GEOG 101: Day 12
Forestry Issues
News item: Monsanto, Starbucks and others are suing Vermont because of law
against GMOs
Housekeeping Items
• I have one more editing mark I want to show you.
• The alternative mid-term assignments are
due today
• I looked up debt-for-nature swaps. AccordIng to Wikipedia, “[s]ince the first swap occurred between Conservation International and Bolivia in 1987, many
national governments and conservation organizations have engaged in
debt-for-nature swaps.” As of 2010, these totalled over $1 billion
worldwide.
• Today, our topic is forestry and I think I’ll have to leave it to you to
read about the environmental and social impacts of mining.
Canadian mining companies have a fairly bad track record around
the world, and we have a couple of films about that in the VIU
Library – see Defensora, in particular.
• Solutions meetings will now be on Mondays from 11:00 to noon in
Building 356, in Room 311.
Table 1. Recorded DFNS Transactions by Country, Conservation Funds Generated, 1987-2010 (Millions US$)[4]
– partial list (source: Wikipedia)
Non-US Bilateral
Three-party Swap
US Bilateral Swap
Country
and Multilateral
Total
Funding
Funding
Swap Funding
Argentina
$3.1
$3.1
B
Bangladesh
$8.5
$8.5
Belize
$9.0
$9.0
Bolivia
$3.1
$9.6
$21.8
$34.5
Botswana
$8.3
$8.3
Brazil
$2.2
$2.2
Bulgaria
$16.2
$16.2
Cameroon
$25.0
$25.0
Chile
$18.7
$18.7
Colombia
$12.0
$51.6
$63.6
Costa Rica
$42.9
$43.3
$26.0
$112.2
Dominican
$0.6
$0.6
Republic
Ecuador
$7.4
$10.8
$18.2
Egypt
$29.6
$29.6
El Salvador
$6.0
$55.2
$61.2
Ghana
$1.1
$1.1
Guatemala
$1.4
$24.4
$25.8
Guinea Bissau
$0.4
$0.4
Honduras
$21.4
$21.4
Indonesia
$30.0
$30.0
Jamaica
$0.4
$37.5
$37.9
Jordan
$45.5
$45.5
Housekeeping Items
• For your assignments, try to follow the APA parenthetical style – see
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ and
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/.
• From Purdue OWL:
• “If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the
author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference
(preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that
includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in
parentheses.
• According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style,
especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).
Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p.
199); what implications does this have for teachers?
• If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last
name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after
the quotation.
• She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998,
p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.
• They also have info on citing on-line sources as well.
Housekeeping Items
• A professor at Ryerson has created a smartphone app
that enables you to check out trees in parks and find out
their species ID and their ecological value: parktrees.ca.
• Next Tuesday, in the class following this one, Sheila
Malcolmson, the current chair of the Islands Trust
Council, and likely the next MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith,
will be speaking on policy for sustainability, using her
experience with the Trust over many years. She’s an
excellent speaker.
• The Trust is the collection of islands in the Salish Sea that
have some degree of self-government, and whose
residents tend to be fairly environmentally aware. For a
map of the area covered by its jurisdiction, see:
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Desktop/Trust%20Area%20Map%20%20Large%20Format.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-77,2163.
Topics This Week – Forestry and Mining:
Key Industries in B.C.
• How many people have family members who or have
been involved in these industries, or who have
themselves been involved?
• Why should we care about them in a course on
environmental geography?
• What kinds of potential ecological impacts do they
have?
• How are they linked into globalization?
• Who are the primary markets for wood products and
minerals, including fossil fuels?
