What stands in the way of the future of sustainable forest management? There are many answers to this question, but the deepest answer may be colonialism. The very structure of our governing bodies and institutions have made it very difficult to try new things. It is possible that our colonial system of organization and decision making now stands in the way of progress. Organizations have to fight against the system to make new decisions, and move in new directions. The first thing we have to do is recognize the problem.

Resources

Ira Sutherland

Dynamics in the landscape ecology of institutions

Sponsors

West Fraser

GreenLink Forestry Inc.

Quotes

1.27.55 - 1.28.02: “Can we really transform these systems into something generally sustainable if we cannot transform ourselves first?”

Takeaways

Sustainability (10.00)

Ira defines sustainability as a dynamic process of constant learning. Institutions are meant to be constantly monitoring changes in the environment and adapting and evolving in response.

Institutions (18.51)

Institutional processes are the activities conducted on the land base which provide feedback for monitoring to the institutions.

Power (21.55)

The arrival of the provincial colonial government became the main decision-making authority for all lands in BC. From the 1970s to the 1990s, environmental NGOs began having some say with international boycotts against BC timber products. Since the 1970s, First Nations ancestral rights have also been recognized through case law in BC.

Wise use (24.10)

In BC, many areas were protected as forests and wasteful early timber harvesting practices were modified to prevent wildfires and ensure more resources for future generations.

Sustained yield (28.17)

Sustained yield forest management in 1948 formalized the goals BC had for its forests, and it sought to have a continuous or even perpetually increasing supply of timber.

Intention vs. outcome (30.15)

Ira highlights that early institutional functions in BC did not consider Indigenous land rights and the needs of the Indigenous people and it led to the 1990s pine needle epidemic and fires since.

The forest practices code (34.25)

The forest practices code was introduced in 1995. 11 different values have to be managed alongside timber, such as biodiversity.

Timber bias (36.56)

Ira laments that even though new policies have been created, they are layered on top of the old ones, but it doesn’t remove the emphasis on sustained yield in forest management in BC.

Change (44.50)

BC has restricted converting forest to regulated stands to 15% of the land, elevated First Nations decision-makers in the area and created new types of conservation zones.

Social values (59.40)

Ira’s research paper measures biophysical structures within the forest and uses that as a proxy to estimate the capacity of a given forest and provide multiple ecosystem services.

Multi-dimensional approach (1.03.15)

Ira opines that better data on multiple ecosystem services and a structured decision-making process need to inform forest management practices.

Polycentric forest governance (1.11.11)

Managing the forest locally is the top recommendation in Ira’s paper to effectively monitor changes, understand local values and make management decisions that reflect those.

Forest management recommendations (1.14.30)

The second recommendation in Ira’s paper is to maintain and restore complex landscapes, with heterogeneity at the stand and landscape scale for ecologically resilient landscapes. The third recommendation is to help institutions adapt through reflective processes.