What Silviculture Really Means
September 2, 2014 2:22 pm Leave your thoughts
After 2 months and over 8 million trees, the tree plant has finally wrapped and the 60 planters that reforested the Martel and Romeo Mallette are finally able to return to the comforts of home….and here my co-workers and I remain in Northern Ontario to continue tending the forests managed by Tembec. The tree plant was an amazing opportunity to get a first hand account of one of the most important parts of forest stewardship- silviculture. As “Silvicultural Assistant” is my job title, I thought I would take a moment to review exactly what this means to me and to the forestry industry beyond my experience with the tree plant.
This area of the forest management plan encompasses all activities done to maintain the quality and sustainability of future forests for resources. It includes not only the tree plant, but also stand tending including harvesting methods, commercial thinning, pruning and the herbicidal spray (which we are preparing to take part in as I type this!), all working to get the forest back to a stage called “free to grow”, when the land reverts to the crown, as well as to itself, continuing to grow for at least 80 years before potentially being harvested. The union between the future of the forest as a living thing and as a potential harvest is incredibly important to the industry.
Although every harvest under this management plan is considered “clearcut”, there are variations in the harvest plan due to ecology. For instance, in areas of swamps and bogs, corridors are created, with young saplings and trees of advanced growth left uncut. Trees such as these will continue to spend their lives seeding into the cut forest, as well as providing habitat for a number of animal species. Beyond this type of management, it is government policy that a minimum of 25 trees per hectare be left standing which are a representation of ages and species that had existed in the forest before harvesting.
Another part of the ecosystem that is managed for is fire, which plays a major role in the Boreal Forest. Harvest plans are created to mimic the disturbance that is created by fire event, which actually assists in the natural succession. “Harvesting has become one of the landscape disturbances that can be managed by sound silviculture practices and principles to produce a new naturally growing forest” (Jeff Leach, 2014) in lieu of fire events which have been suppressed to protect other resources.
It is not all about the harvest though. Prior to harvesting, it will have be a quality habitat for many varieties of wildlife and waterways, as well as human recreation. Creating a good silvicultural plan involves taking all of these things into consideration, while keeping in mind you are planning for a potential resources for a whole other generation, which might have resource needs which are different from ours. In my humble newbie opinion, silviculture is the heartbeat of the sustainability plan for this industry, recognizing that in order to continue meeting consumer needs, there needs to be a viable, healthy forest to do so. It is a full circle of life in the industry from healthy forest stand, to harvest, to hand-planted conifer seedlings.
For an expert opinion on this, I turned to Jeff Leach, who is a Silviculture Specialist for Tembec, who wrote me a really moving bit of literature about the importance of silviculture to the future of the forest and industry. As stated by Jeff, “as forest mangers we have a very brief moment in time to influence the new regenerating forest, maintain natural species through succession, culminating into a forest that ultimately supports future harvesting and a variety of wildlife habitats. This brief moment of influence is directly related to knowing how certain plant communities, in combination with on-site resources, will react in order to promote certain forest species. At the end of the day we are riding on Mother Nature’s coat-tails… no more, no less.”
He goes on to state the importance of First Nations knowledge of the inner workings of the forests, ecology knowledge which is passed from generation to generation. “First Nations Environmental Stewardship is and will have a greater impact on the way forestry is carried out moving into the future. Traditional knowledge that is earned will help shape the future forest to produce crops important to all. Good communications, being respectful and by working together will be the path forward.” (This integration of First Nations beliefs and respect for the forest plays a vital role not only in the Boreal, but also in BC, which has few recognized treaties. It is definitely something I am going to be looking at my closely when I return to my studies this fall.) A huge part of this industry is the ability to adapt to changing environments, which also applies to the relationships between humans and the forest. A more sensitive view of traditional beliefs of all First Nations and Metis is being adopted by many major companies across the country and, I believe, will lead to an even more sustainable industry.
It all starts with that baby forest though, each seedling hand planted by an incredible group of people that I was so honoured to have met and work with this season. Most have no idea how important of a role they play in the foundations of this natural resource. Without their planting (left to natural succession), the forest would take over a century to reach a state of conifer dominance, leading to a non-sustainable industry. As Jeff stated (and with my agreement!), “tree planting is an honourable profession!”
As stated previously, silviculture is about the ability to adapt and, with so many climatic changes including grasshoppers, mountain pine beetle, rising temperatures, and raging fires, the forestry industry is going to need many open minds able to apply this as a tool to the landscape. It was amazing being able to talk to Jeff who, I feel, holds my own principles on the importance of our human connections to the forest. It gives me a lot of hope for my own place in the industry going forward, so thanks so much for all the talks Jeff!