Comments on the following article Standing the Test... Logging and
Sawmilling Journal, June 2000, website: http://www.forestnet.com/
Is it the Midas touch or curse? Helicopter selective high-grading of
extremely valuable trees from the surrounding forests can make marginal and
sub-marginal cut-blocks appear operable and profitable at the same time as
reduce stumpage, rationalize the AAC, and justify log exports. Positioned
for the BC government as a panacea for our unsustainable and incompetent
coastal forest management, our government's support for highgrading will
allow the coast forest industry to pretend (for just a few years) that it's
1974 all over again. High-grading in from the remote, rare, inoperable,
isolated, unstable, pocket and environmentally sensitive forests will allow
the industry to forestall the economic crash in the remaining "operable"
timber quality and value, and still expand the timber harvesting landbase to
even more marginal forests.
"High-grading in" will also be a big win for Big Timber because it
puts the enviromentalists most concerned with viewscapes, monuments and
appearances on the industry's side against the forest conservationists and
ecologists more concerned with sustaining the underlying structure,
function, complexity and diversity of original forests. High-grading is not
ecoforestry but with help from a few celebrity enviromentalists, it could be
globally marketed as ecoforestry. Helicopter high grading is about
exploiting the remaining old growth timber in order to make the collapsing
sustained yield forest policies appear economic and rational. Coastal
ecoforestry is about sustaining and perpetuating old growth and original
forest characteristics and attributes. Ecoforestry is not about maximizing
the agricultural "growth" and "yield" of managed forests in order to
rationalize original forest liquidation and conversion. However, perhaps
even these simple distinctions can be blurred to acheive the appearance of
win-win sustainable solutions.
...what do you think?
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