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GWEN BLANDOV DESCRIBES COASTAL FORESTRY

PINE SEED THREAT

In Canada provincial governments own Crown's resources like timber (and the biomass) and have 'set ways' in forestry based on management policies of old. Resource management furthermore has a 'regional' character to it across the country. Provincial resource departments are moving slowly in changing timber harvest patterns. These are governments with programs to fund for citizens. They need income and need to be creating jobs.

These governments also have requirements to consult with First Nations in Land Claims, and must create operational environments functioning with respect for Aboriginal Rights and Title, which rights and title must be included in the complete dialogue, and First Nations need to expand the capacity to enter dialogue from their perspective. Essentially, they need services like DR Systems Inc. to design 'inclusive' sustainable practices.

First Nations need to become proactive in the dialogue on development of forest resources, especially as it pertains to traditional territory. Neskonlith Indian Band entered a software partnership with two other nearby Bands to design land use software in partnership with DR Systems Inc..

Chief Nelson Leon, Adams Lake Band, said, "Data management is essential at all levels, organizing historical records and documents are the first steps. An electronic database for access and use, lends to many applications such as forestry, and land use planning. But most importantly the information is necessary to solidify our jurisdiction and title to our lands."

These communities have embarked on a joint “Data Management” project including Neskonlith, Adams Lake, and Little Shuswap Indian Bands. The traditional territories of the Adams Lake, Neskonlith and Little Shuswap Indian bands encompass a vast area of the eastern region of the Secwepemc Nation in the southern interior of BC.

Oral accounts of origins, occupancy, land use, plants, plus the elements of governance, were passed from generation to generation. The Secwepemc oral tradition was severely truncated by European arrival, encroachment of settlers and gold miners, missionaries, Indian Residential Schools, and disease, which impacted the oral forms of teaching and historical preservation.

"LSIB is very active in the areas of archives," said Chief Felix Arnouse, Little Shuswap Band, "and oral history research, and recently published a genealogy book of names that traces ancestral lineages and history. It is important that the information is preserved using new technology and continued to be taught and passed on."

Chief Arnouse added, "Continuity of the Traditional Land Use Studies now databased makes the information accessible," via website to the people. "In the future people can access this information from all of the three Bands. It took years of hard work to get to this stage."

These oral accounts are sophisticated stories embodying cultural and historical facts that make important contributions to the historical record for both the Secwepemc people and Canada’s early history. The three Bands mutually agreed to developing a data management plan to address information preservation, where use and access is paramount.

Data management is critical for joint management of natural resources as identified in the 1997 Adams Lake/Neskonlith Band joint Traditional Use Study. With assistance from the BC Capacity funding initiative, a technical team will identify, organize, and develop a storage/retrieval database including an on-line “Community Access Point” to share/exchange information between the bands and the membership.

Chief Judy Wilson, Neskonlith Indian Band, emphasized, “The history of our ancestors, the land, plants, wildlife and water is vital to how we used and interacted with our environment. To make informed decisions on forestry, traditional territory management and traditional claims we must be well versed on this information before any decisions are made."

The project is funded by INAC, BC Capacity Initiative 2006-2007 funding, and was original conceived by Councillors Charlie Andrew (ALIB), Diane Francois (LSIB) and Judy Wilson (NIB). Project team members include; Steve Murphy, Project Supervisor (Adams Lake Band staff), Charlotte François, Traditional Ecological Technician (Little Shuswap Band), Florence Deneault, GIS Technician (Neskonlith Indian Band), Judy Wilson, Data Technician (Neskonlith Indian Band) and Mitch Krupp, Database Developer who will assist Steve Murphy and the project team develop the “Community Access Point” on-line.

A Technical Working Group provides additional input and includes; Andrea Arntz (Little Shuswap Band), Dave Nordquist (Adams Lake Band), and Cliff Arnouse (Adams Lake Band). Web launch was Mar '07 to demonstrate use and access to the site.

The “Three Band Data Management” project adheres to ethical, archival, and technical standards that guide how information is organized, stored, protected, accessed, and retrieved in accordance with all aspects of donor/band/archival requirements. The Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Acts are also followed.

In the context of modern industrial forestry operations it takes the kind of software as developed by the group and DR Systems Inc. to enable a dialogue amongst potential partners. Sustainable strategic planning may sound like a scientific experiment except it is science providing the compelling reasons for sustainable practices. Newly emerging business entities are like the rest, and fear the thought of lost capacity to grow the economy if radical measures are acted out in the forests in the name of a sustainable policy direction.

