ACE: Is it happening? Can it happen? Should it happen? Some reflection with case histories

1. Coast of BC. The best place to grow trees in Canada ACE: Is it happening? Can it happen? Should it happen? Some reflection with case histories Gordon Weetman UBC CSC Feb 2014

2. CJfR 25 1995 What is the place of ACE on the coast of BC. Today? The best place to grow trees in Canada

4. Question • Silviculture stand tending actions can accelerate second growth operability, control piece size species composition and stem quality. • These actions can thus help cover age class gaps or increase remaining mature stand harvests or grow second growth more valuable stands on shorter rotations • This is happening on Canada’s only 3 large private estates(Timberwest ,Island Timber and Irving NB) but on present high growth rate Crown tenures on the coast of BC are such standing actions wanted or feasible?

5. H Nelson UBC 2013

6. H. Nelson UBC 2013

7. Some case histories • Shelton Cooperative Sustained Yield unit 1948 • Cape Breton Islands tragic loss of mature 1970s • UBC Forest at Haney since 1950: 1868 and 1933 fire origin stands, “golf course Df plantations and J.H.G.Smith spacing plots • Weyerhaeuser US private land age class gap 1970s • The only 3 large private land estates in Canada: Irving NB, Timberwest and Island Timber • Cheakamus Community Forest today

9. Technical basis for ACE in mature balsam fir. Reduce age to first operability to balance age classes faster and reduce budworm susceptibilityMoral; protection of growing stock is essential AAC increased from 331,00m3 to729,00m3

10. !970s Loss of forest after ACE granted and the forest not protected on Cape Breton ACE granted and operative for StoraKopperberg’s mill expansion and job creation byPCT silviculture on cut blocks on Cape Breton Highlands.Then the government refused to spray with fenitrothion the mature balsam fir due to environmentalist pressure(Elizabeth May)Result huge mortality in mature and treated stands, huge salvage clear cuts, mill wood supply crisis ,loss of jobs in area of high unemployment, new 40 year old forest may need spraying as the spruce budworm is now returning as predicted.Why did Stora propose ACE? Who refused to spray?What actions were taken since? For.ManInst Info Report FMR-X-103 1973

11. Most intensive long term silviculture in Canada

13. G.Paille 2014 A History of Forestry in Canada FP Innovations G Paille 2014 A History of Forestry in Canada FP Innovations

15. Irving plantation yield curves

16. Irving Black Brook plantations Knowledge Exchange and Technology Extension Program (KETE) Sustainable Forest Management Network Legacy of the Sustainable Forest Management Network Outcomes of Research Collaborations Among J.D. Irving, Limited, University of New Brunswick, and Université de Moncton

17. Second growth on the coast of BC On Crown Lands ;TFL 2 on islands railroad logged 1889-1910 a full rotation of naturally regenerated second growth has been cut. Inland cutblocks from 1960s onwards not yet operable. Oldest plantation is 1938 at Campbell River Any examples of old mature second growth from naturally disturbed stands? Not many in NDT1 landscape e.g. 1868 fire on UBC forestabove Pit Lake 1908 wind throw origin hemlock Port McNeill 1860s? Tlell fire on QCI 1868 fire origin on UBC forest

18. 1933 fire origin natural regen UBC forest Haney now CTd leaving best cedar. Cedar poles sell at 150/m3 Next rotation at 50 to 60 years instead of 80 ?

19. Review and Preliminary Assessment of Second-Growth Western Redcedar Wood Attributes Technical Reports BC Coastal Forest Sector Western Redcedar Initiative G.R. Middleton B.D. Munro April 30, 2013 • Depending on growth rate (DBH class), cumulative wood density exceeded that of old growth until 60 years or older, indicating that the structural wood properties of short-rotation redcedar could exceed those of old growth and improve the wood’s performance in some end uses. Lets get serious about growing cedar

20. Cheakamous Community Forest at Whistler 20 year gap between 1960s plus regenerated cutovers and the old mature which many community people do not want logged. AAC set at 20,000 m3 where to cut it? Thin??

21. Timberwest private lands age classes Coastal second growth unregulated harvest by government

22. Second growth Sitka on HQ • Drove out to the Aliford Bay DLS owned by Taan Forest and saw second growth Sitka • Spruce from Moresby area being delivered to the sort. Trees observed were 50-60 years • old and stand volumes were reported to be approximately 1200m3 per hectare. • 2nd growth Sitka Spruce being unloaded at the Aliford Bay DLS

23. Options to deal with an age class gap • Expand/redraw management unit boundaries to get missing age classes (Gerrymandering) • PCT /crop plan in young stands to accelerate operability of net merch. yield curves. • Grow species which are valuable when small. • CTs in roaded, accessible young stands with innovative low cost harvesting • Partial cuts in operable mature, heli logging, borrow cut from future

24. Silviculture and AAC on a TFL • Assumptions about the effects of silviculture as used in an AAC determination for TFL 19 in 2011. • Chief Forester approves. Are they supported by monitoring across the TFL? Will the funding be available? • A possible long term increase in AAC.. Is this ACE?

