Innovation Anthology #76: Research Technologist
Over the last few years, unprecedented outbreaks of mountain pine beetle have devastated the forests of British Columbia. And now, pine forests along the eastern slopes of Alberta are facing the same fate.
This raises several issues. Foresters worry about the threat of fire because of the increase in fuel load. And logging companies agonize over their loss of inventory. So the pressure to salvage some of the dead timber is very great.
But according to water scientist Dr. David Schindler, salvage logging, especially on steep slopes, is worse than the pine beetle outbreak itself.
DR. DAVID SCHINDLER: What it does first is to make big gouges in the soil, because we do it with heavy equipment that needs roads to get it into position. And I think those roads are about half the damage. I think that at least on high slopes, we ought to leave the dead trees there. Number one, many of those slopes are susceptible to mud slides at the best of times. So if you kill them with pine beetle, you increase that susceptibility somewhat. And then if you put in logging equipment on those same slopes, you disturb them even more.
Thanks today to The Sustainable Forest Management Network
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
Guest
Richard Masalanko,
Syncrude Canada Ltd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,
Sponsor
Sustainable Forest Management Network
Established in 1995, The Sustainable Forest Management Network is one of Canada's 22 Networks of Centres of Excellence. The SFMN administrative center is hosted at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The Network brings together top scientists, forest managers and practitioners, First Nations leaders and governments to address known and emerging challenges to forest sustainability.
Program Date: 2007-10-18