With years of experience in long-term forest practices, Reimer designed D.R. systems' approach to Integrated Resource Management for Canada's forests, to answer the question: How can we manage natural resources, including forest land, for sustainability and contributions to social and cultural values? Don is a Certified Forester, Registered with the Society of American Foresters and a member of the Canadian Institute of Forestry. He is a forestry biometrician/forestry consultant with degrees in forestry, forest biometrics, and resource economics and is well-qualified for setting a direction in forestry planning.

He has, furthermore, capacity-building experience with First Nations in B.C., and said, "As far as I know there are no First Nations groups using our software outside of BC, but we do hope to change that in the near future. One of the items I would like to pursue with First Nations is the need to do biologically, socially and economically sound sustainable strategic planning in a cooperative way. We excel at doing that." Don's experience extends back to the days of MacBlo in Powell River, B.C.. Bureaucracies then were particularly hidebound in regulations and missing the window of opportunity underway with new realities. Even today they are planning forests on strategies and practices designed around classic forest management and environmental objectives. Governments maintain older forest management and environmental objectives which they can handle within their bureaucratic structures.

The established approaches usually result in "zoned" areas of emphasis; some areas are zoned for commercial forestry, some for environmental protection, some for creation of old-growth, and so forth. Don's experience has been that such "zoned" approaches do not work satisfactorily. Things do change, and forestry can change too. Don has customers in the western United States who are actively managing their landbases for multiple objectives on a dynamic basis which reflects the site-specific potentials of their lands.

As a result they can protect valuable tourism corridors; protect, maintain and grow wildlife habitat; and, maintain a viable forestry industry, all at the same time. Reimer said, "The point is, the innovative organizations are stopping drawing man-made fixed lines on a map, but are beginning to develop flexible management strategies which can take advantage of what the landbase can do for you," in the long term.

"They are adjusting their environmental, cultural/social and business strategies and prescriptions to take advantage of the natural, dynamic productivity of the landbase." Another unmistakable trend Don is seeing down south is the investment in utilization of the biomass, to create energy from wood-residue. Hog fuel/wood waste is available for power generation all across North America, and the investment in bio-energy production has become profoundly influential in the American economy in recent months.

This clear investment trend in bio-energy/bio-fuel in the US has not found a significant foothold in BC or the rest of Canada yet. The major interest for the US in biofuel and bio-energy was introduced when President Bush set an objective of 30 percent of the US gasoline consumption to be generated from alternative fuels (and it's not necessarily going to be corn-grown ethanol). This Executive Branch incentive, plus the media coverage associated with former Vice President Al Gore's message on global warming has captured the attention of investors and landowners alike.

Among the advantages from forest-residue based bio-fuels and bio-energy are large gains in GHG reductions which can be achieved using forest residue versus agricultural crop-based sources for bio-fuels. Biomass energy production is low-GhG emitting, uses ditrea off the forest floor that rots and produces CO2 at any rate. In reality, in BC, hog fuel in direct cogeneration or synthetic gas production has long been used by pulp and paper mills and larger sawmills throughout the province.

Don said, "The difference is that now, the public are beginning to recognize the advantages of bio-mass based energy." BC Hydro has looked over (and over looked) industrial cogeneration facilities, is yet to give it a real competitive chance. Thus this efficient use of resources is largely a technology used within the forest industry. BC Hydro has continued to 'pass' on biomass energy production, however, the provincial government is known to be exerting new pressure in the other direction. Rumour has it BC Hydro is adopting a more friendly approach to bio-energy and alternative energy production.

In the economic development of forestry, managers and entrepreneurs face serious calls to account when they work as industrial players, owners, or managers. First Nations often place higher demands on themselves then the neighbours might normally expect. First Nations add cultural, archaeological, and environmental data about traditional territories and are finding forestry planning software to be an essential tool.

Phoenix Pro software is familiar help to many foresters planning the location and shape of timber harvest blocks, and all the silvicutural treatments to be applied to the block once harvested. Software is essential in all required planning, budgeting, and reporting for timber development through block selection down the way to 'Free-to-Grow' status (the point at which a new forest stand has been established and is sufficiently old enough or the trees are tall enough to expect normal future stand development).

It takes years for forestry companies to meet those obligations under Crown Land liability issues, and, "years until silviculture and habitat biodiversity requirements are met," said Don, not an inexpensive proposition. In fact anybody who is licensed to harvest on Crown Land must be well qualified to do the job. (Forestry operations on private land are reported but the rules are different. Private land is less than 10 percent of the B.C. forest landbase, for example, but much higher in places like New Brunswick).

