Loading ...When I had the woodlot and the ranch I donated 2.5 hectors of land to Kalamalka research station for a trial of 880 different species of Sitka Spruce, prepared the site for them and planted the seedlings at 1 meter intervals. Then assessed the site annually by measuring the new growth and the condition of the trees. Eventually we had to thin (space) the stand as the trees grew.
What offended me about that previous google picture showing all the clear cuts was what appeared to be a lack of concern for the aesthetics of the clearcuts with all the (literal) blocks of clearcuts. The picture you just posted is to me very pleasing to the eye and shows the effort they went to to make it so. A concern of mine is that, at least in the past, they were replanting entire cutblocks with single species like all lodgepole pine, or all spruce; then a few years later those cutblocks would be wiped out by pine or spruce beatle for a total loss. What I was doing on my woodlot, aside from select logging, was to fill-plant several varieties of trees. ie pine, spruce, balsam fir, cedar so there would be a natural mix of tree varieties for future harvests.
IMO the forest industry was severely hurt with the Forest Practices Code BC implemented in about (?1990?)which shifted the replanting responsibility from the Province to the logger and also raised the stumpage drastically as well….. but then the Province was guilty of almost never doing their replanting through Section 88 funding as they were “required” to do. Well, it was great for the Province to shift all the responsibility to the logger but many of the mills and loggers went belly up and in central BC most are still not operating. The other things that I notice that were painful for the industry was that when the Registered Forester prepared the 5 year cutting plans, prior to the new Forest Practices Code my cost was $5000 for the 5 year plan. After the change my cost was $35,000 for the 5 year plan due to all that had been added that had to be done. The other thing that happened is that rather than the forestry being in the forest to make sure the work was progressing properly, they became what we called “Forest Police” because all they seemed to do was try to find infractions and fine the logger for them.
So I guess there is good and bad, pro’s and cons, to everything but it appears to me the Province really shot the logger in the heart and themselves in the foot with that new Forest Practices Code. All IMO of course.
All the Best Equiz………… Silverngold