Listening to the Forest

We want to see value from our forests in in all facets. Not just values in revenue, but maintaining the beautiful forests in BC that we have is also our objective. We want to balance modernizing and evolving forest practices in BC with the integrity of our ecosystems. >> This frog is so distracting, but I love it. The Mount Elphinstone area is one of the most unique working forest in our province. We have some of the best growing conditions that have multiple high priority values. The value of hydrology in the area, the diversity that we have, the wildlife that call this place home, the communities are so close to the forest here. They spend a lot of time out in the forest and they're deeply connected to to what's going on out in the back country here. >> I mean, the lower Sunshine Coast is clearly attached to the forest around them. It's opened our eyes to how we can operate in this area. >> Four years ago now, Jocelyn came and said, "You know, we're not doing good enough in the Sunshine Coast. We really need to do better here. Um we're hearing lots of feedback from people who are concerned about the work we do and the impact that's going to have on their communities and environment." We really took that to heart and have invested hugely in talking with communities about what they would like to see on the landscape. And what we found through all those conversations is that, you know, ideally people might want us not to harvest, but if we do, they want to see us practice the latest touch forestry that we possibly can. >> So, what we're doing different here is more partial harvesting. Partial harvesting is kind of a broad term that encompasses a whole bunch of different treatments, everything from taking out small strips, small patches, having more dispersed retention throughout your block, leaving that higher density of stems that are still standing. >> It's really believing as many trees as we can. In our most recent block, we're looking at retaining 65% approximately of the timber on the landscape, which is a huge amount. And really at the end of the day, it's going to be a forested beautiful area. >> It is a very dense forest. It's at that stage where some of the smaller stems are starting to get choked out anyway, so if you pull those out, then the forest is going to be happier. But also from a wildfire perspective, removing some of that understory ladder fuels is helpful from a fuel reduction perspective as well. >> So we're in TA0521 here. This block was designed to be a higher retention harvest system, which basically means that we've left a significant number of dispersed leave trees throughout the harvest area. The residual stems provide ongoing structural diversity into the stands. This is relatively recently harvested, so it does look a little bit barren down through here, but within one growing season, you're going to have greenery come up and through. >> We picked the large trees to retain. They're 100-year-old trees, and in the future, this is going to mimic like an old growth style of forest. Those trees will grow into really large trees. We're going from a stand that's quite uniform when you look around here to the future that will have some young trees and some really large trees. We really have a long-term view when we design a block. We work quite closely with nations looking at what um values they want to see in the future, recruitment of traditional plants, of specific animals into the area. And so we try to really reflect that in the forestry practices. And if you take down fewer trees, it's much easier for us to do that, and we can actually plan for what regenerates at a later date. >> Justin, are you holding it? >> Yep. I'll pull it tight. >> Okay. There's three after this one, right? >> This block in particular has been added to a research trial, and so we'll be actively monitoring this block for things like residual stem health, and the regenerating stand underneath, and their growth patterns. We're learning here. There are research plots throughout these sales up here in Mount Elphinstone, and from that we'll be able to collect a lot of data that will tell us how these systems are responding to this kind of cut. And of course, we're in adaptive management, and so we will modify according to the the best science that we have, which is why we want to contribute to that scientific body of knowledge. We're not creating a monoculture. This kind of forestry absolutely creates a diverse forest in many ways, and with diversity often comes enhanced resilience, which is really important in this age of climate change. >> Water security is a huge concern for people on the lower Sunshine Coast, and what we did out of hearing that concern was actually commission a large-scale watershed report. What is the hydrological risk? What are the mitigating things that we can do to make sure that we're not increasing risk to the basic hydrological function in the area. When you have retention that's left on site, your ecosystem functions in a more natural way, slower snow melt, more natural evapotranspiration rates, the direct impact that you have to peak flows and low flows. All of those impacts accumulate downstream to have an impact both fish and hydrology. >> Working with this team, working with BCTS Chinook, really reflected my passion in the forest and the work that we do. And I think I'm not alone when I say that yes, we work in the forest, but we also recreate and play here. And that passion that we carry in our personal lives rolls over into the work that we do. Recreation is a huge part of of this area specifically. We want to make sure that the recreation infrastructure stays at least as good as it it was before, if not better, and potentially create new opportunities for for that type of recreation. My passion is mountain biking, and to me this is one of the best places in all BC to come and ride. I bring my family, my son, and uh spend as much time here in the forest as we possibly can. We really need to look at a whole range of values and and incorporate those into our planning. >> For me, being able to make decisions about what happens in the woods is my way of making change in the way forestry is done in the province. Elphinstone's kind of the prime example for us on how we've shifted our management approach. >> People can only look backwards to how we've operated in the past. I think we all acknowledge that one of the reasons why we're doing this is because we could practice forestry better. The mandate that we have at BC Timber Sales is not just to harvest trees. It's to harvest trees in the most socially responsible way. >> These are two prime harvest blocks that demonstrate evolving and modernizing forest practices. The level of retention is unlike anything else across our business area, and again, it comes back to listening to the people in the communities around here. Trying to balance generating revenue with societal expectations. >> The collaborative approach that our industry is turning to, I think, can only have benefits for more people. I just hope to see this area really be a demonstration of what can happen when you actually come together in a constructive way with diverse lenses on what you'd like to see. The Mount Elphinstone area, if we keep doing it the way we're doing, I have no doubt that we're going to see a long future of beautiful forest for people to recreate through older stands where people can get the values like picking mushrooms, successful salmon spawning, ensuring that the values that people actually have, that those are preserved for generations to come. That's my vision for the area, and that's the creative work of the forester now.