0052-C1
Robert W. Udell 1
In 1955, North Western Pulp and Power Ltd. hired Desmond Crossley, a Canadian Forest Service researcher, to be the Company's first Chief Forester. Crossley established a programme of progressive and adaptive forest management for the Hinton forest, built on a foundation of science and research.
This programme set a new standard for forest management in Canada and is still, after almost 50 years, recognized as leading edge in the country. Foresters at Weldwood's Hinton operation continue the science-based adaptive management tradition. This has led to remarkable advances in the knowledge and practice of forestry on this historic forest.
Implementing a sustainable forest management (SFM) system, i.e. managing the forest to conserve all values therein, affects the landbase dedicated to timber production. However, allowable annual cuts have been sustained and increased over time as the SFM programme was developed. This was accomplished through the application of research to timely and ecologically appropriate silviculture, along with leading-edge growth and yield programmes.
The non-timber elements of SFM present new challenges to the forest manager and must be supported by scientific research, which is wide-ranging and expensive. Applied research programmes at Foothills Model Forest, one of 11 Canadian model forests, are making a major contribution to knowledge and practice. One such programme, Natural Disturbance Research, is the foundation for a new system of forest management at Hinton - Natural Forest Management - which more closely approximates the patterns and processes of the natural forest.
On March 29, 1949, the Province of Alberta passed a new Forests Act, authorizing agreements for sustained-yield industrial forest management. Thus began the Alberta Forest Management Agreement system, a template that set a new standard for industrial forest management in Canada.
In 1954, the St. Regis Paper Company agreed to partner with North Western Pulp and Power Ltd. (NWP&P) to build Alberta's first bleached kraft softwood pulpmill at Hinton, Alberta. NWP&P signed an Agreement with Alberta to develop and implement a sustained yield forest management program on a large committed publicly owned and industrially managed forest surrounding the town.
The enterprise, purchased by Weldwood in 1988, was notable for several reasons. It was the first designated forest management area in then largely undeveloped Alberta forests. At 7700 square kilometers it was a large area, virtually unroaded and without a forest inventory. The challenge of developing and implementing a forest management program on a very tight schedule, with a small staff, called for innovative approaches and creative planning.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Desmond I. Crossley was a scientist with the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) and the acknowledged expert in the management and silviculture of lodgepole pine, but he was frustrated by his inability as a researcher to see his knowledge reflected in forest practice. In 1955, NWP&P hired him as its first Chief Forester, and gave him the authority to put his theories into practice.i Crossley immediately set about gathering a cadre of dedicated and respected foresters with expertise in all aspects of forestry to help design and put in place his vision of a sustainable forestry system.
In 1958, working with his counterparts in the Alberta Forest Service, Crossley developed a system of "operating ground rules" that would guide forest operations. This included a definition and philosophy of adaptive forest management, decades before it appeared in the popular lexicon of North American forestry:
"The cutting system to be adopted on a trial basis will appropriately be some pattern of clear cutting. As many modifications of such cutting systems will be adopted as possible in order, by experiment, to arrive at a system or systems best adapted to the silvicultural requirements of the species in question."ii
Much later (1996) the Canadian Standards Association defined adaptive management as "a learning approach to management that incorporates the experience gained from the results of previous actions into decisions"iii After almost 50 years of operations, the application of this fundamental principle of adaptive forest management continues to guide and sustain operations in this spectacular forest.
With his strong background in research, Crossley encouraged many of his former CFS colleagues to bring their expertise to the Hinton forest and apply research to pressing questions of technical forest management such as silviculture, hydrology, growth and yield. Since then, scores of research studies by Company staff, researchers from the CFS, universities, provincial government and others in all aspects of sustainable forest management have been pursued on the Hinton forest, leading to many improvements in knowledge and practice.
In 1955, forest operations in Alberta were mainly diameter-limit systems supporting the sawmilling industry. Reforestation was left to natural processes and was often unsuccessful, particularly in lodgepole pine. Crossley, based on his research knowledge, was convinced that clearcutting, combined with site preparation for natural seeding, would be most appropriate for the coniferous species common on the Hinton forest - lodgepole pine and white spruce. This was radical thinking in 1950s Alberta, but the adaptive management principle, supported by research, suggested it should be tried.
Little technology was available, so Crossley and his silviculturists designed their mechanical systems to prepare sites for natural regeneration. This was generally successful, but some planting was still needed. With the poor quality of nursery stock available in Alberta at the time, Crossley hired a silvicultural specialist with container-stock expertise to design and build a nursery on site. This specialist also introduced a post-harvest silviculture survey system to ensure the best match between site conditions, research knowledge and silvicultural prescriptions.
Such was the success of the forestry program that Crossley was invited to present a summary of it at the World Forestry Congress in Madrid in 1966.iv
In the decades following, research led to many improvements in practice. Efforts accelerated in the 1990s, as Company foresters expanded efforts to modify and improve silviculture systems (Figure 1). New research tested the application of traditional European practices, such as shelterwood and selection systems, to the management of highly productive ecosystems in riparian areas of the forest. Other trials were guiding improvements to traditional site preparation and planting systems to improve the establishment and growth of new forest stands. Still more looked at options for intensive forest management. These efforts, combined with enhanced growth and yield analysis of natural and regenerated stand performance, were reflected in improved site productivity and allowable annual cuts.