The software answers the demand, precise reports fulfill government regulations, and supply operators with deep insights from information, all of it knowledge with current data. He said, "We initially wrote the software over 20 years ago and have continually updated and added to it since release of Version 1 in 1985." They are on Version 6. He said, "The learning curve in the use of the software takes a few days, ending with most users operating important parts of it in a short time." The terminology found on screen will be entirely familiar to professional foresters. The software is simple to install from CD and DR Systems Inc runs a help desk in Nanaimo.

"Maintenance agreements keep software current and keep data in line with changing government regulations, and the program is a tool designed to electronically file all required reports with relevant government agencies or departments," he said. D.R.Systems developed strategic and tactical (field work) planning tools, with a component called a Strategic Planning Tool, called OPTIONS, that incorporates specialty data like First Nation traditional knowledge, Aboriginal Rights and Title areas, other traditional territory designations, and archaeology.

Don has been linking the forestry business to advanced technology since those days of MacBlo, "They helped us design the product style that would benefit themselves and their clients," by contracting his software development skills from the private sector. "We have a partner who provides GIS services that work with Phoenix and the rest of our software. We also have a second partner who handle the web-based side of our services. There is a global market for this technology."

With First Nations existing at various stages of self-governance and software required in specific modules to direct operations in traditional forests (in any one of Canada's provinces), "Our suite of tools incorporates all the principles of traditional cultural knowledge, archeaology, and bio-diversity, and use applied to traditional knowledge," which is inherent to each nation. "We have designed to provide tools to resolve modern concerns and satisfy all parties in the land-use business."

Don always from the beginning to design forestry land use planning tools useful for negotiators who are making decisions in First Nation territories. "Our software, OPTIONS, provides a strategic planning framework to incorporate local social, cultural, and economic forecasts. It derives land management scenarios of benefit all users of natural resources."

First Nations like it in B.C., where Phoenix is used by Stuwix, Adams Lake, IISAAK Forest Resources, Nisga'a, Ulkatcho's company West Chilcotin Forest Products, and many others.

The various First Nation companies and operations employ, "a separate program for central data management also gives them a Multi-Resource Inventory System. The interface is with OPTIONS as the planning tool. The central data management application is designed for each client -- or alternatively, we prefer they use their existing system to drive the various linkages, which is best as they usually like that better -- their system versus ours."

Phoenix Pro enables them to work out operational details. "Everything is on PC, including real-time links to GIS systems, corporate database sites, and handheld field units, as well as interactive links via the internet to a wide range of stakeholders."

Don said, "Field data collected from our handheld software (for PDAs and specialty ruggedized handheld data collection units) can be used both for collection of field data as well as downloading geographic and other ground-source data to an on-site user via the internet. All of these programs are designed to operate individually or as part of a suite of complementary tools. In that way we can work with and incorporate a client's existing software into a better solution."

Gwen Blandov discusses forestry in the north coast

Gwen comes from Port Simpson, Tsimshian community of Lax Kw’alaams about 35 miles north of Prince Rupert near the mouth of Wark Inlet.

The nature of the work takes people into utterly remote wilderness all along the coast. One day Gwen ran into a Spirit Bear up the Fraser Reach located on the Princess Royal Island, a short distance from Bute Dale. It was a couple years ago. Bears, cougars, and wildlife are always a safety issue. The industry provides 'bear aware' courses, but the key is to get as far away as possible. "We are invading their territory," and should take the utmost care to avoid harming the animals.

The work has variety including liaison with 'planning foresters,' office end duties in silviculture operations (data management, maps), and liaison with communities. She prefers the work found more on the outdoor side, "when you're up with the birds and into the forests, and generally we try to get things done at the same time as the fallers simply because it is better to not be alone out there." It's a safety issue.

Nevertheless, field duties are demanding and take every minute of the available day, "Ron Smith and I usually want to be the last pickups of the day. Constant communications keeps people aware of where everybody is, and who is doing what on the ground or in the helicopters."

The first onto a harvest site are fallers, and depending on how many fallers deploy, "it may be a short day in the field. The number of fallers varies between eight and 20 men, depending on the size of the cutting permit. Regardless of the number of fallers, these operations are manageable," and she and Smith work to provide quality assurance in the timber selections.

