PAWS NEWSBULLETIN
December 19, 2007
Hello Everybody,
Good news on the Eagle River Sliver at Lois Main, Mile 1. This afternoon we were informed by Island Timberlands by phone that the company has decided it will not log the half-acre adjacent and below the main line at Mile 1, which lies inside their private lands along the Eagle River. (Note: The Sliver is not the same area as that on the highway, or that on the mouth of the river, which has also been deferred.)
This is not a permanent moratorium on the area, however, the company has taken it out of their logging plans. There may still be some pruning activity in the area to protect the remaining timber from blowdown. Island Timberlands will still be exposing the timber on the low side of the road with their logging on the high side of the road, and they want to do their dilligence to protect it from blowdown as best they can. The company will come out with a written statement re this matter in the coming days.
The Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society (PRPAWS) applauds Island Timberlands protecting fish, biological diversity and recreation/tourism, and we thank them for this gesture of good will.
For further information contact Makenzie Leine at Island Timberlands: mleine@islandtimberlands.com.
Cheers,
Eagle
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Suggestions for a modified LRMP
SUGGESTIONS FOR A MODIFIED LAND AND RESOUCE MANAGEMENT PLAN (LRMP) Dec. 1, 2007
To Round-table participants and the public:
Please add your thoughts about what a modified LRMP should contain and look like, so we can jointly come up with a written comprehensive plan that we can present to the Integrated Land Management Bureau. This is your chance to express your vision on paper and give specific situations you would like to see on the ground. Do not worry if your draft is organized, just put down your thoughts on paper. We will put it all together in a comprehensive format once we have input from everybody. You can write down your immediate thoughts and add more at a later date.
It might be interesting to start with lower level plans first focusing on exactly what we want to achieve on the ground. In other words, what do we want as an end result and what is already in place at lower level plans, like the Bunster Plan. To do this we need to integrate all the competing interests such as logging and all community values. How can these co-exist, and what should the landscape look like now, and over time. Achievable results will entail compromises from all sides. Not only do we need to examine the environment but we need to look at the economics of logging in this forest district. What would a real sustainable logging industry and job situation look like down the road? How much money will logging make for government? What are the problems for the forest industry now and in the future? What is an appropriate annual cut so all the community values can be accommodated? All of this has a large impact on the final outcome. What type of real-estate development do we want and what do we want the landscape to look like when it happens. Granted, the real-estate development will occur on private land and a better land use plan should be set up by the regional district. So many private Island Timberlands Limited Partnership (ITLP) parcels are surrounded by crown land and need to be part of the planning process. All of this will affect the forest and if we do not think about this somebody else will. Once these specific issues are looked at and dealt with then one can move up the ladder and talk about a higher level zoning land use plan.
Modified LRMP criteria.
This includes both a higher level plan giving guidance to lower level plans that will be implemented on the ground. A higher level plan might be a zoning plan with boundaries drawn on a map. The Stillwater Pilot Plan is a good example. Another example of a higher level plan would be a descriptive set of circumstances which would raise a red flag. For example, any time logging was proposed within 200 to 300 meters of a hiking trail, a red flag would pop up. That would activate lower level logging and recreation and tourism plan would kick in.
All plans should have these characteristics:
1. Easy to read and understand.
2. Flexibility built in.
3. Easy to implement.
4. Make plan as simple as possible.
5. Focus on results on the ground, what should the end result be or look like.
6. Transparency.
7. Results should be descriptive enough to prevent different interpretations.
8. Continually try to improve communication between the public and the forest company.
9. Make sure that all community groups have equal access when it comes to communicating with the forest company. All community groups should have easy access to information from the logging companies.
10. Set up a resolution dispute structure that can mediate a resolution among all parties.
11. Every three years the large logging companies on the Sunshine Coast should be required to produce a satellite map of the Sunshine Coast forest district. They can all share in the expense of this. This will give the public an oversight view of what kind of logging has taken place in the backcountry and it will show how Greenup is coming along. This is needed for proper and easy oversight by the public.
Other things that should be part of the plan:
First we need to examine the Stillwater Pilot Project plus all the other landscape level plans that exist in the Sunshine Forest District thoroughly so we do not have to re-invent the wheel.
