Province's Chief Forester Optimistic

Friday, September 14, 2007 04:04 AM

The Mountain Pine beetle has now impacted 12 million hectares of forest in B.C. That is 120 thousand square kilometres.

Need a better idea of how much forest is now dead, or dying?

Look at the map shown above, imagine a forest the size of Vancouver Island, now multiply that by nearly 4 times.

Now you have a visual idea of just how much damage has been, or is being done to the forest industry in British Columbia.

Still, Chief Forester for B.C. Jim Snetsinger, is optimistic. Repeating a quote from Einstein, Snetsinger says “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

In this case, the opportunities may be:

Taking better care of the understory in the forest when harvesting the dead wood.
Development of new technology on ways to mill the wood to ensure the best value is recuperated given the knowledge the wood has a “best before” shelf life of no less than 5 years.
New efforts to showcase our wood products, and one of the most impressive will be the Speed Skating oval in Richmond for the 2010 Olympics. It will use one million board feet of beetle kill wood for the 6.5 acre roof on that facility.
Heightened interest in bio energy

The most important opportunity says Snetsinger is the move to ensure all forest practices and policies are developed with climate change in mind. That could mean planting species that are more tolerant of a changing climate “zone” or more plantings of multiple species. “There are some lodgepole pine that have survived this epidemic” says Snetsinger “It will be important to examine the genetics of those trees. While it won’t help us with this epidemic, it may be the key in helping to make future trees more resilient.”

He will review the Prince George District Timber Supply in late 2008 and will take into account the rate of harvest, the progress in dealing with the mountain pine beetle wood , the shelf life of the wood that is standing “All of these things will come into play when I make the decision on what the next annual allowable cut will be.”

Snetsinger is optimistic there is a future for forestry "At the end of the day, B.C. will continue to be a key supplier of softwood products."

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Posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 04:04 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: owl on September 14 2007 7:17 AM

"That could mean planting species that are more tolerant of a changing climate �zone� or more plantings of multiple species."

I love that word "could".

I am looking for someone to take the bull by the horn and say "will" in that sort of context.

When will we be in a postion to use that word? The amount of waffling is deadly!!!!! This has been around for many years now and we still do not have a plan of attack.

Not that it really matters much in the short term, I suppose. This is planning for 50+ years from now. But it would be nice to know what the "marching orders" are for those who work on the silviculture side of the woodland industry.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on September 14 2007 7:28 AM

Everyone is expecting a magic bullet, and there isn't one. It will just take time and nature will take it's course.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on September 14 2007 7:37 AM

Both correct, but it will also take the ability by us all to adapt and change the way we do things in the forest industry.
There will always be a forest industry of some sort, but it remains to be seen exactly what will survive after the full impact is felt.
Where is the leadership?
Time to pull their political heads out of their butts!
Not that anything will help a lot now!

Posted by: RRrabbitt on September 14 2007 9:05 AM

Well, I certainly hope that Mother Earth pays attention to the Chief Forester !!

"Could" and "might" are exactly the right words to use when we contemplate our measly efforts ... there are just too many unpredictable impacts to our choices.

Perhaps we should step back and pause for a moment and try to understand what is really happening to "our" forests... Mother is in charge here... not man.

As advanced, sophisticated and industrialized as we think we are; we are still puny and insignificant... and for the most part... ignorant about our place in time and history.

This so-called "attack" of the MPB is as relevant as the floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, fish shortages, hurricanes and other nightly news stories.

"Politics" is a man-made religion and is in direct conflict with the spiritual vacuum that we have created to foster the impression that we are superior in this game.

Sure, we all struggle with our daily existance to some degree... and worry about the future for our kids... but we can't seem to seize the idea that, what we do today affects what happens tomorrow... or for that matter, what we did yesterday, contributes to what we have to deal with today.

We are all in this together folks... maybe we should allow ourselves a glimmer of real awareness.

Blessings

Posted by: dgdiggler on September 14 2007 10:20 AM

As the supply of Lodgepole pine decreases for these critters, aren't they beggining to infest spruce trees now?
I was in kelowna a couple of weeks ago and the pine beetle is making its presence known, so it is spreading south....

Posted by: owl on September 14 2007 11:23 AM

Just remember, if people think we are in this alone, you are sadly mistaken .....

Again, we are so parochial ... we talk about others not knowing whati it is like here .... yet we are exactly the same, plain old people who are concerned about us ... not them ....

