Macphail Woods Articles
Clearcuts and biq plantations - so what else is new?

Clearcuts and biq plantations - so what else is new? by Gary Schneider

In an interesting twist of fate, my partner and I purchased a property within the proposed Provincial Forest in the Klondyke Road area east of Iona. The Round Table on Land Resource Use and Stewardship, of which I was a member, agreed "with a number of groups who believe that Provincial Forests must reflect the highest standard of management, they must demonstrate best practices and they must show the full range of appropriate silvicultural techniques."

The report recommended that Provincial Forests (large acreages of forests with a high percentage of public ownership) be designated and that plans should first promote an increase in biodiversity. "In practice, this means that the preferred treatments should be: small patch-cuts or shelterwood cuts, managing for natural regeneration and planting long-lived, native species of late successional hardwoods and softwoods," the report stated.

The report went on to say that "management plans should be subjected to public consultation and input at five-year intervals" and that "the public be involved in making decisions, and not become just the audience for a Government effort in public relations."

In their December 1998 response to the Round Table recommendations, the Forestry Division skirted the whole issue of management, saying "Public consultations were held in May and June. There is support for management practices and revisions to the regulations will soon come into effect. There will then be an additional round of consultations."

I attended the "public consultation" in Montague, where the public was given less than a weeks notice and the Forestry Division trotted out their posters, charts and slide show. Seven non-government people attended and there was a lot of criticism of the Division. In no way could this be considered public consultation, but even if it was, it could only be seen as a negative vote for how provincial forests are managed.

I naively assumed that the province would take the Round Table report seriously or at the very least hold some meaningful public consultations. When I heard the harvester running next door (another piece of provincially-owned property) without any public consultation on how they should be managed, I quickly realized that its just "business as usual".

Yes, some of the white spruce on the site was nearing the end of its life span, but there was no need to cut it in one large block or to just cut and leave the poplar, white birch and beech on the ground.

So on one hand, its still large clearcuts and on the other, almost all the planting is still in conifer plantations. Here are some of the plantings taking place on public land this year: blocks of 7100, 4400 and 2400 Norway spruce; blocks of 9800 and 7000 black spruce; and 3100 balsam fir. The Eastern District doesn't list species, but three plantations are 9,000 or more of a single species.

It seems that it will take even more public concern before the provincial Forestry Division looks seriously at the recommendations of the Round Table and starts making public land the jewels of our Island forest.

Round Table on Resource Land Use and Stewardship

The report of the Round Table on Resource Land Use and Stewardship was released to the public on September 3, 1997. Web development and maintenance by Chris Martin.