Editor's Column
Guest Columns
Forest Facts
Some 1.5 billion trees are planted in the U.S. every year, about 5 trees for every American.
Annually, U.S. forestland owners plant about 6 trees for every tree harvested.
About one-third of America's original forest - some 300 million acres - have been converted to other uses, principally agriculture.
There are 26 million more acres of forestland in the Northeast than there were in 1900.
Today, forests blanket about one-third of the U.S. land base and about half the U.S. East.
U.S. annual growth rates have exceeded harvest rates since the 1940's.
Timber harvesting is forbidden on 50% of all National Forest lands in the U.S.
National Forests account for 20% of the nation's forestlands and 19% of its timberlands.
National Forests hold 46% of the nation's softwood timber inventory but only provide 6% of the annual harvest.
Since 1986, the harvest of timber from America's national forests has declined 70%.
In the West, 34% of all forestland and 54% of all timberlands are in national forests.
National forests in the Pacific Coast and Intermountain West regions hold 68% of the nation's softwood timber inventory, but provide less than 28% of annual harvest.
Forest density has increased 40% in the U.S. over the last 50 years.
Flying Finns
Home->Fall 2004
It’s a Friday night in June, and Yukon sawmill owner Bill Bowie is strolling through the trees he has planted around his Dawson City home… oak, maple, apple and cherry trees that he is growing “just for fun.” None of these species is native to the territory, and Bowie is proud they’ve survived the long cold Yukon winter.
Now in his sixties, Mr. Bowie could be thinking about a well-earned retirement. But instead, he is hard at work on a new dream, to turn his sawmill into a stand-alone business with increased production, an expanded product line and four times as many full-time staff.
“My business has lasted this long because of the help I’ve gotten from other people,” Mr. Bowie observes. “I want to give something back to the community by providing more full-time jobs and quality products.”
Mr. Bowie is hopeful he can make his plan work. His optimism is at least partially due to a shift in the responsibility for forest resources in the Yukon. On April 1, 2003, management of Yukon forests devolved from the federal government of Canada to the Yukon government’s Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR) department.
“This is an exciting time for us,” says Gary Miltenberger, EMR’s Forest Management Branch Director. “When we assumed our responsibilities, the Yukon forest industry had not been very active for several years. Our biggest hope is to be part of building a small-scale sustainable Yukon forest industry that matches the profile of the timber and the land’s ability to produce the timber on an ongoing basis. Based on extensive public consultations, most Yukoners want to see that type of sustainable economic activity. But our forests are also important to Yukoners for other reasons—their significant cultural, ecological, traditional, subsistence and recreational uses.”
The branch has taken a number of steps to encourage a balanced re-newal of the Yukon forest industry, many of them accomplished by forming some unique partnerships.
“We are working together with community and First Nation representatives from across the territory to carry out extensive community-based planning,” says Mr. Miltenberger. “Currently, we’re assisting with the development of forest management plans for five separate areas of the Yukon.”
These arrangements flow from the recognition that the Yukon has a unique governance structure. Responsibilities and jurisdiction are shared between the territorial government and fourteen self-governing First Nations who have either completed land claim agreements or are close to doing so. Under the agreements, each First Nation receives settlement lands to administer as a government and landowner. “We have been managing our forest resources for just over a year and I am proud of the progress we have made for the sustainable management of our forests,” said Archie Lang, Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources. “This would not have been possible without the commitment of our First Nations partners and reflects well on the economic partnerships we have established.”
In two cases, the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation and the Kaska Nation, the Yukon government has signed formal agreements with the First Nations to work together on forestry planning.
The Champagne and Aishihik Draft Strategic Forest Management Plan, which covers about five million acres of forest in the southwest Yukon, is the closest to completion.
The draft plan is the product of work by community, First Nation and Yukon government representatives, with plenty of opportunities along the way for public participation. Planners faced a number of key challenges and opportunities.
“The forests in our settlement area are subject to a significant spruce beetle infestation,” says Lawrence Joe, the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations’ Director of Heritage, Lands and Resources. “One of our key interests is in economic opportunities that may result from the beetle-kill. Also paramount is the reduction of forest fire risk around homes and communities. And, we want to ensure we have a healthy forest in years to come. We are looking very much to the future.”
