1. GEOG 101: Day 12 Forestry Issues
News item: Monsanto, Starbucks and others are suing Vermont because of law
against GMOs

2. Housekeeping Items I have one more editing mark I want to show you.
The alternative mid-term assignments are
due today
I looked up debt-for-nature swaps. Accord-
Ing to Wikipedia, “[s]ince the first swap occur-
red between Conservation International and Bolivia in 1987, many national governments and conservation organizations have engaged in debt-for-nature swaps.” As of 2010, these totalled over $1 billion worldwide.
Today, our topic is forestry and I think I’ll have to leave it to you to read about the environmental and social impacts of mining. Canadian mining companies have a fairly bad track record around the world, and we have a couple of films about that in the VIU Library – see Defensora, in particular.
Solutions meetings will now be on Mondays from 11:00 to noon in Building 356, in Room 311.

3. Three-party Swap Funding
Table 1. Recorded DFNS Transactions by Country, Conservation Funds Generated, (Millions US$)[4] – partial list (source: Wikipedia)
Country
Three-party Swap Funding
Non-US Bilateral and Multilateral Swap Funding
US Bilateral Swap Funding
Total
Argentina
$3.1
Bangladesh
$8.5
Belize
$9.0
Bolivia
$9.6
$21.8
$34.5
Botswana
$8.3
Brazil
$2.2
Bulgaria
$16.2
Cameroon
$25.0
Chile
$18.7
Colombia
$12.0
$51.6
$63.6
Costa Rica
$42.9
$43.3
$26.0
$112.2
Dominican Republic
$0.6
Ecuador
$7.4
$10.8
$18.2
Egypt
$29.6
El Salvador
$6.0
$55.2
$61.2
Ghana
$1.1
Guatemala
$1.4
$24.4
$25.8
Guinea Bissau
$0.4
Honduras
$21.4
Indonesia
$30.0
Jamaica
$37.5
$37.9
Jordan
$45.5 B

4. Housekeeping Items
For your assignments, try to follow the APA parenthetical style – see and
From Purdue OWL:
“If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.
According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199). Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers?
If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.
She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.
They also have info on citing on-line sources as well.

5. Housekeeping Items
A professor at Ryerson has created a smartphone app that enables you to check out trees in parks and find out their species ID and their ecological value: parktrees.ca.
Next Tuesday, in the class following this one, Sheila Malcolmson, the current chair of the Islands Trust Council, and likely the next MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith, will be speaking on policy for sustainability, using her experience with the Trust over many years. She’s an excellent speaker.
The Trust is the collection of islands in the Salish Sea that have some degree of self-government, and whose residents tend to be fairly environmentally aware. For a map of the area covered by its jurisdiction, see: file:///C:/Users/Owner/Desktop/Trust%20Area%20Map%20-%20Large%20Format.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-77,2163.

6. Topics This Week – Forestry and Mining: Key Industries in B.C.
How many people have family members who or have been involved in these industries, or who have themselves been involved?
Why should we care about them in a course on environmental geography?
What kinds of potential ecological impacts do they have?
How are they linked into globalization?
Who are the primary markets for wood products and minerals, including fossil fuels?

7. Upon completing this chapter, you will be able to
Describe the basic functional processes of trees and their role in biogeochemical cycling
Summarize the principal types of forest biomes, especially those indigenous to Canada
Describe the ecological roles and economic contributions of forests
Trace the history and scale of forest loss and identify the current drivers of deforestation
Outline the major methods of harvesting timber
Explain the fundamentals of forest management, and identify forest management agencies in Canada and internationally

8. Central Case: Battling over the last big trees at Clayoquot Sound
1993: The largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history
Protestors blocked loggers from cutting ancient trees in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (anyone you know involved?), and over 800 were arrested
Old-growth forests = complex primary forests in which the trees are at least 150 years old
Jobs depended on the timber industry
Iisaak, meaning “respect”, became a guiding principle for forestry in the area
Variable retention harvesting = logging selectively to retain a certain percentage and characteristics of the forest ecosystem

10. The Forest and the Trees
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11. The Forest and the Trees
Forests cover about 31% of Earth’s land surface (and used to cover much more, though a few areas are reverting back)
Provide habitat, maintain soil, air, and water quality, and play key roles in biogeochemical cycles

12. Trees have several basic requirements
For photosynthesis to occur
An amenable temperature (appropriate to the species)
Air (with CO2)
Light
Proper soil (with certain nutrients)
Water (some tree species need more than others)
10-12

13. Trees have several basic requirements (cont’d)
Macronutrients – required in large amounts
Micronutrients – required in small amounts
Transpiration – water loss from leaf surface, cools the plant as well as assisting in the movement of nutrients
Water drawn up through xylem by adhesion and cohesion (water being sucked out of the leaf pores by wind, thus creating a vacuum that enables more water to flow up the trunk channels)
Useful to plant trees in close proximity to crops to make water more accessible to crops
10-13