"Such small successes punctuate what otherwise has been widespread failure to stem the outbreak of the bark beetles, which already have decimated evergreen forests in a large swath of the West, from British Columbia, Canada, to Chihuahua, Mexico, and ultimately will leave millions of acres of dead trees in their path."

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4287134

Posted by: owl on September 14 2007 11:31 AM

http://www.summitpinebeetle.org

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20060717/NEWS/60717008

Can they learn from us? ... can we learn from them? .....

I know, it is a stupid notion ..... :-(

Posted by: Palopu on September 14 2007 8:30 PM

There is no real reason to beleive that we will be as dependent of trees 50 years from now as we are now. To beleive this is to beleive that we will do nothing for the next 50/75 years except fall trees and sell lumber to the good old USA for building houses.

If you take the Automobile that was built in the early 50's you would see that it was made out of Iron and Steel, and you could roll it over in a ditch push it back on its wheels, check the oil, and drive away. They dont build cars like that anymore. Now we have cars made out of Fibreglass, and Plastic, that explode when they roll, and are probably the most unsafe vehicles ever built.

All the information that we used to get from paper books, is now available on the internet, and in fact other than for advertising purposes, and old habits, there is no reason to print books, or newspapers from paper. If we discontinued this practice we would save millions of trees. Of course the downside would be the elimination of thousands of jobs.

Necessity is the mother of invention. If we run out of trees then we will find some other way to survive. Where are the great forests of the Eastern USA, and Europe. All gone. Once the West Coast of North America, and Canadian trees are gone, then we will be on to something else. The sooner the better. Maybe we will build all our houses out of rock, we certainly have a sufficient supply of that. Rock could be cut with high pressure water, into building blocks, and **Walla** we are in business.

In any event people build houses from wood because it is cheap. Once it becomes expensive then they will go to plan **2** whatever that may be.

70/80 years ago we had old Model T Fords, and the Wright Bros were trying to get a wooden frame, haywire, airplane off the ground. Now we have millions of planes/jets/rockets/ etc;

As I said. There is no reason to beleive that we will still be dependent of trees 50/70 years from now.

Posted by: kevin1006 on September 14 2007 10:53 PM

Why is the European attitude always take, take, take until it's all gone? Why can't invention take place BEFORE all of any given resource is gone? Why is every thought of the European culture always focused on "me"? What will it take to show the European that your worship of money is killing our planet? Can't imagine how much more evidence it will take before the white man figures out that you are the problem, not the solution. By the time most of you figure it out the planet Earth will be a charred cinder.

The forests should be left alone and left to heal... without any more interference with new strains of trees or other self indulgent ideas. Nature knows best!

One of the worst things happening on this planet is the cutting down of the forests for such nonsense as paper, packing material, fencing, etc. Cut a tree that takes a generation to grow and make a paper bag that lasts mere hours or days? Who thinks this stuff up? I'll tell you... the money worshippers. The world's forests, and all the life they contain, are being destroyed to feed the lust for money. Right here in this very place this lust is alive and well.

Mining can be done in a way that is responsible and non destructive in the long run. In addition the material extracted can be re-used for many, many years to come. In theory the material extracted can be used for many thousands of years in fact. As well iron ore is not alive unlike a forest... not a small point which is lost to many. Trees are not row crops, they are living systems called forests.

Thank you.

Posted by: owl on September 14 2007 11:03 PM

"There is no real reason to beleive that we will be as dependent of trees 50 years from now as we are now."

Exactly!!! ... we need to get past the great dependence on wood in this region.

We do not have to drop it, but we need a more diverse mix of industries which will serve this region better in the various ups and downs of the economy.

I think many people are coming to that realization. However, there appears to be no one looking at options. Those funds set up to do that seem to be spent on the wrong things such as fixing infrastructure which should be financed in differnt ways.

Posted by: owl on September 14 2007 11:24 PM

I think the fact that "europeans" live in areas which are considerably more densely populated would be the key reason when you compare them to northern indigenous populations. Remember, it is not a characteristic unique to Europeans. It happens anywhere where populations have outgrown the resources available to the population. Eastern Islands is a clissical example. The Mayans would be another. I believe the Incas as well.

�Why can't invention take place BEFORE all of any given resource is gone?�
There is a reason for the saying: �necessity is the mother of invention�. People are inherently lazy. They will not mobilize until they need to mobilize.

�Why is every thought of the European culture always focused on "me"?� No more than any other culture. It is called survival. When push comes to shove, many people will sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the masses. However, we do not live in times when such sacrifices are typically needed. We live in times when self indulgence is quite possible and acceptable to the masses.

