Speaking Up For Our Forests: The Time is Now

The Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA) is sponsoring an independent Alberta Forest Usage Survey which will help the forest industry better understand public values, perceptions and priorities regarding the development and maintenance of the boreal forest.

(PRWEB) November 15, 2005 -- Alberta’s forests are the birthright of the citizens of Alberta. The provincial government supervises the forest on our behalf and forest companies are the primary resource stewards in the forest management process.

But the decision as to how our forests should be developed, or even whether our forests should be developed, isn’t getting the kind of attention it deserves from the public. And it’s time to pay attention, because the demands and pressures on this natural resource are growing. When it comes to the forest we can no longer do everything, everywhere, all the time. Because of the growth of all types of industrial activity, including conventional oil and gas, oils sands, forestry and mining, citizens must consider the right balance between growth, conservation and preservation of the forest resource.

Right now, the free market is betting that by the 2040s, Alberta will produce 11 million barrels of oil a day from the Athabasca and Peace Country oil sands deposits. That’s about 10 times as much as Alberta produces today. What is the consequence of such intense development on the forested lands? Do we care? Who will speak for the forest, and ensure it exists for tomorrow’s Albertans? That’s a key question.

Forested lands support local communities, provide habitat for wildlife and are home to a diversity of flora and fauna. Humans rely on forests as a source of food, water and shelter. The forest also serves the spiritual, social and recreational needs of many Albertans. And then, just below the forest floor, lie the various forms of vital energy resources which have come to define much of Alberta’s identity and prosperity. The forest landscape is a complex, diverse, interrelated network of humanity, vegetation, animals, water, soil, air and minerals. We humans have not generally understood the inter-related reality of the forest as a renewable resource. Instead historical forest land use and related public policy has evolved in ways that have been largely uncoordinated.

Governments recognize the pressures being put on the land by the array of resource development taking place in Alberta. Alberta Energy’s Mineable Oil Sands Strategy, the initiative for an Integrated Land Management Strategy, and work done for the province by the Canada West Foundation on land use strategy development, are all evidence of growing policy consciousness about the way public land is managed and needs to be changed. Choices must be made, based on informed public engagement and input. Multi-user land management is simply not feasible if continues to be based on providing access to forest users who are allowed to act unchecked.

Priority will have to be given to certain uses in specific areas; in other areas, some uses will have to be identified as incompatible. We have already made this kind of decision where the mineable oil sands industry has been given a priority access to a large land base. Once it begins, oil sands open pit mining is the only activity that can effectively occur on the identified landscape. That does not mean there is no obligation for subsequent reclamation. The mineable oil sands industry has this obligation and is required to reclaim the land to some other useful purpose, after the mining operation is completed. That useful purpose may well be forestry related.

The sort of trade off required is better understood in communities closest to the forest, and especially those communities which benefit economically from both forest and energy activities. Yet this awareness is not necessarily true of the larger Albertan public..
Four out of five Albertans now live in urban areas and this majority does not necessarily understand the complexity of the forest or its importance to their daily lives. Nor is this majority particularly aware of their birthright “ownership” of the forest and the role each and every one of us can play in developing, managing, preserving and conserving the forest resource.

So there is a special responsibility upon those Albertans who are closest to the forest, Albertans in communities such as yours, to speak up on the future of our forest heritage. Until November 30th you have the opportunity to take part in the Alberta Forest Usage Survey, an initiative of the Alberta Forest Products Association. Your participation will help the forest industry better understand Albertans values and priorities in relation to the forest. To participate, please log on to www.yourforest.org. More information can be found at www.thewebvideo.com and www.policychannel.com sites, including videos and disucssion papers.

It’s your forest, and it is your voice.

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