The Champagne and Aishihik draft plan may well prove to be a model for other First Nations in the territory. “We want to build on our partnerships and manage forests around what the community needs are,” says Joe. “We think it’s important that more people have the opportunity to in-fluence what is happening in their back yards.”
Myles Thorp is the Manager of Planning and Development for the government’s Forest Management Branch. He works closely with the Alsek Renewable Resources Council, the group of community and First Nation representatives, which helped produce the Champagne and Aishihik draft plan. Such Councils are formed under each First Nation’s land claim agreement.
“The Council was pivotal to our success in producing a draft plan of this quality,” says Mr. Thorp. “Once the plan is approved, it will set the direction for forestry in the southwest Yukon. And as other Yukon communities become ready to carry out forest management planning, we’ll be working closely with the Renewable Resources Councils in their areas as well.”
Another unique partnership has been formed between the Yukon government and the Kaska Nation, whose traditional lands in southeast Yukon encompass the best wood reserve in the territory. “About 80% of the Yukon’s best merchantable timber is located on Kaska lands,” says Ed van Randen, Policy and Legislative Advisor for EMR. “The southeast Yukon is the place where it’s most feasible to build a forest industry.” That said—aspirations are still relatively humble. “We’d be looking at an annual cut that would be just a tiny fraction of what is cut in an area with a more developed forest industry, like British Columbia,” says Van Randen. “All we really want is to provide the opportunity for Yukoners to be self-determining and to have the ability to make a living off the land.”
Jayne Sun-Comeau has been negotiating forestry issues for the Kaska Nation for the past four years. “The most important thing for us is that this is our traditional territory. We live here. So we want to see development, but not at all costs. We want to ensure our values are incorporated into the planning process. The forest is important to us and other Yukoners not just because of the economic opportunities, but also because of other uses—hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, and tourism. We also want to protect areas that are culturally significant or sacred to us.”
The partnership with the Kaska Nation has so far produced an interim management committee and an interim release of wood. By 2005, it’s hoped that a regional forestry management plan will be in place, along with a new forest authority.
The Yukon government also hopes to complete its first ever-territorial forestry legislation by 2005, making the next year a crucial one for all those involved in forestry in the territory.
“The Yukon is charting a course forward by working together with First Nations and other Yukoners,” concludes Van Randen. “Other parts of Canada may want to keep a close eye on how things evolve. We could become an example for others to follow.”
Yukon
By: Elaine Schiman
| Population: | 41,403 |
| Total Area: | 342.6 million ha |
| Land Area: | 329.3 million ha |
| Forest Land: | 61.4 million ha |
Survival is something Mr. Bowie knows a lot about. Arctic Inland Resources, his small logging, sawmill and building supply business, has been around for nearly 30 years. This is a rare accomplishment in what is still an emerging forest industry in the Yukon, a territory tucked into the far northwest corner of Canada just beside Alaska.
The Yukon’s boreal forest covers more than 106,000 square miles, but just 15% of it is considered commercially viable. Nevertheless, Mr. Bowie’s company has made a go of it. Primarily logging white spruce, the company carved out a niche for itself by selling dimensional lumber as well as products not as easily found on the commodities market—rough lumber, timbers, heavy planking, building logs and firewood. Mr. Bowie sells to the local Yukon market, as well as into Alaska, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Alberta. Logging takes place in the winter months, when the frozen ground and water make for easier access.
 Logs for home construction are a product of some Yukon forests |
“My business has lasted this long because of the help I’ve gotten from other people,” Mr. Bowie observes. “I want to give something back to the community by providing more full-time jobs and quality products.”
Mr. Bowie is hopeful he can make his plan work. His optimism is at least partially due to a shift in the responsibility for forest resources in the Yukon. On April 1, 2003, management of Yukon forests devolved from the federal government of Canada to the Yukon government’s Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR) department.
“This is an exciting time for us,” says Gary Miltenberger, EMR’s Forest Management Branch Director. “When we assumed our responsibilities, the Yukon forest industry had not been very active for several years. Our biggest hope is to be part of building a small-scale sustainable Yukon forest industry that matches the profile of the timber and the land’s ability to produce the timber on an ongoing basis. Based on extensive public consultations, most Yukoners want to see that type of sustainable economic activity. But our forests are also important to Yukoners for other reasons—their significant cultural, ecological, traditional, subsistence and recreational uses.”
