First Nations Beetle Kill Logging If we accept the idea that it makes sense to salvage log beetle killed jack pine, we can then step back and consider methods. Clear cutting is not an option for a wide range of reasons that have been well identified by residents of the area. These include the loss of habitat and protection for moose, rapid run-off and siltation of salmon streams, road hunter access, and destruction of traditional use areas. There are others that could be better identified by people who have lived on the land for many generations. Assuming that beetle killed trees should be logged, there are a number of ways to do this that would minimize the above named environmental impacts while offering increased sustainability. In the European model, logging is most often done in a selective fashion. This results from a situation where the people making the logging decisions have lived for generations on the land to be logged. Typically only dead and dying trees, trees for thinning or mature trees. This allows the smaller trees to continue to grow and to provide future merchantable timber without the need to wait for a full growth cycle. If we look to the current state of the forest in the Chilcotin that have not already been clear-cut, there are some exciting possibilities. In the first year that a tree dies from beetles the needles turn red. These trees have not yet dried to the point of “checking” or splitting up their length. They are still usable as saw logs. Reportedly many green trees are already infected with beetles and are due to die in the coming year. If only red-needled trees were cut there would be a lot of work in an area of chronic under-employment. To do this, without damage to the young beetle-free trees and other plants, would require hand felling by chain saw. Fortunately many of the under employed residents of the Chilcotin area know how to fall a tree with a chain saw. This is much slower than using a feller buncher but it also would require much less investment. Similarly skidding felled trees with a farm tractor, again as is done in Europe, would require less investment with machinery that the owner-operator could repair. Past attempts by Chilcotin residents to borrow money to purchase expensive skidders was a failure except for the forest companies that got the logs. Many people in the Chilcotin have a multi-generational history of contract work from the days of rail fencing, swamp meadow haying and, more recently siliviculture. This type of work allows a person to take time off for hunting, fishing and societal responsibilities. In short; logging plans and approaches that involved local citizens, with their extensive knowledge of game and habitat matters, could do much to reduce the issues that are all too evident in the current capital intensive high production methods currently employed. At the same time, the logged areas could be left with some forest cover for game animals and for the aesthetics of tourism. Alan Haig-Brown October 6, 2013
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 03:25:30 +0000
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