25. WFP TFL 19 A 2011 TSA wood supply analysis. What assumptions were made?

27. Minimum second growth operability assumptions

29. USE of SIBEC

30. Site Indexes used.

31. What is AAC sensitive to? AAC Sensitivity analyses adjustments

32. Impacts; Adjusted AACs is this ACE?

33. A coastal Net Merchantable Volume Yield CurveFuture Managed Stands within the CWHxm2 Subzone (SIBECfert scenario) Operable at 40yrs? Tree size? Value?

34. Classic yield curve shift T. Erdle New Brunswick talk on ACE Space at 15 cut at 45

35. Senior BC foresters on QCI naturally regenerated block, harvested 2013 after equipment abandoned in 1920sWhen will the next stand be operable, when should it be?

36. Harvesting PCT’d Sitka today on QCI at 50-60 years and over 1000m3/ha Steve Lorimer report

37. Baskerville Timber Supply Planning requirements Baskerville 1994 Are there plans like this on the coast of BC?

38. Alberta relies on the competence and professionalism of regulated forestry professionals (RFP) to apply sound forestry principles and practices. The standard’s focus is to ensure a strong and direct connection between, • the desired future forest condition and a spatially planned harvest sequence, and • predictions of forest growth and yield and actual stand level performance. Alberta shall consult with each FMA holder to explain how the standard applies to existing and future FMPs

39. Ontario Min. Natural Resources. Treatment of ACE Note, the benchmark curves do not address all silviculture treatment possibilities and the OMNR does not currently allow all treatments (such CT). Consequently, monitoring plots are established on the ground following these type of treatment (note, however, that CT is expected to be an improve practice in the near future). In these cases, various yield assumptions are used, on an interim basis, instead. Dirk also mentioned that the temporal resolution of the forest planning model is usually at the decadal level, so when ACE-based treatments reduce the operable age by less than this threshold, the effects are muted or omitted in the yield forecasts, and hence the ACE remains unaccounted for. In the long-term however, Ontario is expected to incorporate stand-level spatial-based models (e.g., PatchWorks) into the planning process, which will improve the explicit use of the ACE and better account for its benefits. P Newton CFS Sault Ste Marie

40. OMNR treatment of ACE In summary, Ontario conceptually accepts the yield increases arising from ACE-based silviculture treatments indirectly via modeling (the use of the appropriate benchmark yield curve where applicable) or yield assumptions and monitoring (if benchmark yield curves do not exist for a given silviculture treatment). However, it shy’s away from direct acknowledgement of ACE increases in its yield forecasts since in many cases, other policies negate the potential ACE benefits given the imposition of other constraints (e.g., extending rotation ages to 100 yr to accommodate forest-level-based Caribou habitat requirements irrespective of the silviculture treatments at the stand-level). P Newton CFS Sault Ste Marie

41. Economic operabilityand harvest availability. Need for PCT/ • Harvest-origin hemlock-leading stands have also reached cutting age (40-60 years) but are currently not economically operable, unless other, higher-value stands can carry the operating costs • Economic operability and early harvest availability will be a key issue as we move forward in this period of constrained landbase and harvest levels on the coast. BCMoF

43. Weetman’s grumpy views ACE in BC on Crown Coastal High Yielding Forests • Nobody designated to be the accountable manager of a forest unit. • No Baskerville STEP 3 type of forest management plans • Future timber values are wildly uncertain • AAC based on cubic meters, not value • Under the tenure system there are no incentives for corporate investment • Future public funding for silviculture very uncertain • Timber of lower priority for FLRNO administrators • Forest Practice Board has no mandate to investigate “management planning’ only “practice”. Who should? • Is there not a unique BC coastal advantage to grow more valuable trees at low risk on shorter rotations on Crown Land?

44. Relevant comment from Bill Bourgeois • , I would like to see companies start to look at the long term and incorporate community sustainability and corporate social responsibility into their company vision and performance measures. • As far as the government is concerned, here in BC, there is one fundamental thing that I believe would make a significant difference. It is for government to move towards area-based management, including building a contractual arrangement that encourages investment, provides security to companies as well as the province and rewards innovation. • I would also like government to encourage strategic planning at the forest level. I would also like to see companies include performance measurement of staff based on both short-term bottom line and longer term sustainable forest management deliverables. • If companies weighed long term strategic performance measures for at least 25% of the assessment and we built in the area-based management concept, it would be amazing what we could do with BC forests and hopefully across Canada