The branch has taken a number of steps to encourage a balanced re-newal of the Yukon forest industry, many of them accomplished by forming some unique partnerships.
“We are working together with community and First Nation representatives from across the territory to carry out extensive community-based planning,” says Mr. Miltenberger. “Currently, we’re assisting with the development of forest management plans for five separate areas of the Yukon.”
These arrangements flow from the recognition that the Yukon has a unique governance structure. Responsibilities and jurisdiction are shared between the territorial government and fourteen self-governing First Nations who have either completed land claim agreements or are close to doing so. Under the agreements, each First Nation receives settlement lands to administer as a government and landowner. “We have been managing our forest resources for just over a year and I am proud of the progress we have made for the sustainable management of our forests,” said Archie Lang, Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources. “This would not have been possible without the commitment of our First Nations partners and reflects well on the economic partnerships we have established.”
In two cases, the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation and the Kaska Nation, the Yukon government has signed formal agreements with the First Nations to work together on forestry planning.
The Champagne and Aishihik Draft Strategic Forest Management Plan, which covers about five million acres of forest in the southwest Yukon, is the closest to completion.
The draft plan is the product of work by community, First Nation and Yukon government representatives, with plenty of opportunities along the way for public participation. Planners faced a number of key challenges and opportunities.
“The forests in our settlement area are subject to a significant spruce beetle infestation,” says Lawrence Joe, the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations’ Director of Heritage, Lands and Resources. “One of our key interests is in economic opportunities that may result from the beetle-kill. Also paramount is the reduction of forest fire risk around homes and communities. And, we want to ensure we have a healthy forest in years to come. We are looking very much to the future.”
The Champagne and Aishihik draft plan may well prove to be a model for other First Nations in the territory. “We want to build on our partnerships and manage forests around what the community needs are,” says Joe. “We think it’s important that more people have the opportunity to in-fluence what is happening in their back yards.”
Myles Thorp is the Manager of Planning and Development for the government’s Forest Management Branch. He works closely with the Alsek Renewable Resources Council, the group of community and First Nation representatives, which helped produce the Champagne and Aishihik draft plan. Such Councils are formed under each First Nation’s land claim agreement.
 Bill Bowie's logging, sawmilling and building supply business has been operating out of Dawson City, Yukon for 30 years |
Another unique partnership has been formed between the Yukon government and the Kaska Nation, whose traditional lands in southeast Yukon encompass the best wood reserve in the territory. “About 80% of the Yukon’s best merchantable timber is located on Kaska lands,” says Ed van Randen, Policy and Legislative Advisor for EMR. “The southeast Yukon is the place where it’s most feasible to build a forest industry.” That said—aspirations are still relatively humble. “We’d be looking at an annual cut that would be just a tiny fraction of what is cut in an area with a more developed forest industry, like British Columbia,” says Van Randen. “All we really want is to provide the opportunity for Yukoners to be self-determining and to have the ability to make a living off the land.”
Jayne Sun-Comeau has been negotiating forestry issues for the Kaska Nation for the past four years. “The most important thing for us is that this is our traditional territory. We live here. So we want to see development, but not at all costs. We want to ensure our values are incorporated into the planning process. The forest is important to us and other Yukoners not just because of the economic opportunities, but also because of other uses—hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, and tourism. We also want to protect areas that are culturally significant or sacred to us.”
The partnership with the Kaska Nation has so far produced an interim management committee and an interim release of wood. By 2005, it’s hoped that a regional forestry management plan will be in place, along with a new forest authority.
The Yukon government also hopes to complete its first ever-territorial forestry legislation by 2005, making the next year a crucial one for all those involved in forestry in the territory.
“The Yukon is charting a course forward by working together with First Nations and other Yukoners,” concludes Van Randen. “Other parts of Canada may want to keep a close eye on how things evolve. We could become an example for others to follow.”
"We must always consider the environment and people together, as though they are one, because the
human need to use natural resources is fundamental to our continued presence on earth."
P.O. Box 1290, Bigfork, MT. 59911 • Tel: (406) 837-0966 • Fax: (406) 258-0815 • Email:
human need to use natural resources is fundamental to our continued presence on earth."