resources letting people know who they are and what they do, and it turns out, Washington voters “like” private forest landowners.
In fact, a 2011 public opinion poll showed:
70% believe private forest landowners protect wildlife habitat on their forestland “very” or “fairly” well.
66% think private forest landowners protect fish habitat in streams “very” or “fairly” well
64% think water quality in streams on private forestland was “very” or “fairly” well protected
Finally, there’s widespread agreement throughout the state among all voter subgroups that habitat and water quality on private forestland was “very” or “fairly” well protected.
Who the WFPA is, and what they do, didn’t change – they just did a better job of letting people know about it.
That’s why PFLA spends time, effort and resources letting the public know who we are, what we stand for and how we do what we do. Intuitively, we knew this was a good idea, but a little evidence never hurt anyone.