Initially, the forest was set up in four sustained-yield management units. Fire-origin lodgepole pine and white spruce stands dominated the landscape. By 1960, the boundaries and ages of these stands were interpreted and ground-truthed to establish a fire-origin age-class map for the forest. Based on this map and topographic features, the forest was further subdivided into operating compartments for management planning and operations.
Existing inventory information was rudimentary, so the Company decided to establish its own detailed forest inventory program. Initially, this was based on a network of 3,000 permanent sample plots (PSPs) established across the forest area, measured on a 10-year return cycle. Once harvested, a plot was re-established in the reforested stand to track and compare growth rates between the original forest and the regenerated stand replacing it. Over time, more detailed inventory maps replaced the PSP inventory system, and it was converted to a growth and yield monitoring system. This system is now the largest single repository of data on the growth and yield of lodgepole pine in North America. From this foundation, Hinton foresters have examined the growth of both fire-origin and regenerated stands to establish technically defensible estimates of growth and yield as the basis for sustainable forest management and allowable annual cut forecasting.
Figure 1. Weldwood direct and FRIP-sponsored research, 1988-2001. The Alberta Forest Resource Improvement Program (FRIP), funded by forest industry contributions, supports research and other activities that are not the regulatory responsibility of forest industry
The Company prepared Alberta's first detailed forest management plan in 1960, with three paramount principles:
In 1975, Crossley was proud to report successful implementation of this management plan in the first 20 years of progress.v There have been five updates to this forest management plan, each more sophisticated than the last, and each increasingly incorporating the philosophy and practice of sustainable forest management, i.e. management to conserve all values in the forest. Today, the program remains an acknowledged Canadian leader in sustainable forest management.vi
It is useful to examine the current status of the forest with regard to the founding principles and today's values.
The size of the productive landbase that contributes to the allowable annual cut has changed over time for a number of reasons. Major withdrawals resulted from a surge of oil and gas/ coal mining operations, as well as land set aside for protection or special management. Land was added for mill expansions (1988), and - with the 1999 forest management plan - an additional 100,000 ha of land was set aside or restricted to achieve the goals and objectives of sustainable forest management.
The challenge to maintain allowable cuts through these changing times was only met through the application of research knowledge to timely, appropriate reforestation, and an enhanced growth and yield program. The latter included permanent sample plot analysis, and other targeted research and analysis. In 1985, for example, the company examined the use of growth intercepts2 for forecasting stand growth and yieldvii This study showed a substantial increase in regenerated stand performance compared to fire-origin stands (Figure 2). This, combined with PSP analysis, led to a substantial increase in the allowable annual cut.
Figure 2. Results of the 1985 study. Stem analysis showed a substantial increase in growth of regenerated stands. Results were verified through analysis of permanent sample plots.
In successive management plans, the per hectare and absolute allowable annual cut has continued to grow as a result of a combination of effective and immediate reforestation and continuing emphasis on a scientifically rigorous growth and yield program (Figure 3). This has been accomplished despite continuing pressures on the landbase dedicated to forestry, noted earlier.
A classic approach to normalizing the forest, this principle has been upheld, with some variation for other management priorities, throughout the first few decades of the forest management system. Recently, research in natural disturbance has been applied to ensure that the amount and distribution of all seral stages on the landscape remains within the historic range of variability.
In a 1984 interview, Crossley noted the intent to maintain a 72-km haul distance over time, a farsighted innovation for economic sustainability. By 2002, this average haul distance was 69 km and is forecast to remain in that range for the next 200 years.
At a 1982 conference on forestry and wildlife, the Company offered its forest management area as a prototype for integrating wildlife and forestry management. A Company-government working group refined the concept. In 1988, Weldwood hired Rick Bonar, Alberta's first industrial wildlife biologist. A first step was to define the roles each party would play in wildlife management-the Company would manage the habitat while the government would manage the wildlife itself.
In 1992, the Canadian government announced the creation of ten model forests, or "working models of sustainable forest management" across Canada. Weldwood, the Government of Alberta, and Jasper National Park cooperated in a proposal for one of these forests. Foothills Model Forest, including the landbases of Weldwood, Jasper National Park, Willmore Wilderness Park and certain Crown management units, was one of those selected through a nation-wide competition. Bonar's work, along with the Company's other research and management activities, contributed significantly to this selection.
Dedicated to developing practical tools for sustainable forest management, this research agency has been making a substantial contribution to the advancement of science-based forest management in Alberta and elsewhere. For example, in 1996, at the urging of the Company and Foothills Model Forest, Ian Corns of the Canadian Forest Service led a team to adapt an earlier ecosite classification system for the model forest land base.viii Weldwood used this system to ecologically classify and map its forest over the next few years, and it is now the foundation upon which integrated harvest, reforestation and wildlife habitat plans are developed.