1. Long term plan. Because the government is permitting 40 to 50 year rotation forests, we need at least a 160 year plan and 200 years is better. A report on how fast the planted trees are growing every ten years would indicate how good the soil condition is.
2. The Alder tree is a nitrogen fixer, meaning it puts nitrogen back into the soil unlike most plants. Small bumps, called nodules on the roots house an organism that converts the nitrogen in the soil into a form plants can absorb. The dead leaves also produce nitrogen indirectly. Clumps of alder should be left in logged areas to regenerate the soil. Is this happening?
3. Should 80 and 120 year plantations be considered since we do not know what the demand for trees will be in the future.
4. No more logging of old growth on the Sunshine Coast until a modified LRMP is in place. We, have very little old growth left, so until we can sort things out we do not want to eliminate our options.
5. Any old growth trees at lower elevations that are single should have 30 to 40 meters of second growth buffer left around them for their survival. A wild life tree patch would work. If there are few more giants close together a small grove should be created with a buffer around them.
6. Sustainable second growth logging plan.
7. Keep the Old Growth forest of hemlocks on Mount Troubridge intact.
8. Black bear and Grizzly habitat at the estuary of a river must be protected, so the spawning salmon can thrive and the bears can drag the fish up the banks to eat and be protected by the big trees. No logging should take place in the spawning season around these areas so the fish, bears, eagles, and other birds and animals are not disturbed at that crucial time.
9. Buffers of second growth should be kept around lakes and inlets. These should be large enough to protect against erosion and runoff. In the interface areas these buffers are a visual feature for recreation and should be more extensive.
10. Wildlife tree patches must be representative of the cut block not just stick poles or scrub brush.
11. Cut blocks can be larger in size if they have large inclusions of second growth. This inclusion into the cut block must be large enough to be able to withstand blow-downs around the edges. Any variable retention island must be large enough to withstand blow downs around the edges. The idea is to create the illusion of smaller clear cuts from different view points.
12. Start using selective logging close to trails and lake shores.
13. Smaller cut blocks close to hiking trails.
14. Water in rivers must not be restricted as that impairs salmon from swimming up the river and spawning. In salmon streams and rivers a continuous flow of water must be maintained all year around. Establish strict water flow tables. Question: is the Plutonic Run of the river projects letting enough water run down the river at all times?
15. Take second look at existing OGMAS to be sure they consist of the best old growth trees and make revisions to accomplish this. Some OGMAS have no old growth in them at all. Lower elevation old growth trees should have their own small OGMAS.
16. Plant native berry bushes along logging roads for bears and other wildlife after logging is complete. No blackberries. Give a little back.
17. Create an integrated logging and recreation, tourism lower level plan that accommodates both logging and hiking trails and recreational inventory.
Lars
To Round-table participants and the public:
Please add your thoughts about what a modified LRMP should contain and look like, so we can jointly come up with a written comprehensive plan that we can present to the Integrated Land Management Bureau. This is your chance to express your vision on paper and give specific situations you would like to see on the ground. Do not worry if your draft is organized, just put down your thoughts on paper. We will put it all together in a comprehensive format once we have input from everybody. You can write down your immediate thoughts and add more at a later date.
It might be interesting to start with lower level plans first focusing on exactly what we want to achieve on the ground. In other words, what do we want as an end result and what is already in place at lower level plans, like the Bunster Plan. To do this we need to integrate all the competing interests such as logging and all community values. How can these co-exist, and what should the landscape look like now, and over time. Achievable results will entail compromises from all sides. Not only do we need to examine the environment but we need to look at the economics of logging in this forest district. What would a real sustainable logging industry and job situation look like down the road? How much money will logging make for government? What are the problems for the forest industry now and in the future? What is an appropriate annual cut so all the community values can be accommodated? All of this has a large impact on the final outcome. What type of real-estate development do we want and what do we want the landscape to look like when it happens. Granted, the real-estate development will occur on private land and a better land use plan should be set up by the regional district. So many private Island Timberlands Limited Partnership (ITLP) parcels are surrounded by crown land and need to be part of the planning process. All of this will affect the forest and if we do not think about this somebody else will. Once these specific issues are looked at and dealt with then one can move up the ladder and talk about a higher level zoning land use plan.
