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Valhalla Wilderness Society
P.O. Box 329, New Denver, British Columbia V0G 1S0
Telephone: (250) 358-2333; fax: 358-7950;
e-mail: vws@vws.org
March 2, 1999
PRESS RELEASE
BC Government Perpetuates Scientific Hoax Aimed at Logging Parks
The Valhalla Wilderness Society says Tweedsmuir and Entiako Parks are about to fall prey to systematic manipulation aimed at breaking down the protection of parks. "Tweedsmuir Park is one of BC's oldest parks, created in 1936," says Colleen McCrory, chairperson of the Valhalla Wilderness Society (VWS). "Entiako Park is part of an approved LRMP land use plan.
The timber industry is trying to get part of Tweedsmuir removed from the park or logged within the park, and there is pressure to scuttle Entiako's park status."
"These campaigns are based upon creating hysteria in local communities, governments and media," says Anne Sherrod, a VWS director.
"Misrepresentations are to be expected from the timber industry, but the government should be ashamed for reacting as if these fabricated emergencies have scientific reality." The following are among the top deceptions in an ecological hoax of huge proportions:
- Tweedsmuir and Entiako are being portrayed as "Typhoid Marys" about to spread insects to outlying forest if not logged immediately. In actual fact, there is an epidemic of pine bark beetle all over the Chilcotin Plateau. Extensive clearcutting on the plateau has not "controlled" the spread of the beetle. These parks caught their beetles from forest subjected to extensive clearcutting. If the parks are logged, the outlying forest will be as susceptible to beetle infestation as ever.
- The timber industry portrays dead and dying trees as having no beneficial use unless logged. Ecologists tell us that insect and disease infestations are absolutely critical to the health of the forest. When left on the ground, the dead trees increase soil fertility and biological diversity. They cause explosions of insect populations, many of them beneficial species which prey upon the disease-causing insects directly, or which support a booming population of birds, which in turn prey upon the disease agents.
- The role of clearcutting in worsening and spreading insect infestations is covered up. Just one of the ways clearcutting promotes insect infestation is that it greatly reduces biological diversity; it damages soil, and dries out surrounding forest. Clearcutting is devastating biological diversity everywhere outside the boundaries of parks. Leaving the dead trees on the ground in parks is critical to maintaining ecological balance in forests throughout the province.
The government remains silent about these deceptions because they are consistent with the model promoted by the Ministry of Forests. "They are ignoring scientific studies and the opinions of prominent forest ecologists and entomologists," says Wayne McCrory, a wildlife biologist and member of the government's Scientific Panel on grizzly bears. This fraudulent model of forest ecology is being used to fuel a vicious cycle of political manipulation, as follows:
Q On several occasions the BC government has virtually suspended the Park Act and replaced it with "consultation," or with a commission or other advisory committee. The willingness to do this has signalled to industry that there is something to be gained by applying huge pressure to log parks. The pressure would go away if the government showed it was committed to upholding the Park Act. Instead, we may be sure that it will be used to justify a commission, task force or advisory council for Tweedsmuir and Entiako, and the Park Act won't be worth the paper it was written on.
Q Municipalities near these parks, Regional Districts and the Union of BC Municipalities have proven that these levels of government should not have special influence in provincial park management. They have no scientific staff, no mandate for environmental protection, no responsibility to the province as a whole, and they are politically susceptible to inflammatory and misleading timber industry campaigns.
Q Pressure on Tweedsmuir and Entiako parks may also have been stepped up to get salvage logging approved before the government can respond to the Park Legacy Report. THE LEGACY PANEL SAID NO TO SALVAGE LOGGING IN PARKS.
"Salvage logging is just the thin edge of the wedge being used to get logging in parks in general," says McCrory. "Our government and the timber industry need to be reminded that the question of how we manage forest in parks was debated and settled a long time ago by the Park Act. Put succinctly, we don't manage forests in parks for the benefit of the timber industry.