Upon completing this chapter, you will be
able to
• Describe the basic functional processes of trees and
their role in biogeochemical cycling
• Summarize the principal types of forest biomes,
especially those indigenous to Canada
• Describe the ecological roles and economic
contributions of forests
• Trace the history and scale of forest loss and identify
the current drivers of deforestation
• Outline the major methods of harvesting timber
• Explain the fundamentals of forest management, and
identify forest management agencies in Canada and
internationally
10-7
Central Case:
Battling over the last big trees at Clayoquot Sound
• 1993: The largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian
history
• 12 000 Protestors blocked loggers from cutting ancient trees
in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, British Columbia
(anyone you know involved?), and over 800 were arrested
• Old-growth forests = complex primary forests in which the
trees are at least 150 years old
• Jobs depended on the timber industry
• Iisaak, meaning “respect”, became a guiding principle for
forestry in the area
• Variable retention harvesting = logging selectively to retain
a certain percentage and characteristics of the forest
ecosystem
10-8
The Forest and the Trees
10-10
The Forest and the Trees
• Forests cover about 31% of Earth’s land surface (and used
to cover much more, though a few areas are reverting back)
• Provide habitat, maintain soil, air, and water quality, and
play key roles in biogeochemical cycles
10-11
Trees have several basic requirements
For photosynthesis to occur
• An amenable temperature
(appropriate to the species)
• Air (with CO2)
• Light
• Proper soil (with certain
nutrients)
• Water (some tree species need
more than others)
10-12
Trees have several basic requirements (cont’d)
• Macronutrients – required in large amounts
• Micronutrients – required in small amounts
• Transpiration – water loss from leaf surface, cools
the plant as well as assisting in the movement of
nutrients
• Water drawn up through xylem by adhesion and
cohesion (water being sucked out of the leaf
pores by wind, thus creating a vacuum that
enables more water to flow up the trunk
channels)
• Useful to plant trees in close proximity to crops
to make water more accessible to crops
10-13
There are three major groups of forest
biomes
• Boreal forest
• High-latitude forest
• Cold, dry climates with short growing seasons
• Temperate forest
• Mid-latitude forest (eastern forests or west-coast
rainforests)
• Seasonal climate (winter season vs. summer growing
season)
• Tropical forest
• Equatorial-latitude forest
• Wet, tropical climate
10-14
Forests grade into open wooded lands
• Drylands:
- Shrublands = wooded
areas covered by shrubs
and occasional taller trees
(e.g. tundra)
- Savannah = open area
fominated by grasses with
widely scattered trees
- Grasslands = lands
dominated by grasses and
non-woody vegetation
10-16
Canada is a steward for much of the
world’s forest
• Canada has the highest amount of forested land
per capita in the world
• More than 50% of Canada’s primary forest
remains more or less intact
10-17
Canada’s forests are varied
• 402 million hectares of forested and other wooded land is
25% of the world’s natural forest. For a fuller description, see
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/forestregions.
• Forests of the north:
- Boreal forest (taiga) is the largest forested region of
Canada
- Every province except New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island
• Forests of the west:
- Forest regions: Subalpine, montane, coast, Columbia
• Forests of the east:
- Forest regions: Deciduous (Carolinian), Great-Lakes-St.
Lawrence (mixed deciduous & evergreen), Acadian (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England/Acadian_fores
10-18
ts).
Forests are ecologically valuable
• One of the richest ecosystems for biodiversity
• Structural complexity houses great
biodiversity
• Some animals adapted for living in canopy,
others specialize on the subcanopies
• Shrubs and groundcover plants of the
understory are home to still more organisms
• Fallen leaves and branches called litter, house
still others
• Forest edge can be quite different from
habitat in the forest core.
10-19
Different storeys (layers) in the
forest
Canopy – upper level of leaves, woodland area has a more open canopy
10-20
Trees provide ecosystem services of value
to people
• A forest provides many ecosystem services
• Stabilizes soil and prevents erosion
• Slows runoff, lessens flooding, purifies water
• Stores carbon, releases oxygen, moderates
climate
• Regions that have lost their forest cover – where
are they, and what are they subject to?
