_higher and denser —

Are we growing the]
_ trees needed for
future markets?

Commentary

i

by Jorma Jyrkkanen

Over a recent weekend, I
discussed future wood markets
with a forester, and the
ramifications of his comments
gave me cause for concern about
the directions we are heading in
with present practices.

He indicated that rapid
growth and wide girths regarded
by our present forest managers
as the main goal of reforesta-
tion may not be producing the
kind of wood required by future
markets.

Apparently, foreign markets
want wood with a high cellulose
content and high tensile
strength, and this type of wood
is more abundant in virgin
forests than in the kind of se-

- cond growth being generated by

intensive management.

In fact foreign markets.

specify that there are to be six
growth rings per inch, and se-
cond growth just isn’t producing
wood of this density.

-Second growth is also poor

for chip-based particle board -
since the fiber just won’t hold -

together after it is glued.

It is also of a poor quality for
pulp, according to my source.
There just isn’t enough long
fiber cellulose present. — ,

The silviculture practices that
generate this weak wood: are
among other things, spacing and

. thinning programs and perhaps

.brush competition and herbicide

programs, practices which are.

being accelerated.

The signal for trees to grow
if 1
understood him correctly — is

‘pete for light and nutrients,

. modity.

a

competition for space and death
of the lower limbs, so that trees
growing in more crowded condi-
tions, where they have to com-

become a more marketable com-

If the Russian taiga, with its
vast supply of virgin timber and
dense cellulose content, comes
on tap after our virgin timber is
gone, we could find ourselves
with a second growth product
that is unmarketable, and we
would lose our markets.

If this scenario has any merit,
I am left with a major question:
what on earth is the justification
for all this rapid growth that we
are promoting in our present

_ forests?

Are not our. present
‘accelerated-growth practices in
fact just a smoke screen to
justify the present high rate of
cut, and part of an effort to
cover up the fact that we are
generating a future disaster for
short-term economic gains?

Someone correct me if I’m
wrong! .

I think this question is serious
enough to warrant a Royal
Commission and I ask the

government for a reply for the :

people of Canada, and for B.C.
in particular.

ROADCHECKS -» APRIL 13TH — MAY 4TH

Taking part in Local Government Awareness Weak ast week, Henry Dreger’s Social Studies 11 students from
Caledonia Senior Secondary School held a mock council meeting and heard concerns from citizens and debated
Issues already before Terrace city council. Pictured above are: Aldermen Rhiannon George, Katht Pringle and
Jamie Brousema; Mayor Kevin Kennedy; Clerk-Administrator Melanie O’Brien, Aldermen Jody Cox, Nick Bains and

Neelam Parmar. For a record of their deliberations, see next week’s Terrace Review.

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