Contact persons: Colleen McCrory, 358-2333
Anne Sherrod 358-2610 Valhalla Wilderness Society
P.O. Box 329, New Denver, British Columbia V0G 1S0 Telephone: (250)358-2333; fax: 358-7950; e-mail: vws@vws.org
March 2, 1999
Background Information
Salavte Logging and Ecological Fraud in British Columbia
"The cutting and removal of even one tree is an unnatural event. I'm not suggesting that we stop logging, but I am suggesting that we stop defending tree removal as a natural process."
Herb Hammond, RPF, forest ecologist
Silva Forest Foundation
"The 'forest health' scare is a planned use of anthropomorphic, fear riddled, simile to convince a, generally unknowing, public that everything is in a state of emergency. History tells us that this 'big lie' technique is the cornerstone of dictatorial government."
Professor Arthur Partridge
Plant Pathologist
formerly at the University of Idaho
ECOLOGICAL HOAX #1: FOREST HEALTH REQUIRES STAMPING OUT INSECT INFESTATIONS AND DISEASE
Outside the boundaries of our parks, a fraudulent model of ecosystem management is growing to huge proportions - a model that is blatantly false in its very foundation: the concept of what constitutes ecosystem health.
How long can our parks remain like islands of truth in this engulfing sea of deception?
Under the Forest Practices Code, "forest health" is the premise by which Ministry of Forests district managers can use their discretion to authorize exemptions from the limits on the size of clearcuts. "Forest health" has become synonymous with salvage logging - the logging of trees that are dead and dying because of insect outbreaks, disease, windthrow or fire.
Salvage logging became a reality in BC parks in 1996 with the logging of Wells Gray Provincial Park to remove blowdown. There are other parks where salvage logging has already taken place. Government policy stipulates that BC Parks, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forests will make joint decisions on cross-boundary issues such as disease, insects and fire.
The false model of ecosystem management which we will go on to describe is the model approved by the Ministry of Forests and, apparently, by the Ministry of Environment.
Many forest ecologists and entomologists view insects and disease as natural processes which are critical to the health of the forest. Research indicates that, instead of disease "destroying" healthy forest, it actually rejuvenates unhealthy forest. In "Roles of Insects and Diseases in Sustaining Forests," T. Schowalter at the Entomology Department of Oregon State University stated:
"Despite limited study of the contributions of insects and pathogens to forest health and long-term productivity, accumulating evidence suggests that these organisms respond to declining forest health and diversity and function to increase soil fertility and diversity. Although growth reduction and tree mortality are conspicuous results of insect and disease epidemics, contributions to soil fertility and species diversity have been shown to increase productivity and stabilize species interactions for decades following outbreaks of these organisms. The roles likely minimize forest stagnation by providing for constant tree and species turnover and rejuvenation, thereby buffering forests from effects of environmental change. Current models for predicting impacts of insects and diseases on forest resources do not address these positive roles."
Dr. Arthur Partridge, a professor of Forest Disease and Insect Problems at the University of Idaho, with a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology, testified before the US Senate Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management. The following summarizes his written testimony which was based upon 37 years of scientific research with 70 publications, including 5 books. The entire document is available on request from the Valhalla Wilderness Society.
Benefits of disease and insects: Professor Partridge's list of the benefits of disease organisms and insects is two pages long. Many of these benefits depend upon leaving the dead trees on the ground to provide snags and later to fall and rot on the ground. There are also critically important direct benefits through the action of the disease organism, itself, on the soil. Dr. Partridge states: "None of these, or similar, effects are recognized in any statements or documents arising from the current forest health crusade."
Clearcutting injures forest health and promotes imbalances of insects and disease: "The more serious problems, moveover, exist in areas high-graded and repeatedly disturbed by wood-mining activities, common practices in our forests."
Recovery of forests is omitted: "Damage is undeniably caused by insects and disease, but if we subtract from the damage figures, the added reproduction, regrowth of released trees and natural conversions to resistant species and resistant individuals, the picture is one of recovery during time, not of severe health problems ... Why is it that a balance of loss against recovery is omitted from recent documents portraying declining forest health?"
