The Clear Cut

This week we return to our conversation with fire ecologist Jen Baron from the University of British Columbia. In our last episode, we explored the main causes of the severe wildfires we've been experiencing in recent years. Now we turn our focus to strategies for managing those factors within our control.
We know wildfires are driven by topography, climate, and the availability of fuel. While we can’t alter a forest’s underlying topography, we can reduce the carbon emissions fueling climate change. And in the short term, we can improve forest management practices, such as fire suppression and clearcutting, to prevent an increase in flammable material. With Jen, we explore tools that can break the cycle of a century of fire suppression. What are the opportunities for forestry and what is missing from the public discourse on wildfires?

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

Last summer was a record-breaking wildfire season for Canada. As smoke blanketed major Canadian cities and even portions of the East Coast and Midwest of the United States, media coverage soared.  
This year, wildfire season has already started. Experts are warning of another series of catastrophic impacts. What is driving these unprecedented, longer wildfire seasons? Is there something missing in the public narrative? In this episode, we’re looking for answers.
This week, we set the stage for our wildfire inquiry by asking some of the pressing questions with a fire ecologist expert. We sit down with Jen Baron from the University of British Columbia for some insights. What are the main drivers? What is the role of forest management policies, and is there a disconnect between the two?

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

We return to our conversation with Rachel Plotkin from the David Suzuki Foundation and Dr. Julee Boan from Natural Resources Defense Council. This week we’re talking caribou and the economics of forestry.

Boreal caribou habitat overlaps with forest areas where harvesting takes place. Caribou are also a species-at-risk, in trouble across the country. Julee and Rachel break down two narratives that are simultaneously taking place. One behind closed doors that seems to understand the science and is amenable to protecting this indicator species. But then in the public arena, the narrative flips to paint caribou conservation as a threat to economic health. Are economic and environmental values inherently at odds? Or as Rachel says, is there “room for both”?

Check out more of Rachel and Julee's work by reading  The State of the Forest in Canada: Seeing Through the Spin  and the Room for Both reports. 

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

Every year the federal government publishes a ‘State of the Forest’ report which, touts itself as “a trusted and authoritative source of comprehensive information on the social, economic and environmental state of Canada’s forests and forest sector for 33 years.” But do these annual reports truly accomplish this promise? This year, 8 environmental organizations released their own report, The State of the Forest in Canada: Seeing Through the Spin, to challenge many of the conclusions in the government’s annual report.

We sit down with the David Suzuki Foundation’s Rachel Plotkin and the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Dr. Julee Boan to discuss the details of this investigation. Why is the government’s annual report inadequate? What is missing, and what are the ramifications?

Read  the report here.

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

We return this week with our own Senior Forest Conservation Manager, Dave Pearce, to cover the wider implications of Wildlands’ Logging Scars report.

In our last episode we learned that Wildlands League’s study showed an average of 14% of the forest is not regenerated after one cycle of full-tree harvesting. While that may not seem like a significant impact to the forest, Dave explains why this isn’t the case. In addition to reducing our resilience to climate change, logging scars spell serious trouble for biodiversity as well.  We give context to degradation in Canada’s forests and why there’s a need for higher quality data to better understand the impacts of logging on the landscape.

Check out the Logging Scars webpage to read the report and see the eye-opening images.

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

What happens to the areas of Canada’s forests that have been impacted by full-tree harvesting? According to international rules the term ‘deforestation’ only occurs when a forest is converted into another land use, like a shopping mall, farm or housing development. We don’t count formerly forested areas that are now barren as deforested, if the area remains designated for forestry. But could it, should it be classified as forest degradation?

Our own Senior Forest Conservation Manager, Dave Pearce unpacks Wildlands League’s 2019 Logging Scars report on the subject. We discuss the genesis of this pivotal report. What kickstarted our investigation into areas that were still barren 30 years or more after logging? What did we assume going into this, and what did we discover? The findings may surprise you. 

Check out the Logging Scars webpage to read the report and see the eye-opening images.

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

In part 2 of our conversation with Conservation North, Michelle Connolly gives us a lesson in forest ecology and forestry semantics. How does British Columbia and the forestry industry use seemingly ‘green’ language to justify more logging of the province’s natural forests? Who is forestry sustainable for? The planet? The species? Or the companies?
We also get  a sneak peek into Conservation North’s new report on U.K. biofuel producer Drax, and how they’re continuing to source materials from rare old growth forests.

Learn more about Conservation North on their website and read the report they co-authored, Logging What's Left.

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

If natural forests are ‘self-willed, self-managing, and self-replacing’ to respond and adapt to disturbances like fire and pest-outbreaks, should we be logging more as some suggest? Or should our approach be more precautionary?

This week, Michelle Connolly from Conservation North takes us back into the forests of British Columbia. She breaks down for us the severity of B.C.'s industrial logging impacts that her organization has documented through spatial mapping. While logging is advertised as a necessary means to manage B.C.’s forests, including for pests and wildfires, we unpack why fire and pests are actually part of the natural forest cycle.

Learn more about Conservation North on their website and check out the  Seeing Red map.

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

This week, we return to our conversation with Richard Robertson and Tegan Hansen from STAND.Earth on forestry issues in British Columbia. Wood pellets, or biomass fuels, from B.C.’s forests are being touted as a large-scale, carbon neutral energy source. Does the carbon accounting behind those claims add up? What are some alternative solutions for the future of the forestry industry?

Richard and Tegan also share their experiences at last year’s climate COP in Dubai with us. Find out what it was like to be an observer at the biggest stage for international climate negotiations and how Canada’s forests can be affected.


Learn more about STAND.Earth on their website.

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/

We’re in beautiful British Columbia this week with STAND.Earth’s Richard Robertson and Tegan Hansen talking forestry on Canada’s west coast. In the first of two episodes, we talk to our guests about STAND’s forest campaigns in B.C. We cover the province’s approach to forest policy, how government and industry see B.C.’s forests as a tool in the renewable energy transition, and what the shocking carbon implications are.

Learn more about STAND.Earth on their website.

Make sure to check out the show notes on the podcast webpage for more links and helpful resources.

You can help this community grow by sharing the podcast with your friends.

Support the show

https://wildlandsleague.org/theclearcut/