We need to value our woodlands

By Gary Schneider

The Guardian

Through my eyes, healthy forests are complex ecosystems, full of beauty and incredibly valuable.

Some of these values are difficult to measure, including cleaning air and water, storing carbon both in the woody material and in the soil, providing homes for a wide variety of wildlife species, moderating stream temperatures and wind speeds, and providing places for recreation and relaxation.

We overlook these values because we lack the vision to see or the skills to measure. So we pretend they don’t exist.

That is why so many people see forests simply as wood to be harvested. As soon as there is some economic value, however slight, the cutting begins.

This view is shortsighted and has serious negative effects on the social, economic and environmental web that holds our province together.

Dr. Ken Lertzman, who teaches forest ecology at Simon Fraser University, has a different view of what forest management should be. He says: “New Forestry is an attempt to define forest management with timber production as a byproduct of its primary function: sustaining biological diversity and maintaining long-term ecosystem health.”

How refreshing to think that we could actually be starting to learn how to value the ecosystem and not just the wood products. If we looked very closely at all the values provided by healthy forests, we’d be doing an amazing amount of restoration. And to be very clear, I’m talking about creating forests, as opposed to planting one or two species of conifers in rows.

The failure to quantify all the values in a healthy, complex Acadian forest is one reason that Prince Edward Island, like many other places, fell into the trap of fixating on conifer plantations. Great gains were promised over the short term, but today insects and diseases haunt many of the young plantations and some of the older ones are now full of species that have little or no market.

If I had a magic wand, I would look at three things that might help us get to truly sustainable living.

First, I would communicate the inherent values in being good stewards of this Island. That means being both honest and enthusiastic about what those values are, everything from cleaner air and more wildlife to better employment and tourism opportunities.

The second thing I would do is provide more support to sustainable forestry activities and eliminate all incentives for unsustainable practices. We need to look at what is important to people and what they really value. All subsidies, whether for forestry, farming or fisheries, should be judged in light of sustainability and support work that improves wildlife habitat, increases biodiversity and helps to create, maintain or enhance healthy forests.

Once sufficient education and support is in place for ecologically responsible landowners, we’ll see more and more woodland managed in a responsible manner. On the other hand, if a landowner wants to clear-cut his woods and put in a plantation of one or two species of conifers, that should be a business decision he is prepared to pay for himself.

Biologically sound silviculture will create hundreds of long-term jobs — growing and planting trees and shrubs, tending those plantings, harvesting mushrooms, ground hemlock, fiddleheads, witch hazel and hundreds of other products we may not even know about yet.

Of course, the mainstays will be high-value trees such as red oak, yellow birch, sugar maple, white ash, white pine and red spruce that grow so well in our climate.

Finally, I would start thinking creatively about how we develop partnerships. Let’s look at ways to partner woodsworkers and artisans, and create markets for high-quality products instead of low-value pulp and lumber.

Can the small yellow birch from a thinning be turned for chairs or railings? Would that piece of red maple stained with a flower pattern be useful for carving? We have the craftspeople and artisans here, and I think many tourists would be happy paying more for high-quality products made with wood from well-managed forests. That’s something we could brand like crazy — high-quality products from truly sustainable ecosystems.

If we act boldly and take the steps that need to be taken, Prince Edward Island will quickly be a leader in ecological forestry. That will only lead to good things — healthier forests filled with a mix of plants including high-value trees and medicinal shrubs; increased employment, both in the forests and in the value-added industries that have already started to take root here; and greater opportunities for tourist operators. Then we’ll finally see the true value in our forests.

Gary Schneider is a co-chair of the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island and supervisor of the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project.