Treatments by salvage logging may increase the problems: "Further disturbance in the form of "salvage" or other heavy activity is going to stress the remaining trees, further modify soil structure, remove wildlife habitats, add to water-quality problems and reverse recovery trends."
THE PINE BARK BEETLE ON
THE CHILCOTIN PLATEAU
The pine bark beetle is a natural part of the ecology of the lodgepole pine forest on the Chilcotin Plateau, where Tweedsmuir and Entiako parks are located. Experts say the trees become susceptible when they reach maturity, in about 100-125 years. Other susceptibility factors include the density of the forest, i.e., if trees are growing too close together, this weakens their defences; and the health of populations of birds and beneficial insects which eat disease-causing insects. Other natural controls of the insects are fire and extreme cold. The fighting of fires to save timber for the timber industry is one of the factors that has unbalanced the health of the forest. Parks where the infestations can run their course keep up the populations of species which prey on insects which kill trees.
In BC the Forest Practices Code allows district managers to approve clearcuts without public review for "emergency" reasons, i.e., if the wood from dead trees stands to deteriorate before it can be logged by normal procedures. In response to insect activity, licensees often propose clearcuts far larger than the standards allow, and these may be approved through district manager discretion. In the Fort St. John region, clearcuts 500-1,000 hectares have been approved on the basis of "forest health" concerns. In the remote northern regions of BC, the timber industry pressure has apparently used the forest health scare to extend clearcutting from dead and dying trees to stands which are "susceptible" to insects.
This can be expected if salvage logging is allowed in our parks.
Either the government or the timber industry had a consultant estimate the value of timber affected by an insect outbreak in Tweedsmuir Park. This was then translated into the number of jobs and government revenue that would come from logging the "infested and endangered timber". Allegedly, it would bring $30 million in stumpage revenues and provide direct employment for "about 100 loggers, 40 truckers and 250 sawmill workers for one year".
Share BC, a group funded by the timber industry, then sent this information out in news releases and began to lobby for support in communities beleaguered by timber shortages. In a news release dated November 12, 1995, Share suggested that the Ministry of Forests' ailing Small Business Program could be fed wood from fire-killed and beetle-killed trees throughout the park system, with Tweedsmuir being a test case. The proposal included building a road into the park. It was acknowledged this would "compromise the park's integrity", but on the other hand, Tweedsmuir's forest was "being destroyed", and the infestation would soon spread outside the boundaries of the park.
The conclusion of the press release stated:
"Some people want logging in parks. Others do not. It's time for a full and honest debate on how we should manage forests within parks and protected areas, not just outside them."
Our pro-industry government and the timber industry need to be reminded that the question of how we manage forest in parks was debated and settled a long time ago by the Park Act. Put succinctly, we don't manage forests in parks for the benefit of the timber industry.
As the powerful arguments for leaving dead trees in the parks become well known, the reasons used to justify salvage logging have shifted to visitor safety. We're told that blowdown and trees killed by insects are a fire hazard. When does fire hazard warrant intervention by logging? Are there other ways to address the problem? In the absence of advice from fire experts, the Valhalla Wilderness Society contacted US and BC park managers, US and BC fire fighters, and also discussed the matter with Professor Partridge, to find out what is generally known about the issues:
1. The US and BC fire fighter both stated that the fires they've attended were usually in conjunction with clearcuts and tree plantations, either escaped slash burns or fires started in small debris on plantations. Both felt that the greatest fire hazard is on tree plantations where there is pruning and thinning of small trees, with the stems left on the ground.
This is a fire hazard that exists on thousands of hectares of tree farms.
Both stated in so many words that when it suits corporation profits to leave hazardous material on the ground, the choice is to watch the area and fight a fire if it happens.
2. Large trees pose little fire hazard because they hold moisture. Small trees are more of a concern. With small or large trees, once the wood has rotted, it offers little hazard. The hazard exists for about 3-5 years.