-
10-21
Harvesting Forest Products
10-22
Forest products are economically valued
• Benefits: fuel, shelter,
transportation (ships), paper
• Helped society achieve a
high standard of living
• Softwood = timber harvested
from coniferous trees
• Hardwood = timber
harvested from deciduous
trees
• NTFPs = non-timber forest
products such as medicinal,
herbal, decorative and edible
products (e.g. edible plants,
traditional First Nations
plants for healing and eating,
mushrooms, salal, etc.)
10-23
Timber is harvested by several methods
• Clearcutting method – all trees in an area are cut,
leaving only stumps
•
•
•
•
Most cost-efficient
Greatest impacts on forest ecosystems
Mimics natural disturbances such as fires
Enhances soil erosion and
run-off
10-24
Timber is harvested by several methods (cont’d)
10-25
Timber is harvested by several methods (cont’d)
• Selection systems = only select trees are cut
• Single tree selection = widely spaced trees are cut
• Group tree selection = small patches of trees are
cut
• All methods disturb habitat, but some more than
others
• Change forest structure and composition
• Increase erosion, siltation, runoff, flooding,
landslides
10-26
Plantation forestry has grown in North America
• Reforestation = planting of trees after logging
• Afforestation = planting of trees where forested
cover has not existed for some time (e.g. Oak
Ridges Moraine on Ontario in ‘30s and ‘40s)
• Even-aged trees = all trees are the same age
• Maximum sustainable yield = cutting trees shortly
after they have gone through their fastest stage of
growth, and trees often grow most quickly at
intermediate ages
10-27
Land Conversion and Deforestation
10-28
Land conversion and Deforestation
• Deforestation = the clearing and loss of forests
• People have cleared forests for millennia
• Clearing of land for farming one of the first significant
human environmental impacts
• Alters landscapes and ecosystems (and hence habitat)
10-29
The growth of Canada and the U.S. were fueled by
land clearing and logging
• Deforestation propelled growth throughout North
America
• Cleared for farming
• Then wood used to fuel furnaces of industry
• Principal cause of deforestation in Canada was
agriculture; now it’s
logging and mining.
10-30
Agriculture is the major cause of conversion of
forests and grasslands
• Agriculture covers more of the planet’s surface than
forest
• Principal driver of land conversion today – examples?
• Swidden agriculture = small area of forest cleared and
crops planted
• Sustains only one or two seasons of planting
• Soil depleted quickly
• 7 years required to replenish soil in original clearings to
support crops or forests
• is it sustainable? Seems to be a minor culprit
10-31
Livestock graze one-fourth of Earth’s land surface
• Most cattle today raised in feedlots, but have
traditionally been raised by grazing on open
rangelands
• Grazing can be sustainable if done carefully and at
low intensity
• Poorly managed grazing impacts savannah and
grassland ecosystems
• Ranchers and environmentalists have joined to
preserve ranchland against development and urban
sprawl
• However, some tropical rainforest is being converted
to rangeland or single-crop plantations
10-32
Bad practices and other pressures have
led to deforestation
• Deforestation has altered the landscapes and
ecosystems of much or our planet
• Forest can be harvested sustainably but it hasn’t
always happened
• Impacts are greatest in tropical areas and in dryland
regions
• Deforestation also adds carbon dioxide to atmosphere
because forests are carbon sinks
• Fastest rates of deforestation are in tropical rainforests
of Latin America, Africa, and to some degree Asia,
affecting species such as orangutans
10-33
Oil Sands Before and After…
Deforestation is proceeding rapidly in many
developing nations
• Uncut primary tropical forests still remain in
many developing countries
• Advanced technology has allowed the
exploitation of resources faster than in the
past
• Often these countries impose few or no
restrictions on logging
• Often timber is extracted by foreign
corporations
10-35
weighing
the issues
Logging here or there?
Imagine you are an environmental activist
protesting a logging operation that is cutting oldgrowth trees near your hometown. If the protest is
successful, the company will move to a developing
country and cut its primary forest instead.
• Would you still protest the logging in your
hometown?
• Would you pursue any other approaches?