Modified LRMP criteria.
This includes both a higher level plan giving guidance to lower level plans that will be implemented on the ground. A higher level plan might be a zoning plan with boundaries drawn on a map. The Stillwater Pilot Plan is a good example. Another example of a higher level plan would be a descriptive set of circumstances which would raise a red flag. For example, any time logging was proposed within 200 to 300 meters of a hiking trail, a red flag would pop up. That would activate lower level logging and recreation and tourism plan would kick in.
All plans should have these characteristics:
1. Easy to read and understand.
2. Flexibility built in.
3. Easy to implement.
4. Make plan as simple as possible.
5. Focus on results on the ground, what should the end result be or look like.
6. Transparency.
7. Results should be descriptive enough to prevent different interpretations.
8. Continually try to improve communication between the public and the forest company.
9. Make sure that all community groups have equal access when it comes to communicating with the forest company. All community groups should have easy access to information from the logging companies.
10. Set up a resolution dispute structure that can mediate a resolution among all parties.
11. Every three years the large logging companies on the Sunshine Coast should be required to produce a satellite map of the Sunshine Coast forest district. They can all share in the expense of this. This will give the public an oversight view of what kind of logging has taken place in the backcountry and it will show how Greenup is coming along. This is needed for proper and easy oversight by the public.
Other things that should be part of the plan:
First we need to examine the Stillwater Pilot Project plus all the other landscape level plans that exist in the Sunshine Forest District thoroughly so we do not have to re-invent the wheel.
1. Long term plan. Because the government is permitting 40 to 50 year rotation forests, we need at least a 160 year plan and 200 years is better. A report on how fast the planted trees are growing every ten years would indicate how good the soil condition is.
2. The Alder tree is a nitrogen fixer, meaning it puts nitrogen back into the soil unlike most plants. Small bumps, called nodules on the roots house an organism that converts the nitrogen in the soil into a form plants can absorb. The dead leaves also produce nitrogen indirectly. Clumps of alder should be left in logged areas to regenerate the soil. Is this happening?
3. Should 80 and 120 year plantations be considered since we do not know what the demand for trees will be in the future.
4. No more logging of old growth on the Sunshine Coast until a modified LRMP is in place. We, have very little old growth left, so until we can sort things out we do not want to eliminate our options.
5. Any old growth trees at lower elevations that are single should have 30 to 40 meters of second growth buffer left around them for their survival. A wild life tree patch would work. If there are few more giants close together a small grove should be created with a buffer around them.
6. Sustainable second growth logging plan.
7. Keep the Old Growth forest of hemlocks on Mount Troubridge intact.
8. Black bear and Grizzly habitat at the estuary of a river must be protected, so the spawning salmon can thrive and the bears can drag the fish up the banks to eat and be protected by the big trees. No logging should take place in the spawning season around these areas so the fish, bears, eagles, and other birds and animals are not disturbed at that crucial time.
9. Buffers of second growth should be kept around lakes and inlets. These should be large enough to protect against erosion and runoff. In the interface areas these buffers are a visual feature for recreation and should be more extensive.
10. Wildlife tree patches must be representative of the cut block not just stick poles or scrub brush.
11. Cut blocks can be larger in size if they have large inclusions of second growth. This inclusion into the cut block must be large enough to be able to withstand blow-downs around the edges. Any variable retention island must be large enough to withstand blow downs around the edges. The idea is to create the illusion of smaller clear cuts from different view points.
12. Start using selective logging close to trails and lake shores.
13. Smaller cut blocks close to hiking trails.
14. Water in rivers must not be restricted as that impairs salmon from swimming up the river and spawning. In salmon streams and rivers a continuous flow of water must be maintained all year around. Establish strict water flow tables. Question: is the Plutonic Run of the river projects letting enough water run down the river at all times?
15. Take second look at existing OGMAS to be sure they consist of the best old growth trees and make revisions to accomplish this. Some OGMAS have no old growth in them at all. Lower elevation old growth trees should have their own small OGMAS.
16. Plant native berry bushes along logging roads for bears and other wildlife after logging is complete. No blackberries. Give a little back.
17. Create an integrated logging and recreation, tourism lower level plan that accommodates both logging and hiking trails and recreational inventory.
Lars
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