14. There are three major groups of forest biomes
Boreal forest
High-latitude forest
Cold, dry climates with short growing seasons
Temperate forest
Mid-latitude forest (eastern forests or west-coast rainforests)
Seasonal climate (winter season vs. summer growing season)
Tropical forest
Equatorial-latitude forest
Wet, tropical climate

16. Forests grade into open wooded lands
Drylands:
Shrublands = wooded areas covered by shrubs and occasional taller trees (e.g. tundra)
Savannah = open area fominated by grasses with widely scattered trees
Grasslands = lands dominated by grasses and non-woody vegetation

17. Canada is a steward for much of the world’s forest
Canada has the highest amount of forested land per capita in the world
More than 50% of Canada’s primary forest remains more or less intact

18. Canada’s forests are varied
402 million hectares of forested and other wooded land is 25% of the world’s natural forest. For a fuller description, see
Forests of the north:
Boreal forest (taiga) is the largest forested region of Canada
Every province except New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
Forests of the west:
Forest regions: Subalpine, montane, coast, Columbia
Forests of the east:
Forest regions: Deciduous (Carolinian), Great-Lakes-St. Lawrence (mixed deciduous & evergreen), Acadian (see

19. Forests are ecologically valuable
One of the richest ecosystems for biodiversity
Structural complexity houses great biodiversity
Some animals adapted for living in canopy, others specialize on the subcanopies
Shrubs and groundcover plants of the understory are home to still more organisms
Fallen leaves and branches called litter, house still others
Forest edge can be quite different from habitat in the forest core.

20. Different storeys (layers) in the forest
Canopy – upper level of leaves, woodland area has a more open canopy

21. Trees provide ecosystem services of value to people
A forest provides many ecosystem services
Stabilizes soil and prevents erosion
Slows runoff, lessens flooding, purifies water
Stores carbon, releases oxygen, moderates climate
Regions that have lost their forest cover – where are they, and what are they subject to? -

22. Harvesting Forest Products
10-22

23. Forest products are economically valued
Benefits: fuel, shelter, transportation (ships), paper
Helped society achieve a high standard of living
Softwood = timber harvested from coniferous trees
Hardwood = timber harvested from deciduous trees
NTFPs = non-timber forest products such as medicinal, herbal, decorative and edible products (e.g. edible plants, traditional First Nations plants for healing and eating, mushrooms, salal, etc.)

24. Timber is harvested by several methods
Clearcutting method – all trees in an area are cut, leaving only stumps
Most cost-efficient
Greatest impacts on forest ecosystems
Mimics natural disturbances such as fires
Enhances soil erosion and
run-off
10-24

25. Timber is harvested by several methods (cont’d)

26. Timber is harvested by several methods (cont’d)
Selection systems = only select trees are cut
Single tree selection = widely spaced trees are cut
Group tree selection = small patches of trees are cut
All methods disturb habitat, but some more than others
Change forest structure and composition
Increase erosion, siltation, runoff, flooding, landslides

27. Plantation forestry has grown in North America
Reforestation = planting of trees after logging
Afforestation = planting of trees where forested cover has not existed for some time (e.g. Oak Ridges Moraine on Ontario in ‘30s and ‘40s)
Even-aged trees = all trees are the same age
Maximum sustainable yield = cutting trees shortly after they have gone through their fastest stage of growth, and trees often grow most quickly at intermediate ages

28. Land Conversion and Deforestation
10-28

29. Land conversion and Deforestation
Deforestation = the clearing and loss of forests
People have cleared forests for millennia
Clearing of land for farming one of the first significant human environmental impacts
Alters landscapes and ecosystems (and hence habitat)

30. The growth of Canada and the U. S
The growth of Canada and the U.S. were fueled by land clearing and logging
Deforestation propelled growth throughout North America
Cleared for farming
Then wood used to fuel furnaces of industry
Principal cause of deforestation in Canada was agriculture; now it’s
logging and mining.

