Inland Rainforest Why Are We Turning Thousandyearold Cedars into Garden Mulch - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Title: Inland Rainforest Why Are We Turning Thousandyearold Cedars into Garden Mulch


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Inland RainforestWhy Are We Turning
Thousand-year-old Cedars into Garden Mulch?

• David J. Connell, PhD
• Environmental Planning
• University of Northern British Columbia
• connell_at_unbc.ca

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Photo David Connell
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Photo David Connell
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Why?
Source www.trccedar.com
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What and where isthe inland rainforest?
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The Interior Cedar Hemlock forests near Prince
George are globally unique. They contain cedar
trees in excess of 1500 years old, rare plant
species and endangered caribou. Indeed there
are few forests in the world that parallel its
biodiversity value. Within this unique area,
there are stands of trees that are considered
by science as global hotspots for biodiversity.
Integrated Land Management Bureau (2008) Guidance
and Technical Background Information for
Biodiversity Management in the Interior Cedar
Hemlock Zone within the Prince George Land and
Resource Management Plan Area
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The Interior Cedar Hemlock forests near Prince
George are globally unique. They contain cedar
trees in excess of 1500 years old, rare plant
species and endangered caribou. Indeed there
are few forests in the world that parallel its
biodiversity value. Within this unique area,
there are stands of trees that are considered
by science as global hotspots for biodiversity.
Integrated Land Management Bureau (2008) Guidance
and Technical Background Information for
Biodiversity Management in the Interior Cedar
Hemlock Zone within the Prince George Land and
Resource Management Plan Area
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The Interior Cedar Hemlock forests near Prince
George are globally unique. They contain cedar
trees in excess of 1500 years old, rare plant
species and endangered caribou. Indeed there
are few forests in the world that parallel its
biodiversity value. Within this unique area,
there are stands of trees that are considered
by science as global hotspots for biodiversity.
Integrated Land Management Bureau (2008) Guidance
and Technical Background Information for
Biodiversity Management in the Interior Cedar
Hemlock Zone within the Prince George Land and
Resource Management Plan Area
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The Interior Cedar Hemlock forests near Prince
George are globally unique. They contain cedar
trees in excess of 1500 years old, rare plant
species and endangered caribou. Indeed there
are few forests in the world that parallel its
biodiversity value. Within this unique area,
there are stands of trees that are considered
by science as global hotspots for biodiversity.
Integrated Land Management Bureau (2008) Guidance
and Technical Background Information for
Biodiversity Management in the Interior Cedar
Hemlock Zone within the Prince George Land and
Resource Management Plan Area
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The Interior Cedar Hemlock forests near Prince
George are globally unique. They contain cedar
trees in excess of 1500 years old, rare plant
species and endangered caribou. Indeed there
are few forests in the world that parallel its
biodiversity value. Within this unique area,
there are stands of trees that are considered
by science as global hotspots for biodiversity.
Integrated Land Management Bureau (2008) Guidance
and Technical Background Information for
Biodiversity Management in the Interior Cedar
Hemlock Zone within the Prince George Land and
Resource Management Plan Area
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Source www.trccedar.com
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Source http//wetbelt.unbc.ca/current-map.htm
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Distribution of 'wet' and 'dry' site series
conditions (Radies 2007)
Source http//wetbelt.unbc.ca/featured-03.htm
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Wet toe slope Low level of natural disturbances
Photo Sari Jaakola
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Photo Sari Jaakola
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Photo David Connell
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Ancient forestdiscovered
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Historical context

• First Nations
• Kopas, Cliff 1976. Packhorses to the Pacific
• Cliff and Ruth Kopas completed at four-month,
  1,500 kilometre journey from Alberta to the
  Pacific, which included a trek along the Goat
  River trail through the inland rainforest

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• It was dusk in the tall forest. Huge cedar
  trees, six feet in diameter, rose hundreds of
  feet in the air and while these immense columns
  were limbless for many feet from the ground,
  their upper foliage joined to shut out the sky
  and much of the light. About six feet from the
  ground a waxy layer of leaves on tall stems
  created a carpet from which arose sprigs of
  bright red berries. The addition of an
  occasional clump of symmetrically spreading ferns
  completed a picture of tremendous beauty. It
  could have been a carving, or a painting, for
  apart from us, there was no sound or motion.