10-36
Forest Management Principles
10-37
Forest Management Principles
• Forestry (silviculture) = a professional field of
managing forests by balancing forests as ecosystems
and as sources of wood products
• Harvesting = the removal of material from the
resource
• Should not occur at a rate that exceeds the
capability of the resource to replenish or
regenerate itself (‘sustained yield’ – this is the
theory, not necessarily the practice)
10-38
Public forests in Canada are managed
for many purposes
• Canadian Forest Service preserves timber on federal
Crown lands
• Provincial crown land used for timber and non-timber
forest products (mainly timber)
• Multiple use = policy where forests are to be managed
for recreation, wildlife habitat, mineral extraction, and
various other uses
• wooded areas covered by shrubs and occasional taller
trees (e.g. tundra)
10-39
Public forests in Canada are managed for many
purposes (cont’d)
• National Forest Strategy for 2003-2008 (couldn’t find a
reference to since 2005; may have been decentralized to
provinces)
• Ecosystem-based management
• Better environmental, social, and economic sustainability of
forest communities through legislation and policies
• Recognizing rights of Aboriginal peoples
• Diversification of markets for forest products
• Better skills and knowledge of forest practitioners
• Engaging Canadians in sustainability through urban forests
• Support private woodlots for forest sustainability
• National forest reporting system
10-40
Today some managers try to practice ecosystembased management, but still much disagreement
about what it is
• Ecosystem-based management = managing the
harvesting of resources to minimize impact on the
ecosystems and ecological processes
• Carefully managing ecologically important areas
• Protecting some forested areas
• It is challenging for managers to determine how to
implement this type of management
• Ecosystems are complex, and our understanding of
how they operate is limited
10-41
Adaptive management evolves and improves
• Adaptive management = systematically testing
different management approaches and aiming to
improve methods based on experimentation
• Monitoring results and adjusting methods as
needed
• A fusion of science and management
• Time-consuming and complicated
• A guiding principle for forest management in Canada
• West Arm Demonstration Forest Experiments
• Donna Creek Biodiversity Project
• Grizzly Bear Habitat Project
10-42
Fire is a natural phenomenon in forests
• Many ecosystems depend
on fire
• Ecosystems dependent of
fire are adversely affected
by its suppression
• Ground fires = the litter
layer itself burns, as
opposed to crown fires
• Crown fires = the upper
tree canopy is ignited
10-43
Fire policy has stirred controversy
• For over 100 years, all forest fires
were suppressed
• But many ecosystems depend
on fires
• Fire suppression allows woody
accumulation, which produces
kindling for future fires
• Housing development near forests
and climate change will increase
fire risk
10-44
Fire policy has stirred controversy (cont’d)
• Prescribed (controlled) burns = burning areas of forests under
carefully controlled conditions
• Effective
• May get out of control
• Impeded by public
misunderstanding and
political interference
• Should development
allowed in fire-prone
areas?
10-45
Fire policy has stirred controversy (cont’d)
• Removal of dead trees following a
natural disturbance
• Seems logical, but is really
destructive
• Snags (standing dead trees) provide
nesting cavities for countless
animals
• Removing timber from recently
burned areas increases erosion and
soil damage
• Promotes future fires
10-46
Sustainable forestry is gaining ground
• Sustainable forestry certification = only products
produced sustainably can be certified
• International Organization for Standardization
(ISO), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) have
different standards
• Consumers look for logos to buy sustainably
produced timber
• Companies such as Home Depot sell sustainable
wood as a result of environmental campaigns
• Encourages better logging practices
10-47
Conclusion
• Forests and other terrestrial biomes provide crucial
ecosystem services that have economic value as well
• Resources must be managed sustainably to avoid
overexploitation and overharvesting
• There are federal and regional agencies to oversee and
manage publicly held land and natural resources
• Resource management policies consider sustained yield,
multiple use, timber production, recreation, wildlife habitat,
and ecosystem integrity
• Public support resulted in parks, wilderness areas and other
reserves
10-48