�What will it take to show the European that your worship of money is killing our planet?� Worship of money? Many people do not have money. They live on promises to pay for the services they receive and goods they have acquired. They �worship� goods. They �worship� services. They like to go to restaurants. They like to stick their dishes into dishwashers instead of sinks. They like to use flush toilets inside rather than a fallen tree outside of the house. They like to travel by air for 8,000 km to lie on a warm beach. They worship a lifestyle. Work is the tool which gets them that lifestyle. It is a trade system. I work for you so that I can fly away for 3 weeks, then start to work to be able to do the same thing next year. Money is the measuring tool used to value goods and services.

Posted by: owl on September 14 2007 11:34 PM

"how much more evidence it will take before the white man figures out that you are the problem, not the solution."

And the Indians in India are not part of the problem? And the Chinese?

We are watching mother nature at work. Man is not separate from nature. We are part of nature. The same up and down cycles of natural populations in other living beings holds for man as well. Strange, isn't it?

How long will it take the MPB to figure out they are a part of the problem, not the solution? A ridiculous statement, isn't it? No more ridiculous than saying the same thing about humans.

When we find we are running short of a resource, and our population is threatened, we invent something new and the supportable population begins to expand, as does the actual population, to a new level of equilibrium .... then beyond ... and the cycle repeats to take us to a new level of population.

Posted by: Chadermando on September 15 2007 12:14 AM

I disagree�

I think in 100+ years from now there is a 99% probability that the only people alive on the planet Earth will be those regions that took measures to protect their intact forests, waters, and eco-systems in the time span of this next generation. I think in our life span the Earth will see mass starvation and ecological dead zones that will effect billions of people through over use of fertilizers, chemicals, radiation, desertification, and irreparable damage to local watershed's.

This for a time will be the gold rush days for this region, because, as bad as things get for the rest of the world we are much more isolated from those negative effects then they are due to our proximity to the remote north Pacfic Ocean, jet stream, and mountains. The question will become do we exploit this and overload or regional eco-system capacity out of charity to the world and the profiteers that enable the transactions, or will we manage this so at least our area of the planet can sustain future generations? This is why the debate over rural representation over resources is so important IMO.

It is the still unresolved question that will separate us from the dinosaurs.

I think the North Kemess proposal is a prime test of what our generations role in deciding this question will be. Harvesting practices in light of the pine beetle is another test IMO.

Posted by: Chadermando on September 15 2007 12:31 AM

If the 9 regional districts of Northern BC formed our own province and gave each regional district an equal vote (4MLA's BC-STV style) in the legislature in turn for PG being the capital, we would have a Northern BC Legislature of 36 MLA's.

The elected MLA's could sit for three months a year and receive a half years pay costing us less then the vaious un-elected private NGO societies cost to administer government programs to the north today. Eliminate Initiatives PG, the Northern BC Rail Commission slush fund, and the Pine Beetle Misaction Committiees. Get ride of them all and have elected people that can make real decisions IMO....

Time Will Tell

Posted by: Chadermando on September 15 2007 12:49 AM

Stikine Region 1,109
Northern Rockies 6,147
Peace River 58,264

Posted by: Chadermando on September 15 2007 12:58 AM

Damn lol...

Stikine Region 1,109
Northern Rockies 6,147
Peace River 58,264
Kitimat-Stikine 37,999
Bulkley-Valley 38,243
Fraser Fort-George 92,264
Skeena Queen Charlotte 19,664
Central Coast 3,189
Caroboo 62,190
TOTAL POPULATION: 319,069

4-MLA's each region, 9-BCSTV regional districts, 36 total MLA's.
18 MLA's needed to form government.

Capital city could be decided through a transferable ballot with 5 orders of prefference, so everyone could pick their home town 1st and the winner would be a true consensus of all 320,000 Northerners.

We could vote for it through referendum just like Nanavut did, but even easier because the Clarity Act gives legality to the whole idea. Do it during regional district and municiple elections possibly....

Posted by: northman on September 15 2007 11:21 AM

Let nature take its course here, it worked out fine when the last beetle epidemic took place in the early 1800's. Nature fixed itself. Let them all burn who knows what kind of forest desises are developing with all this rotting wood. Fire plays a positive role in forest health and we had a negative effect here by putting the fires out. All we can do is ride this wave out now and be open to new ideas in the future.