David Elstone
To correct Ben Parfitt… Mountain pine beetle outbreaks in the Interior’s lodgepole pine forests are a natural phenomenon. In the late 1990s and early 2000s these outbreaks expanded into an epidemic with the amount of pine being killed each year reaching a peak in 2005. …Faced with such a catastrophe, the government had two options: 1. Do nothing and let the dead timber decay; or 2. Encourage the industry to use as much of the decaying timber as possible by temporarily increasing the harvest before it rotted. The later scenario was adopted, and a significant volume of dead pine was salvaged, which in turn created jobs and boosted the local rural economies. At the same time, salvage harvesting created the opportunity for the prompt regeneration of these vast dead forests (thereby restarting the land base’s forest carbon absorption engine). Yes, harvesting, and lumber production rose to levels well above historical averages, but it was done with intention – this was no secret!
Mr. Larry Pynn, like so many environmentalist journalists, panders to the green movement but, like most of us, lives the modern lifestyle. He takes ‘bemusement’ in disparagement of Mr. Jeklin and his professional colleagues who question the report of the UBC partnership which has presented a report suggesting a choice of four forest management routes. Mr. Jeklin and colleagues have worked for free and also professionally for North Cowichan for many years and are highly respected. …Throughout his career he has been a registered professional forester having graduated from the forestry program of UBC. (It appears that none of the so-called UBC Partnership Group are registered professionals. From my perspective as a professional engineer and past university president I cannot understand how one teaches a profession without being registered as one oneself!)
Government and the B.C.-First Nations Water Table announced an unprecedented $100-million investment in healthy watersheds and the launch of engagement on a new co-developed watershed security strategy intentions paper to help ensure safe, clean water is available to communities throughout B.C. for generations. This $100-million investment in the Watershed Security Fund builds on last year’s $30-million commitment announced in Budget 2022, and will continue to improve B.C.’s watersheds and build on the success of a previous $27-million investment in the Healthy Watersheds Initiative (HWI) under the StrongerBC economic plan. Convened in June 2022, the B.C.-First Nations Water Table (BCFNWT) is made up of representatives from the Province and delegates from First Nations in B.C. This announcement formalizes the BCFNWT’s role co-managing the Watershed Security Fund and further co-development of B.C.’s watershed security strategy.
Forests are critically important for slowing climate change. They remove huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – 30% of all fossil fuel emissions annually – and store carbon in trees and soils. Old and mature forests are especially important: They handle droughts, storms and wildfires better than young trees, and they store more carbon. In a 2022 executive order, President Joe Biden called for conserving mature and old-growth forests on federal lands. Recently Biden protected nearly half of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska from road-building and logging. The Biden administration is compiling an inventory of mature and old-growth forests on public lands that will support further conservation actions. But at the same time, federal agencies are initiating and implementing numerous logging projects in mature and old forests without accounting for how these projects will affect climate change or forest species.
Though forestry programs have evolved and spread across colleges nationwide, many prospective and current college students remain unaware of this major, experts say. So to increase the visibility of this academic discipline, some colleges have linked forestry with environmental science or natural resources. The emergence of forestry degree programs began at the turn of the 20th century, with the formation of the National Forest System and the U.S. Forest Service, says Thomas DeLuca, dean of the College of Forestry at Oregon State University. Established in 1900, The Forest School at Yale University’s School of the Environment in Connecticut is the “oldest continuous professional graduate forestry school in the nation,” according to Yale. …”Forestry has become very popular lately because everyone is looking at us to save the world from climate change,” says Rene Germain, professor at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Taylor County, Wisconsin — With additional bat species expected to gain endangered status, Taylor County is working with the state and other forest agencies to be proactive about having guidelines in place to continue forest activities near protected habitat areas. This doesn’t necessarily make members of the county’s forestry committee any happier when needing to deal with additional regulations. “It is another regulation,” said committee member Jim Gebauer. County forest administrator Jake Walcisak presented the Lake States Forest Management Bat Habitat Conservation Plan. He said the heavy lifting in developing the plan was done at the state level in cooperation with the other Great Lakes States in preparation for the potential listing of additional bat species due to the sharp decline in bat populations due to the white-nose syndrome. The plan includes additional protection to reduce logging around caves where bats could nest as well as trees that are home to maternity colonies and day roosts.
