Editor: Given recent floods and the ever-present prospect of drought, should logging take place on Alberta’s Eastern Slopes?
The scope and scale of current clearcut logging on public lands is supported by an outdated forestry model primarily designed to supply jobs and feed the sawmills. Here are the top 10 reasons why Alberta’s current forestry model is broken: 10) Rules: What rules? Operating ground rules, which govern logging operations, are based on best principles of forest management. However these best practices are easily ignored, with a wide range of deviations approved by Alberta’s Ministry of Forestry. 9) Forest fires do not equal clear cutting. Natural Disturbance Forestry (NDF) is purported to emulate forest fires, which are natural phenomena. However, NDF is neither natural, nor anything like a forest fire. NDF has become a convenient excuse to take more than what is reasonable and leave little behind. 8) Pace of play: “Get it while you still can!” Spatial Harvest Sequence (SHS) is designed to balance the rate and scope of logging across the landscape. Managing harvest over 20 years would result in desired future forest conditions. Cutting the same area in only two years is government-approved corporate greed. 7) Special places have bigger trees. Government established Zones of Key Biodiversity and Critical Wildlife Areas for valid reasons. Oil and gas activities are restricted in these areas. Yet pervasive clearcut logging is approved, a clear double standard. 6) Wetlands do not require protection. Watersheds like the Ghost Valley are rife with wetlands. In agricultural areas, wetlands require protection. Yet they are not protected in Alberta’s green zone where clearcut logging occurs. This is another double standard. 5) Soil is more than a growth medium. Soils retain incredible amounts of moisture. To clear vast areas and leave them fallow dries out rich soil horizons, destroying water retention capacity needed by downstream users. 4) Winter activity only. Confining harvest to winter months sounds good on paper, but simply means wet areas are easier to work on when frozen. Seeps and springs are the vital sources of our water supply and deserve legitimate protection. To mow over them to reach the next stand of timber is a travesty. 3) Keep It Simple, Stupid. Hydrological modeling conducted on a regional basis does not capture local watershed variability. Simplistic ECA modelling does not account for severe weather, nor rain-on-snow events. Although good enough for Alberta Forestry approvals, the ECA-AB hydrological model does not represent the rigorous science required when making decisions for critical watersheds upstream of major population centres. We deserve more than simple and cheap. Our future water security depends on it. 2) Timber dues and don’ts: The timber dues or stumpage fees collected by our provincial government is trivial relative to the long term cost and potential consequences of such pervasive and accelerated clearcut logging. In fact, one wonders if it even covers the costs of supposedly regulating the industry in the first place. 1) Just doing a job. Since the 1970s, bureaucrats within the Alberta government have been facilitating rather than regulating the forest industry. These folks need to be replaced by men and women who able to provide leadership in creating sustainable, long-term activities with balanced ecological objectives. Alberta’s Eastern Slopes need to be managed for water, not timber. An innovative forest industry could thrive without damaging the watershed, but may require a different model than the current corporate model reliant on economics of scale, i.e. vast clear cuts.
Two floods in the last 10 years and a history of decade-long droughts make it imperative that Alberta’s government protect watersheds for the millions of Albertans who rely on them.
Gordon MacMahon, Ghost Valley