3. If blowdowns and trees killed by insects catch fire, that's part of the natural processes of the ecosystem. It is now generally recognized that natural fire is a beneficial agent in ecosystems. Even the large, hot fire that was considered so tragic in Yellowstone has now been recognized as a great boon to the wildlife species. The Grand Teton Park had a blowdown about two miles long and park managers decided not to remove it.
4. If the dead wood threatens private property or visitor safety, it could be burned intentionally when the conditions are right.
ECOLOGICAL HOAX #2: CLEARCUTS
MIMIC NATURAL DISTURBANCE
Some time ago, the BC Ministry of Forests and the timber industry began to justify their clearcutting by saying that it mimicked natural disturbance, particularly fire. This theory has had a huge effect in terms of fostering ecological fraud in BC. The Ecological Society of America has a board composed of 13 scientists from universities across the United States. Its Committee on the Scientific Bases for Ecosystem Management issued a report in 1996 which states:
"The argument is that certain intensive management practices such as fishing or logging simulate the effects of and are reasonable surrogates for natural processes such as predation or fire. At a superficial level, there are indeed some similarities ... However, the various impacts of fire on such processes as nutrient transfer, and post-fire energy balance, as well as the variety of so-called 'legacies' such as woody debris and snags (Franklin 1993) that persist from one disturbance cycle to the next, differ greatly from those of logging."
Forest ecologist and professional forester Herb Hammond, of the BC's Silva Forest Foundation, is the author of BC's first ecosystem-based plan for a whole river system. In an article on clearcutting he stated:
"No natural disturbance - wind, fire, flood or insect - ever cuts all the trees, loads them on a truck and hauls them to a mill.
"The cutting and removal of even one tree is an unnatural event. I'm not suggesting that we stop logging, but I am suggesting that we stop defending tree removal as a natural process. Perhaps this small measure of humility will help foresters and other timber managers rethink their ecologically indefensible support of clearcutting. The following four arguments expose the major differences between natural disturbances and clearcutting:
1. "Natural disturbances may kill trees, but they leave the bodies on the site ... These dead trees, or bodies, are responsible for vital functions including the maintenance of critical fish and wildlife habitat, storage and filtration of water, and maintenance of soil fertility ...
2. "Natural disturbances seldom kill all of the trees. Fire, wind, disease, and insects all leave significant numbers of trees alive in a forest following the disturbance. Most natural disturbances skip around the forest stand or landscape, creating an unpredictable mosaic of different conditions ... Even in the cases of hot, stand-replacing wildfires, individuals and groups of trees remain alive ...
3. "Major natural disturbances such as wildfires and insect outbreaks are infrequent. Natural forest stands in temperate rainforests frequently exceed 500 years in age, and interior forest stands are commonly more than 200 years old ...
4. "Natural disturbances do not create severe soil damage ... But severe soil damage is common in clearcuts - the result of scraping, gouging, and compaction by heavy equipment used for road building and removal of logs (i.e., skidding and yarding)...."
Nevertheless, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) adopted the view that clearcuts mimic fire. During the last decade, MOE worked with the MOF to develop the biodiversity guidelines of the Forest Practices Code. Fires have been rigorously suppressed by BC Forest Service for years. According to the biodiversity guidelines, one can estimate how often natural fires used to occur in an area, then log that amount of wood and still preserve the biodiversity of the area, as the logging company is taking only what nature used to take. From that point on, the timber industry and the government have been building an empire of "ecosystem management", based upon this false theory that has been repeatedly denounced by scientists.
Valhalla Wilderness Society
Box 329
New Denver, B.C. Canada V0G 1S0
phone: (250) 358-2333, fax: (250) 358-7950, e-mail: vws@vws.org
Colleen McCrory: colleenm@vws.org Erica Mallam: ericam@vws.org Marilyn Burgoon: marilynb@vws.org Craig Pettitt: craigp@vws.org Daniel Sherrod: daniels@vws.org Robin Sherrod: robin@vws.org Anne Sherrod: anne@vws.org
Anne Champagne: annec@vws.org general: vws@vws.org
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