31. Agriculture is the major cause of conversion of forests and grasslands
Agriculture covers more of the planet’s surface than forest
Principal driver of land conversion today – examples?
Swidden agriculture = small area of forest cleared and crops planted
Sustains only one or two seasons of planting
Soil depleted quickly
7 years required to replenish soil in original clearings to support crops or forests
is it sustainable? Seems to be a minor culprit

32. Livestock graze one-fourth of Earth’s land surface
Most cattle today raised in feedlots, but have traditionally been raised by grazing on open rangelands
Grazing can be sustainable if done carefully and at low intensity
Poorly managed grazing impacts savannah and grassland ecosystems
Ranchers and environmentalists have joined to preserve ranchland against development and urban sprawl
However, some tropical rainforest is being converted to rangeland or single-crop plantations

33. Bad practices and other pressures have led to deforestation
Deforestation has altered the landscapes and ecosystems of much or our planet
Forest can be harvested sustainably but it hasn’t always happened
Impacts are greatest in tropical areas and in dryland regions
Deforestation also adds carbon dioxide to atmosphere because forests are carbon sinks
Fastest rates of deforestation are in tropical rainforests of Latin America, Africa, and to some degree Asia, affecting species such as orangutans
10-33

34. Oil Sands Before and After…

35. Deforestation is proceeding rapidly in many developing nations
Uncut primary tropical forests still remain in many developing countries
Advanced technology has allowed the exploitation of resources faster than in the past
Often these countries impose few or no restrictions on logging
Often timber is extracted by foreign corporations

36. weighing the issues
Logging here or there?
Imagine you are an environmental activist protesting a logging operation that is cutting old-growth trees near your hometown. If the protest is successful, the company will move to a developing country and cut its primary forest instead.
Would you still protest the logging in your hometown?
Would you pursue any other approaches?

37. Forest Management Principles
10-37

38. Forest Management Principles
Forestry (silviculture) = a professional field of managing forests by balancing forests as ecosystems and as sources of wood products
Harvesting = the removal of material from the resource
Should not occur at a rate that exceeds the capability of the resource to replenish or regenerate itself (‘sustained yield’ – this is the theory, not necessarily the practice)

39. Public forests in Canada are managed for many purposes
Canadian Forest Service preserves timber on federal Crown lands
Provincial crown land used for timber and non-timber forest products (mainly timber)
Multiple use = policy where forests are to be managed for recreation, wildlife habitat, mineral extraction, and various other uses
wooded areas covered by shrubs and occasional taller trees (e.g. tundra)

40. Public forests in Canada are managed for many purposes (cont’d)
National Forest Strategy for (couldn’t find a reference to since 2005; may have been decentralized to provinces)
Ecosystem-based management
Better environmental, social, and economic sustainability of forest communities through legislation and policies
Recognizing rights of Aboriginal peoples
Diversification of markets for forest products
Better skills and knowledge of forest practitioners
Engaging Canadians in sustainability through urban forests
Support private woodlots for forest sustainability
National forest reporting system

41. Today some managers try to practice ecosystem-based management, but still much disagreement about what it is
Ecosystem-based management = managing the harvesting of resources to minimize impact on the ecosystems and ecological processes
Carefully managing ecologically important areas
Protecting some forested areas
It is challenging for managers to determine how to implement this type of management
Ecosystems are complex, and our understanding of how they operate is limited

42. Adaptive management evolves and improves
Adaptive management = systematically testing different management approaches and aiming to improve methods based on experimentation
Monitoring results and adjusting methods as needed
A fusion of science and management
Time-consuming and complicated
A guiding principle for forest management in Canada
West Arm Demonstration Forest Experiments
Donna Creek Biodiversity Project
Grizzly Bear Habitat Project

43. Fire is a natural phenomenon in forests
Many ecosystems depend on fire
Ecosystems dependent of fire are adversely affected by its suppression
Ground fires = the litter layer itself burns, as opposed to crown fires
Crown fires = the upper tree canopy is ignited
10-43

44. Fire policy has stirred controversy
For over 100 years, all forest fires were suppressed
But many ecosystems depend on fires
Fire suppression allows woody accumulation, which produces kindling for future fires
Housing development near forests and climate change will increase fire risk

45. Fire policy has stirred controversy (cont’d)
Prescribed (controlled) burns = burning areas of forests under carefully controlled conditions
Effective
May get out of control
Impeded by public
misunderstanding and
political interference
Should development
allowed in fire-prone
areas?

46. Fire policy has stirred controversy (cont’d)
Removal of dead trees following a natural disturbance
Seems logical, but is really destructive
Snags (standing dead trees) provide nesting cavities for countless animals
Removing timber from recently burned areas increases erosion and soil damage
Promotes future fires

47. Sustainable forestry is gaining ground
Sustainable forestry certification = only products produced sustainably can be certified
International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) have different standards
Consumers look for logos to buy sustainably produced timber
Companies such as Home Depot sell sustainable wood as a result of environmental campaigns
Encourages better logging practices

48. Conclusion
Forests and other terrestrial biomes provide crucial ecosystem services that have economic value as well
Resources must be managed sustainably to avoid overexploitation and overharvesting
There are federal and regional agencies to oversee and manage publicly held land and natural resources
Resource management policies consider sustained yield, multiple use, timber production, recreation, wildlife habitat, and ecosystem integrity
Public support resulted in parks, wilderness areas and other reserves