"We spend some time with the bull bucker making sure that we are meeting our buyer specifications. We utilize as much of the tree as possible." The best possible product is wanted from trees destined for sawmills. "Yes I see it as a good career choice. As First Nation person I have opportunities to ensure CMTS are intact and we are looking after the trees and the marine environment. The First Nation perspective really informs that part of the work for me. I'd like to see these streams and forests in 50 years from now with important CMTs standing and places intact. It is part of the history of the country. It's a recording of the past."

This history book exists in a living culture and inside an active forestry, so the careers are important. "You have to find a balance or you will have struggles in the heart and soul. Most people want it remain pristine, and a company like ours provides a great service by taking into consideration First Nation concerns and by adapting the plans for timber harvests."

She noted, "Sustainability is looked at from different angles, and it should be, because I still live off the land and the ocean and want sustainable resources and wildlife as most people do. I work against the plunder of forests which I saw in my youth around Port Simpson. My solution was to stop looking at the stripped mountain, but now the trees are growing back It is replenishing its beauty."

The Triumph Timber company harvests a lot of first retention timber commonly referred to as select logging. "If you are on the water or 100 ft above sea level you should barely notice where we've been logging. We tend to look at the visuals in coastal logging. In places like Grenville Channel the visual quality objective is high priority. People still see pristine forest where in fact there's been logging going on. A lot of people really favour that kind of logging."

Salmon streams are protected and areas close to lakes receive riparian management zones, "I and the working team at Triumph Timber Ltd are looking after the watershed." For those who have ever stepped on the site of a clearcut and wonder why so many trees are left on the ground, "Diseased trees are the ones left behind," being it is infected with mistletoe or some kind of disease.

Bruce Reece, from Hartley Bay, B.C., works as employment manager for Gitgaat Development Corp., “Forestry has been slow in our area,” said Reece, although they expect things to change soon. “West Fraser works around here,” and all companies entering forests of the Gitgaat traditional territories have to sign agreements with respect to Aboriginal Rights and Title.

This means companies are entering into long awaited, and long missing, dialogue about First Nation territorial governance. Companies are regarding investment and activity in the present, with an eye to the future and acknowledging the way to economic certainty involves proceedings with First Nations, the way forward.

In fact, said Reece, one of the best companies to work with in terms of North Pacific coast forestry, “is Triumph Timber and their close working partner Probyn Log.” Reece agreed these forestry players show high regard for issues about governance and the dialogue about land claims. As such, they do what is required of business in these lands and waters, and find themselves profitable and still welcome.

Gwen is meanwhile engaged in immersion of corporate culture and learning the history of the company. She joined Triumph Timber because they have deep roots in territories with loggers and forestry departments in communities where they work. They walk the walk on sustainable development and consultation in wider operations with First Nation management.

"We're busy this year," she said, although lately prices may suggest caution over diversity, at the moment, "Fibre marketing is always a concern but the way we do our logging we are not worried about hot markets." It is 'ingenious' leadership demonstrating best practices and making others envious of the savvy in their forestry.

These business practices took time to develop. Tom Olson, Paul McWilliams, Ryan Munson RPF, Triumph Timber, and their partners Probyn Log, have a couple of decades experience fitting professional forestry practices into traditional territories, cultivating the growing obligations to First Nation interests and their local knowledge.

Gwen also appreciates that when a helicopter drops her off next to one, the company provides safe access away from the curious looking and curious acting spirit bears, for example, providing safe management for employees. The focus on sustainable environmental practices in the forestry plans are further important considerations taken together to qualify for timber harvest rights in BC.

Munson's expertise provides project planning and she is learning how to work on the ground for him, but, she noticed, the balance of learning goes both ways. He seeks a better understanding of where people are coming from and what they are speaking about regarding important cultural and community matters that otherwise escape his sensibilities.

"His engineering is sound, and he listens to employees, and is very interested in learning more about these communities." The tenure is rainforest, "not that big, some old growth, less along the coast. All the huge trees are gone. All class one through four. I keep a close eye on the environment."

Triumph Timber employs logging Contractors Ron Smith and Colin Richardson. Smith owns his own company from the Tsimshian-based community of Port Simpson, and Richardson is from Haida Gwaii. They each own their own companies, and will be adding to the dialogue in due time, when they become available. Gwen Blandov can be reached at 729 - 2nd Avenue West, Prince Rupert, B.C. Canada V8J 1H4 tel 250.627.8733 ext 26 fax 250.627.4509 cell 250.622.7147

© 2007 MWS

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