Serious questions raised about the tools used to estimate
the maximum sustainable yield
Québec, December 14, 2004
– A comparison of the last two forest surveys in Québec
reveals an overall drop of 4.1% in the volume of merchantable
wood on productive and accessible forest land. This decline
translates into a decrease of 7% for softwood species and
an increase of 2.5% for hardwood species.
The Commission for the study of public forest
management in Québec, which tabled its report today,
finds the situation worrisome. However, armed with technical
analyses and reports, the Commission points out that it is
possible to turn this situation around.
Overall, the Commission found that in the
past 20 years, the methods used to manage forests in the boreal
zone have not made it possible to achieve the wood yields
required to sustain the harvest volumes currently authorized.
“This decline in merchantable softwood
volumes shows that the combined removal of wood – either
through harvesting or losses from natural disturbances or
tree mortality – has exceeded the production capacity
of softwood forests,” explained Éric Bauce, one
of the Commission members.
According to Mr. Bauce, the Commission found
that for the boreal softwood forest, several regions have
been subject to a kind of high grading at the stand level.
This not only means a decline in merchantable volumes, more
or less pronounced depending on the species, but also that
the wood is becoming less accessible economically due to its
distance away from mills and the fact it is geographically
more spread out or of lower quality. Due to this situation,
the Commission is tabling a series of recommendations so that,
in the future, harvesting activities better take into account
tree quality and stand accessibility, in space and in time.
Like several of the groups that spoke at
the public hearings, the Commission is deeply concerned by
the current degraded state of hardwood forests. Despite efforts
by the ministère des Ressources naturelles, de la Faune
et des Parcs (MRNFP) to promote single-tree selection cutting,
the Commission found that certain companies went so far as
to cut down most of the good trees, leaving the forest to
degrade even further. “This situation where the best
trees are cut one by one goes counter to all sustainable development
principles and is even more unacceptable since this situation
was clearly in the making over twenty years ago,” pointed
out Commission member André Bouchard.
Based on the action plan tabled by the MRNFP
to remedy the hardwood forest situation, the Commission believes
that it is necessary to give these corrective measures time
to work. However, should there be no noticeable improvement
in the next two or three years, the MRNFP should seriously
consider assuming the entire responsibility for marking the
trees to be harvested.
The Commission, chaired
by Guy Coulombe, also concluded that the methods currently
used to assess the state of forests and to evaluate the maximum
sustainable yield in Québec forests present serious
deficiencies.
These conclusions are corroborated by three
major studies conducted in the last year. With a mandate from
the Commission, two of these technical studies were done by
outside firms (CERFO and Optivert), whereas the third study
was undertaken by a scientific committee overseen by the MRNFP.
The Commission is deeply concerned by these
findings. “Our analyses confirm that Québec seriously
lags behind when it comes to adopting new technologies and
ensuring the statistical rigor that would enable it to have
an accurate portrait of the state of its forests. This deficiency
not only has major consequences for the volume of wood that
can be harvested in public forests, but also for decisions
regarding the integrated management of resources on Québec
land,“ pointed out Commission member Éric Bauce.
Backed by studies, the Commission believes
that it is possible to remedy this situation. It has therefore
tabled a series of recommendations that aim, among other things,
at improving the forest survey system and the maximum sustainable
yield estimates so that the next round of management plans
for Québec’s public forests can start anew, on
more solid footing.
The Commission therefore recommends that
the next management plans come into force only in 2008, rather
than according to the current timetable of 2007, so that in
the meantime, Québec can put in place the necessary
technical tools to take into account the spatial dimensions
relating to available wood volumes.
“The good news is that these tools
exist and are used elsewhere,” explained Commission
member Éric Bauce. “In a few months, we were
able to demonstrate that it is entirely feasible to take basic
data from the current system (Sylva software), and add them
to other tools that make it possible to spatialize maximum
sustainable yield estimates.”
If changes are made quickly, the Commission
is confident that the next estimates of available wood volumes
will better reflect the true state of forests along with the
location of stands and trees that should be harvested. This
will be done in accordance to environmental standards, the
sites to be protected and the needs of all forest resource
users.
The recommendations regarding the changes
needed in the forest survey system and to timber management
are mainly outlined in Chapters 5 and 6 of the Commission’s
report.
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