Research by the Company and Foothills Model Forest, among others, was incorporated into the 1999 forest management plan. A quantitative analysis of the effect of the timber supply strategy on wildlife habitat and species response was used to adjust the forest management strategy to maintain viable habitat and populations of all known wildlife species on the Hinton forest over time. Analysis of hydrologic and other value impacts also affected the amount of contributing AAC landbase. In the end, almost 100,000 hectares were removed from a contributing landbase (1991 plan basis) of 800,000 hectares (Figure 3).
The 1999 forest management plan was the first plan to quantify the elements of sustainable forest management in timber supply forecasting. Inventory, research and planning to address a broad range of values on the forest was exhaustive and groundbreaking (Table 1).
The research also supported the successful certification of the first forest in Alberta under the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) system, as well as the design and implementation of the Company's new sustainable forest management system, described later.
The costs of designing and implementing a sustainable forest management system on the Hinton forest have continued to rise, peaking at $11.4 million in 1999 when the forest management plan was completed (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Annual expenditures on all aspects of sustainable forest management continued to rise through the 1990s
Table 1. - The Complexity of Inventories for Sustainable Forest Management
1960 forest management plan: |
1999 forest management plan: |
Forest inventories |
Forest Inventories |
Additional Inventories for the 1999 Forest Management Plan | |
Visual landscape inventory | |
Cultural/historic inventory | |
Seral Stage/ Forest Type classification | |
Riparian corridor inventory | |
Regional Hydrology Study | |
Fish and Stream Inventory | |
Wildlife Inventory | |
In 1997, Foothills Model Forest initiated a large, multi-phased study of the role of disturbance in the origin of forest stands in the landscape (Figure 5). The Company's 1960 fire-origin map underpinned the program, now expanded to the entire model forest landbase. As research progressed, the Company began parallel studies to consider the adaptation of its current management approach to one that more closely emulated the patterns and processes of natural stand development. This "coarse filter" approach to forest management has become the cornerstone of the Company's biodiversity management strategy, grounded firmly in science.ixAs the 21st century begins, major changes are underway in harvest design and scheduling as Weldwood makes the transition to its new forest management system, called Natural Forest Management (NFM). These changes include:
Research continues, including species-specific research to ensure that "coarse filter" assumptions inherent in the NFM approach are reflected in species and habitat responses to practices. Particular challenges are the management of grizzly bear and woodland caribou, species of concern. For both species, special studies have been implemented and specific management treatments developed. The populations and their responses to treatments are monitored and the principles of adaptive management applied. Initial results are encouraging.
Figure 5. The Foothills Model Forest natural disturbance integrated research program includes many projects, defined by scale.
In 1955, Hinton's first chief forester set in motion a program of progressive and adaptive forest management wherein science and research would guide the design and implementation of forest management strategies on the Hinton forest.
After almost 50 years, foresters at Weldwood's Hinton operation continue the science-based adaptive management tradition and ethic established by Des Crossley. This has led to remarkable advances in sustainable forest management, management for all values of the forest. The practice of sustainable forest management impacts the landbase dedicated to timber production, and allowable annual cuts. However, a combination of timely and ecologically appropriate silviculture - along with leading-edge growth and yield programs - have sustained and increased the allowable annual cut on this historic forest.
Forest research at Foothills Model Forest has provided the foundation for a new system of forest management - Natural Forest Management - that more closely approximates the patterns and processes that formed the forests currently being managed.x
1 President, Foothills Model Forest, Box 6330 Hinton, Alberta, T7V 1X6, Canada. [email protected]
2 Growth intercept: the five-year or ten-year height growth above breast height in top height trees (100 largest-diameter trees/ha) in a forest stand.
i Crossley, D.I. 1984. We did it our way. Interview with D.I. Crossley by Peter J. Murphy and James M. Parker, The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.
ii Alberta Forest Service/ North Western Pulp & Power Ltd. 1958. Guiding principles and ground rules for cutting practices on the pulpwood lease area.
iii Canadian Standards Association 1996. A sustainable Forest Management System: Guidance Document. ISSN 0317-5660
iv Crossley, D.I. 1966. Application of scientific discoveries and modern technologies in silviculture. In: Sixth World Forestry Congress, Madrid. Vol. II. Pp. 2195-2200.
v Crossley, D.I. 1975. Case history in forest management: First 20-year cycle at North Western. Paper presented March 1975. In: Pulp & Paper Canada 76:5 Pp 43-48.
vi MacKay, D. 1985. Heritage lost: The crisis in Canada's forests. Macmillan Canada, Toronto, Ontario.
vii Udell, R.W. and Dempster, W.R. 1986. Predicting the growth and yield of regenerated lodgepole pine. Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Woodlands Section. Montreal, March 1986.
viii Beckingham, J.D., Corns, I.G.W., and Archibald, J.H. 1996. Field guide to ecosites of West-Central Alberta. Canadian Forest Service, Special Report 9.
ix Andison, D.W. 1997. Landscape fire behaviour patterns in the Foothills Model Forest. Report to Foothills Model Forest, Hinton, Alberta. Bandaloop Landscape-Ecosystem Services, Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado.
x Andison, D.W. 1997-2002. Quicknotes - Natural Disturbance Program. Foothills Model Forest research series, Hinton, Alberta.