Changes needed in silvicultural practices
Québec, December 14, 2004
– The Commission for the study of public forest management
in Québec has tabled a series of recommendations that
aim at changing the way silviculture is practised in Québec,
in softwood, hardwood and mixed forests.
“Our analyses show that forests are
overharvested because cutting is sometimes done the wrong
way and in the wrong place. What is positive though, is that
we could harvest more wood if forests were better managed,”
explained Éric Bauce, one of the Commission members.
Faced with a major deficit in quality hardwoods
and the need for a downward review of the maximum sustainable
yield estimates for softwood forests, the Commission recommends
a series of solutions to bring wood production to new levels.
In addition to completing the protected areas network and
applying ecosystem-based management principles, which aim
at the integrated management of all resources, this new silvicultural
balance must be geared, on the one hand, toward the wood production
capacity of forests and, on the other, to the ability of a
wood processing industry to compete on world markets.
As part of its work, the Commission questioned,
among other things, the notion of yield effect. In softwood
forests, for instance, this approach makes it possible to
anticipate the quantity of wood that will be available in
the long term so as to immediately harvest additional volumes
every year. Along with increasing the supply for mills, this
concept puts additional stumpage fees in the government’s
coffers, and by the same token, increases the availability
of credits for silvicultural treatments admitted as payment
of dues. As a result, there are benefits for most stakeholders.
However, depending on the percentage of harvested volumes
the yield effect represents, there is no question that using
it when allocating wood volumes entails certain risks for
the long-term future of forests, companies and communities
that depend on them.
“This is what prompts us to recommend
that the annual allowable cut for each public forest management
unit be established, among other things, according to basic
management practices that do not automatically anticipate
the yield effect of the silvicultural strategy,” pointed
out Jean Huot, the Commission vice-chair.
The Commission also recommends the implementation
of a policy calling for areas to be fully reforested after
harvesting, according to each site’s conditions, and
that the silvicultural work required to reach this objective
be henceforth at the operator’s expense. This would
mean doing away with the credits for dues currently granted
by the government for work performed to put forest land back
into production. The Commission believes that this change
will likely improve the way silviculture is practised, increase
wood capital and, in the long term, increase the availability
of timber for harvesting purposes.
In such a context of budgetary readjustment,
more specifically in the area of silvicultural credits, the
Commission identified six priorities for using this new leeway:
acquiring new forest-related knowledge, building forest roads,
restoring quality to hardwood forests, carrying out intensive
silvicultural projects, developing inhabited forest projects
and supporting local forest stakeholders.
Throughout its consultations, the Commission
noticed the willingness of many forest stakeholders to have
access to the best knowledge available on forest resources
and biophysical processes, so they could make informed decisions.
In this area, the Commission recommends the creation of a
program for acquiring knowledge in which the level of financial
investment for research would reach $10 million per year in
the next five years.
In a context where management strategies
for Québec forests are being redefined, the Commission
also sees the implementation of a forest road program as a
priority. In boreal forests, this program would make it possible
to harvest a higher number of presently inaccessible overmature
stands, while abiding by environmental protection objectives
and maintaining biological diversity. In the southernmost
part of Québec, priority should be given to a forest
road strategy that would take into account multi-resource
land development.
As for intensive silviculture, the Commission
proposes the implementation of a strategy that would call
for projects on high-potential sites, both in public forests
and private woodlots. With this approach, regional decision
makers would be asked to identify areas where these projects
could be carried out and to manage invitations for proposals.
Each project would be based on a new type of contract, between
the project proponent and the government. Generally speaking,
the wood generated from these intensive silvicultural projects
would be offered on the market. Holders of harvesting rights
already in a given area would be granted a right of first
refusal option.
During the Commission’s consultations,
several stakeholders also said that they would like to see
more diverse forms of organization on the territory. Some
of them stated that they were interested in inhabited forest
projects. Among the pilot projects undertaken in Québec
in the 1990s, some are still active, even though they are
isolated initiatives that receive little support. “The
Commission recommends that the government make it easier to
carry out inhabited forest projects, by granting long-term
usufruct contracts for resources, based on contracts specific
to this type of project,” explained Commission member
Marie-Anick Liboiron.
Among the other recommendations tabled by
the Commission with regard to silviculture, there is the revision
of the Forest Management Manual and its Relative
Instructions, which would become the basis for a silvicultural
guide. The manual is currently a compendium of standards published
by the ministère des Ressources naturelles, de la Faune
et des Parcs (MRNFP) to guide the development of silvicultural
management strategies, depending on stand types and site conditions.
It is a mandatory reference for public forest managers.
The Commission believes
that transforming this manual into a silvicultural guide would
be an important step in an objective-based management approach
that should be put forth by the MRNFP. In light of its consultations,
the doubts harboured by the Commission regarding the long-term
effectiveness of current management practices, which are based
on a rigid and centralized normative framework, gave way to
the certainty that changes are necessary to promote results-based
management, where objectives are established and indicators
for measuring performance and progress are put in place. With
this new approach, the MRNFP would be called upon to establish
the main guidelines for sustainable forest management on a
Québec-wide scale, and make it possible for regional
decision makers to adapt these guidelines to their own particular
regional and local situations.
The recommendations regarding the changes
needed in the area of silviculture and objective-based management
are mainly outlined in Chapters 6, 7 and 9 of the Commission’s
report.
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