Preserving nature through intensive plantation forestry: The case for forestland allocation with illustrations from British Columbia

Abstract

Historically British Columbia's forests were managed under the implicit assumption that virtually the whole forested land base would, one day, be available for timber production. The BC Forest Service and licencees incorporate non-timber values into timber production plans through a process of "integrated resource management" which attempts to consider wildlife, riparian habitat, recreation, water flows, grazing and other forest uses in each decision about each hectare where logging is to occur. Under this extensive form of management, silvicultural investments are low. This policy has clearly failed either to satisfy legitimate demands from the environmental community or to produce the predictably high levels of timber harvest needed to sustain the forest products industry and industry-dependent communities. The core problem is that, despite a vast forest estate in British Columbia, land has become scarce. It is therefore logical to substitute capital, labour and knowledge for land in forest production processes. Such a policy could lead to substantial higher, sustainable timber harvests as well as a system of parks that covers more than half the Province. Implementing such a policy requires a change in forest management approach to zone the landscape and manage each zone intensively for a specific purpose. For the bulk of commercial timber production, intensively managed plantations appear to represent the best technological option. New directions in British Columbia's forest policy — land-use zoning, a new forest practice code, and dedicated capital for silvicultural investments—generally move towards this objective, but implementation remains uncertain. Major impediments include dysfunctional forest tenure arrangements and a comparatively poor information base. Key words: forest policy, British Columbia, intensive plantation forestry