Protecting Forests from Lumber Greed

BC Green Forestry Practices Save Trees

Forests are disappearing worldwide, clear-cut for lumber sales without regard for sustainable reforestation practices.

According to a CBC News story ("Is there hope for the world's vanishing forests?" 08/06/24), "Each year, 13 million hectares of forest is lost, according to 2005 figures." Of course, deforestation is a natural part of human civilization; trees provide materials for industry and development.

But modern forestry practices have, in general terms and until recently, left behind tree farms which often succumb to diseases, pine beetles and forest fires. Sadly, much of the profit from stumpage has gone to enormous multi-national corporations that, as Bruce Cockburn says, "cut and move on," leaving barren ground, weakened watersheds and a loss of biodiversity.

Technological Innovations Can Save Trees

Innovations in technology and technique will help to:

• Improve forestry practices by minimizing waste and environmental impact
• Advance civil engineering projects for eco-housing and recycling, thus decreasing the demand for lumber
• Replace wood-based products with more ecologically sound alternatives, reducing the need for logging

In British Columbia, equally important for sustainable silviculture are revisions to the Forestry Revitalization Act, especially in the allowable annual cut, and perhaps even to those tax laws that pertain to outside interests and ownership in the logging industry.

Renewing a Reverence for the Forest

BC-based environmentalist David Suzuki notes that "Ecology and economy have the same root word - 'eco', and it means 'home'. But what we have done is elevate the economy above ecology."

The spiritual connotations that come with notions of family and friends are lost to marketplace semantics like 'stumpage' and double-speak terms like 'forestry revitalization.' By deconstructing the language we can assign moral responsibility for the state of forests where it truly belongs.