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• But the beauty was marred by the fact that these
  waxy green plants were Devils Club with sharp
  spines on every inch of the stems on the
  underpart of every leaf, even on the roots
  wherever they were exposed. So cruel were these
  that the horses could not be forced against them.
  
• Several of the trees had fallen across the trail
  in such places as to make climbing around them
  impossible. Previous travellers had built ramps
  on either side of the six-foot obstructions by
  laying fallen limbs and lesser trees parallel
  with the trunks, enabling horses to scramble over
  them. From the top of these we could look in so
  far that the brown trunks formed a line of
  phantoms against further vision.

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• Surely its the Devils Cathedral, murmured
  Ruth.
• We built two sets of ramps against new-fallen
  trunks, ascended out of this eerie forest and
  went down a canyon on a wall of blue clay

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New perspectiveecological significance

• We emphasize that the inland rain forests of
  British Columbia are unique in the world (Goward
  and Spribille 2005, p. 1216)

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Inland RainforestWhy Are We Turning
Thousand-year-old Cedars into Garden Mulch?
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Timber products
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Billy Oliver, West Twin Creek
Source The Canadian Log House (1975)
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Garnet Oliver
Source The Canadian Log House (1975)
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Loading truck
Source Sharon (Oliver) Robinson
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(No Transcript)
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Why cedar?

• Natural beauty
• Requires no painting or any other maintenance
• Environmentally friendly biodegradable, made
  from a renewable resource
• Stability and durability make it one of the
  world's most unique softwood species
• Contains natural oils that act as preservatives,
  to help the wood resist insect attack and decay

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Photo Sari Jaakola
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Photo Sari Jaakola
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Photo Sari Jaakola
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TRC Cedar, McBride, BC

• Operated under FL A52524 since July 1996
• 40,000m3/year for five years
• FL A61216 issued January 1, 2000
• 15-year term for twice the volume (80,000 m3/yr)
• Allow mill to add a second shift and provide a
  wood supply further into the future
• In August 2000, TRC requested more green wood,
  and less salvage from severely and
  moderately-damaged stands
• Overall, 48 percent of the expected volume was
  proposed to come from moderately and
  severely-damaged stands
• Approved balanced the salvage objective with
  TRCs other objectives of maintaining local
  employment opportunities and encouraging
  value-added manufacturing of cedar

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Timber values (ILMB)
ILMB 2008. Guidance and Technical Background
Information for Biodiversity Management in the
Interior Cedar Hemlock Zone within the Prince
George Land and Resource Management Plan Area
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Complaints to Forest Practices Board

• First complaint filed in January 2001.
• Among other concerns, opposed to harvesting green
  wood under a licence that was granted to salvage
  dead wood.
• This complaint lead to the first round of OGMAs.

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Complaints to Forest Practices Board

• Second complaint filed April 20, 2007
• Approved cutblocks and harvesting practices did
  not address governments biodiversity objectives.
  
• Concerns about impacts of approved harvesting on
  the Driscoll Ridge hiking trail and the Ancient
  Forest hiking trail
• The complainants requested that government
• Spatially define OGMAs to secure the biodiversity
  of the interior cedar-hemlock rainforest
• Consider all approved cutblocks as part of this
  process
• Place a moratorium on logging in all known
  antique cedar stands

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Forest Practices Board response to second
complaint

• The licensees cutblocks were exempted from the
  requirements of the 2004 Biodiversity Order
• There is a gap in the ability to manage for, and
  maintain, old growth values because governments
  old forest targets can currently be met without
  conserving any forest older than 140 years.
• Biodiversity targets need to be representative of
  the ecosystem but the current targets are not
  refined enough to capture the richest
  biodiversity values in the ICH
• The Board found
• There is sufficient information to warrant
  spatially locating OGMAs
• Rare biological values are jeopardized and
  possibly at risk.

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Good News for the Ancient Forest

• February, 2008
• TRC officially cancelled plans for harvesting
  Block 486

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Socio-economic benefits of non-timber uses of
the ancient cedars

• Timber
• Non-timber forest products
• Recreation
• Tourism
• Conservation

• Cultural and spiritual
• Trapping, hunting
• Research
• Promotion

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Conservation for biological diversity
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Conservation focal species
Source Lance Craighead (2004)
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Conservation Corridor
Source Save The Cedar League
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ILMB Guidance reportBiodiversity

• Biodiversity should be maintained at multiple
  spatial and temporal scales
• A failure to accommodate biodiversity in planning
  can diminish the capacity of forests to continue
  providing ecological services
• The production of timber, of the same quality and
  quantity in perpetuity

