Coast of BC. The best place to grow trees in Canada
ACE: Is it happening? Can it
happen? Should it happen? Some
reflection with case histories
Gordon Weetman
UBC
CSC Feb 2014
CJfR 25 1995 What is the place of ACE on the coast of BC. Today?
The best place to grow trees in Canada
Question
• Silviculture stand tending actions can accelerate
second growth operability, control piece size species
composition and stem quality.
• These actions can thus help cover age class gaps or
increase remaining mature stand harvests or grow
second growth more valuable stands on shorter
rotations
• This is happening on Canada’s only 3 large private
estates(Timberwest ,Island Timber and Irving NB) but
on present high growth rate Crown tenures on the
coast of BC are such standing actions wanted or
feasible?
H Nelson UBC 2013
H. Nelson UBC 2013
Some case histories
• Shelton Cooperative Sustained Yield unit 1948
• Cape Breton Islands tragic loss of mature 1970s
• UBC Forest at Haney since 1950: 1868 and 1933
fire origin stands, “golf course Df plantations and
J.H.G.Smith spacing plots
• Weyerhaeuser US private land age class gap
1970s
• The only 3 large private land estates in Canada:
Irving NB, Timberwest and Island Timber
• Cheakamus Community Forest today
Technical basis for ACE in mature balsam fir. Reduce age to first operability to
balance age classes faster and reduce budworm susceptibility
Moral; protection of growing stock is essential
AAC increased
from 331,00m3
to729,00m3
!970s Loss of forest after ACE granted and the forest not
protected on Cape Breton
ACE granted and operative for Stora Kopperberg’s mill expansion
and job creation by PCT silviculture on cut blocks on Cape Breton
Highlands.
Then the government refused to spray with fenitrothion the
mature balsam fir due to environmentalist pressure(Elizabeth May)
Result huge mortality in mature and treated stands, huge salvage
clear cuts, mill wood supply crisis ,loss of jobs in area of high
unemployment, new 40 year old forest may need spraying as the
spruce budworm is now returning as predicted.
Why did Stora propose ACE?
Who refused to spray?
What actions were taken since?
For.Man Inst Info Report FMR-X-103 1973
Most intensive long term silviculture in Canada
G.Paille 2014 A History of Forestry in Canada FP Innovations
Irving plantation yield curves
Irving Black Brook plantations
Knowledge Exchange and
Technology Extension Program
(KETE)
Sustainable Forest Management
Network
Legacy of the Sustainable
Forest Management Network
Outcomes of Research
Collaborations
Among J.D. Irving, Limited,
University of New Brunswick,
and
Université de Moncton
Second growth on the coast of BC
On Crown Lands ;TFL 2 on islands railroad logged 1889-1910 a
full rotation of naturally regenerated second growth has been
cut.
Inland cutblocks from 1960s onwards not yet operable. Oldest
plantation is 1938 at Campbell River
Any examples of old mature second growth from naturally
disturbed stands? Not many in NDT1 landscape
e.g. 1868 fire on UBC forest above Pit Lake
1908 wind throw origin hemlock Port McNeill
1860s? Tlell fire on QCI
1868 fire origin on UBC forest
1933 fire origin natural regen UBC forest Haney
now CTd leaving best cedar. Cedar poles sell at
150/m3
Next rotation at 50 to 60 years instead of 80 ?
Review and Preliminary Assessment of Second-Growth
Western Redcedar Wood Attributes
Technical Reports
BC Coastal Forest Sector Western Redcedar Initiative
G.R. Middleton B.D. Munro
April 30, 2013
• Depending on growth rate (DBH class),
cumulative wood density exceeded that of
old growth until 60 years or older, indicating
that the structural wood properties of shortrotation redcedar could exceed those of old
growth and improve the wood’s performance
in some end uses.
Lets get serious about growing
cedar
Cheakamous Community Forest at Whistler 20
year gap between 1960s plus regenerated cutovers
and the old mature which many community
people do not want logged.
AAC set at 20,000 m3 where to
cut it? Thin??
Coastal second growth unregulated harvest by government
Timberwest private lands age classes
Second
growth Sitka
on HQ
• Drove out to the Aliford Bay DLS owned by Taan
Forest and saw second growth Sitka
• Spruce from Moresby area being delivered to the
sort. Trees observed were 50-60 years
• old and stand volumes were reported to be
approximately 1200m3 per hectare.
• 2nd growth Sitka Spruce being unloaded at the
Aliford Bay DLS
Options to deal with an age class gap
• Expand/redraw management unit boundaries
to get missing age classes (Gerrymandering)
• PCT /crop plan in young stands to accelerate
operability of net merch. yield curves.
• Grow species which are valuable when small.
• CTs in roaded, accessible young stands with
innovative low cost harvesting
• Partial cuts in operable mature, heli logging,
borrow cut from future
Silviculture and AAC on a TFL
• Assumptions about the effects of silviculture
as used in an AAC determination for TFL 19 in
2011.
• Chief Forester approves. Are they supported
by monitoring across the TFL? Will the funding
be available?
