Forestry in British Columbia
From the early beginnings of forestry in British Columbia until the late 1970s, the main interest was solely the wood. When the first white settlers first arrived in British Columbia (BC) in 1794, there had been a balance between the indigenous people and nature for 6,000 years. The settlers found - in their opinion - uninhabited land that was rich in natural resources such as wood, fish and mineral resources. In the years that followed, however, this ecosystem became increasingly unbalanced.
Use of wood
British Columbia covers 94.8 million hectares . Of this, around 60 million hectares are manageable forest areas with 40% primary forests or primeval forests. 95% of this area is state forest ( Crown Land ), only 4% of the land is privately owned. The remaining 1% belongs to the state of Canada and includes the national park areas.
A wood utilization system (tenures) regulates who is allowed to use how much of this resource. The Ministry of Forestry has the task of approving the quantities of wood by granting licenses to the forest industry. In addition, the Ministry of Forestry regulates the form of use and the type of management of the forest stands. The licenses have different terms (1 to 25 years) and are usually renewed halfway through the term. The companies pay a so-called stumpage fee to the province, a stock fee for the standing wood that the companies harvest. This fee takes into account the value of the respective stock, which results from the cost of the timber harvest and the value of the timber on the market. The billing is based on the actual logging in solid meters (1 fm = 1 m³) (factory entrance dimension).
The entire country is divided into ecological zones according to climate, soil and vegetation types. The most important tree species and forest types are western hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla ), Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii var. Glauca ) and subboreal coniferous forests ( white spruce , rock fir , black spruce , coastal pine ). A total of 19 tree species are used for wood production. The industry is required by law to only use native tree species. Every year more than 200 million trees are planted from provenance seeds.
The forest industry plays a vital role in British Columbia's economy. Every year wood products worth around CAD 14 billion (approx. € 9.3 billion) are exported. The main importing countries are the USA (58%), followed by Japan (18%), Europe (12%) and others (12%). This reliance on exports is a major economic problem for British Columbia.
Market without competition
Since Weyerhaeuser took over MacMillan Bloedel in 1999, the company has dominated the wood market. Only a few companies have so far been able to gain small market shares. Attempts by the indigenous peoples to set up their own companies for the careful utilization of their forests are an exception. In 2005 MacMillan Bloedel and the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations group living on the west coast of Vancouver Island founded Iisaak Natural Resources Ltd. (Iisaak, pronounced Isok, in German respect), a society for sustainable forest management in Clayoquot Sound . This is to remain 51% in Nuu-chah-nulth hands through Ma-Mook Natural Resources Limited.
Forest protection
The Mountain Pine Beetle ( Dendroctonus ponderosae ) is currently a major problem in forest protection . The bark beetle prefers to attack the Lodgepole Pine ( Pinus contorta var. Latifolia ) when the population is 140–160 years old. The infestation is already so pronounced that trees that are younger than the 140-year-old pines are now affected by the beetle. The only control option is to cut down and burn the freshly infected trees and create pine-free zones. Around 10 million hectares of forest have now been infested. This corresponds to 16% of the total forest area and also means that 60% of the pine trees in this area are already dead.
Forest fires
Fires have been extinguished for the most part in the past few decades, although fire is a natural type of disturbance in the majority of forests. This has increased the risk of forest fires as the forests contain more combustible dead wood / material.
The population feels threatened and disturbed by the fire. She sees the resulting smoke as the cause of global warming and damage to health, and it also hinders tourism. Only if the population is directly threatened by the fire can they understand the reason for controlled, prophylactic fires.
Every year around 23,000 hectares of forest are victims of the fire. In 2002/2003 it was even a total of 500,000 hectares. The cost of fire fighting is increasing every year. The annual expenditure for this averages CAD 53 million (approx. € 35 million), whereby the expenditures increased in the year 2003 to CAD 372 million (approx. € 248 million).
history
In July 2008, Pat Bell replaced the resigned Minister of Forests and Range Rich Coleman, whose expertise was considered insufficient and who had made the provincial woodworking industry an opponent for the first time with the approval of raw wood exports to the USA. Bell, former Minister of Agriculture and Lands (since 2005), previously responsible for natural resources, was also a co-owner of a logging company.
literature
- Susan K. Stevenson, Harold M. Armleder, André Arsenault, Darwyn Coxson, S. Craig Delong: British Columbia's Inland Rainforest: Ecology, Conservation, and Management , University of British Columbia Press, 2011.
- Jesse Wildeman: The technological and managerial history of innovation in British Columbia's forest industry , University of British Columbia, Forestry Undergraduate Theses, 2010.
- Ed Gould: Logging. British Columbia's Logging History . Hancock House Publishers Ltd., Saanichton 1975, ISBN 0-919654-44-4 .
- Gordon Hugh Hak: Capital and labor in the British Columbia forest industry, 1934-74 , University of British Columbia Press 2007.
Web links
- Campaign: "Stop the working forest policy" of the Wilderness Committee ( Memento from November 1, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
Remarks
- ↑ According to government website: MLA: Hon. Patrick Bell .