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ILMB Guidance reportScope

• ILMB would like to stress at the outset that
  thispaper is intended as guidance only and is
  not legally binding
• Identifies areas of high and medium biodiversity
  value that are outside Old Growth Management
  Areas and parks.
• The environmental and social risks of current
  biodiversity management enactments are significant

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ILMB Guidance reportRecommendations

• May require a spatial approach to management.
• Recommends the following strategies
• Prioritize retention of areas identified as High
  Biodiversity Value
• If all of the High Biodiversity Area is retained,
  prioritize Medium Biodiversity Value areas for
  retention

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Guidance Biodiversity Management
ILMB 2008 Guidance Report
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Forest Practices Board - commentary

• Non-binding guidance
• Taking such an approach may not be effective
  because without identification or assessment of
  endangered plant communities and rare species,
  and the incorporation of that information into
  designated OGMAs, there is no legal constraint on
  forest practices to balance timber and non-timber
  resources.

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Conservationfor climate change(carbon
sequestration)
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Old-growth forests are more valuable as carbon
sinks

• Sebastiaan Luyssaert, University of Antwerp
• "Old-growth forests accumulate carbon for
  centuries and contain large quantities of it,"
  the authors write. "We expect, however, that much
  of this carbon, even soil carbon, will move back
  to the atmosphere if these forests are
  disturbed."
• The authors end by arguing for the inclusion of
  old-growth forests in climate change mitigation
  programs

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Old-growth forests are more valuable as carbon
sinks

• Duncan Knowler, Simon Fraser University
• In almost every scenario, researchers say they
  found the value of the carbon captured and stored
  by the trees far outweighed the value of the
  lumber harvested from the logs.

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Research
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Recent research funding

• Estimated total (since 2002) 570,000
• Sustainable Forest Management Network
• Disturbance Ecology in the Inland Rainforest 
• Impacts of Partial cutting logging 
• Landscape level lichen biodiversity 
• Inland Rainforest Conservation Biology Book
• Lichen biodiversity in deciduous wetland swales 
• Carbon cycling in wetbelt forests
• Wildlife dependence
• Robson Valley Rainforest Conservation Plan and
  Ecoguide Publication
• A Rainforest Corridor For Sustainable Communities
  of Robson Valley 
• Socio-economic Impacts of Non-timber Uses

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Tourism and recreation
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Ancient Forest Trailofficially opened on June 4,
2006
Photo H. Perkins
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Ancient Forest Trail
David Connell 2008
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(No Transcript)
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Ancient Forest Trail (Dome Creek)
Source www.ancientcedar.ca
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Photo David Connell
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Photo David Connell
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Trail maintenance by Caledonia Rambler volunteers
Photos David Connell
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Trail maintenance by Caledonia Rambler volunteers
Photos David Connell
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Trail maintenance by Caledonia Rambler volunteers
Photos David Connell
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Photo David Connell
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Photo David Connell
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Photo David Connell
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Off-trail degradation
Photo David Connell
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Photo David Connell
Carson Electronics Valemount, BC
Sourece www.carsonelectronics.ca
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Trail use statistics

• Visitors
• 4,900 Summer 2008 (5/27/08-9/1/08)
• 1,611 Fall 2008 (9/2/08-10/5/08)
• 6,511 Total 2008 (5/27/08-10/5/08)
• Assumptions
• 25 double counted
• 10 missed (children)
• Daily average 48.6
• Two to three times higher on a weekend day

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Trail count daily averages (5/27/08-9/15/08)
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Trail count Cumulative total (5/27/08-9/15/08)
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Who is using the Trail?Ancient Forest Trail
Visitors Book

• Installed June 2, 2008
• Summary August 28, 2008
• People from eight provinces, 12 states, Germany,
  Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain,
  Austria and Japan

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Who is using the Trail?On-site surveys
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Who is using the Trail?On-site surveys
Prince George 61
Alberta 12
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Who is using the Trail?On-site surveys
Other 15
Tourist 27
Recreation 58
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Non-use values

• ILMB non-use values are significantly greater
  than use-values in the long term

ILMB 2008. Guidance and Technical Background
Information for Biodiversity Management in the
Interior Cedar Hemlock Zone within the Prince
George Land and Resource Management Plan Area
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Inland RainforestWhy Are We Turning
Thousand-year-old Cedars into Garden Mulch?
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Photo David Connell