• A possible long term increase in AAC.. Is this
ACE?
WFP TFL 19
A 2011 TSA
wood supply
analysis.
What
assumptions
were made?
Minimum second growth operability
assumptions
USE of SIBEC
Site Indexes used.
What is AAC sensitive to?
AAC Sensitivity analyses adjustments
Impacts; Adjusted AACs is this ACE?
A coastal Net Merchantable Volume Yield Curve
Future Managed Stands within the CWHxm2 Subzone (SIBECfert scenario)
Operable at 40yrs? Tree size? Value?
Classic yield curve shift
T. Erdle New Brunswick talk on ACE Space at 15 cut at 45
Senior BC foresters on QCI naturally regenerated block, harvested 2013 after
equipment abandoned in 1920s
When will the next stand be operable, when should it be?
Harvesting PCT’d Sitka today on QCI at 50-60 years and over
1000m3/ha Steve Lorimer report
Baskerville Timber Supply Planning
requirements
Baskerville 1994
Are there plans like this on the coast of BC?
Alberta relies on the competence and professionalism of regulated forestry
professionals (RFP) to apply sound forestry
principles and practices.
The standard’s focus is to ensure a strong and direct connection between,
• the desired future forest condition and a spatially planned harvest sequence,
and
• predictions of forest growth and yield and actual stand level performance.
Alberta shall consult with each FMA holder to explain how the standard applies
to existing and future FMPs
Ontario Min. Natural Resources.
Treatment of ACE
Note, the benchmark curves do not address all silviculture treatment
possibilities and the OMNR does not currently allow all treatments (such
CT). Consequently, monitoring plots are established on the ground
following these type of treatment (note, however, that CT is expected to
be an improve practice in the near future). In these cases, various yield
assumptions are used, on an interim basis, instead. Dirk also mentioned
that the temporal resolution of the forest planning model is usually at the
decadal level, so when ACE-based treatments reduce the operable age by
less than this threshold, the effects are muted or omitted in the yield
forecasts, and hence the ACE remains unaccounted for. In the long-term
however, Ontario is expected to incorporate stand-level spatial-based
models (e.g., PatchWorks) into the planning process, which will improve
the explicit use of the ACE and better account for its benefits.
P Newton CFS Sault Ste Marie
OMNR treatment of ACE
In summary, Ontario conceptually accepts the yield
increases arising from ACE-based silviculture treatments
indirectly via modeling (the use of the appropriate
benchmark yield curve where applicable) or yield
assumptions and monitoring (if benchmark yield curves
do not exist for a given silviculture treatment). However,
it shy’s away from direct acknowledgement of ACE
increases in its yield forecasts since in many cases, other
policies negate the potential ACE benefits given the
imposition of other constraints (e.g., extending rotation
ages to 100 yr to accommodate forest-level-based
Caribou habitat requirements irrespective of the
silviculture treatments at the stand-level).
P Newton CFS Sault Ste Marie
Economic operability
and harvest availability. Need for PCT/
Im p act o f P iece size on : H arv estin g
co sts an d p rod u ct v alu e
D ata su ggests th e m argin al log piece size on th e coast is
rou gh ly 25 -28 cm depen din g on equ ipm en t
S ou rce: P oten tial fin an cial retu rn s from altern ative silvicu ltu ral presc ription s in B .C . secon d -grow th (H ow ard & T em esgen , 1997)
BCMoF
 Harvest-origin hemlockleading stands have also
reached cutting age (40-60
years) but are currently not
economically operable,
unless other, higher-value
stands can carry the
operating costs
 Economic operability and
early harvest availability
will be a key issue as we
move forward in this period
of constrained landbase
and harvest levels on the
coast.
Weetman’s grumpy views ACE in BC on Crown
Coastal High Yielding Forests
• Nobody designated to be the accountable manager of a
forest unit.
• No Baskerville STEP 3 type of forest management plans
• Future timber values are wildly uncertain
• AAC based on cubic meters, not value
• Under the tenure system there are no incentives for
corporate investment
• Future public funding for silviculture very uncertain
• Timber of lower priority for FLRNO administrators
• Forest Practice Board has no mandate to investigate
“management planning’ only “practice”. Who should?
• Is there not a unique BC coastal advantage to grow more
valuable trees at low risk on shorter rotations on Crown
Land?
Relevant comment from Bill Bourgeois
• , I would like to see companies start to look at the long term and
incorporate community sustainability and corporate social responsibility
into their company vision and performance measures.
• As far as the government is concerned, here in BC, there is one
fundamental thing that I believe would make a significant difference. It is
for government to move towards area-based management, including
building a contractual arrangement that encourages investment,
provides security to companies as well as the province and rewards
innovation.
• I would also like government to encourage strategic planning at the
forest level. I would also like to see companies include performance
measurement of staff based on both short-term bottom line and longer
term sustainable forest management deliverables.
• If companies weighed long term strategic performance measures for at
least 25% of the assessment and we built in the area-based management
concept, it would be amazing what we could do with BC forests and
hopefully across Canada