AUTHORS: J. Aeyelts, J. Bulkan, D. Roeser (Faculty of Forestry), X. Bi, R. Clift and H. Wang (Faculty of Applied Science Chemical & Biological Engineering) University of British Columbia
The practice of burning harvest residuals is deeply embedded in British Columbia’s (BC) forestry sector. While this was a logical practice when first mandated in 1938, global and local circumstances have evolved and so must forestry practices.
The Fraser is the largest salmon-bearing river in British Columbia, supporting 54 unique populations, known as Conservation Units (CUs), of wild Pacific salmon, 19 of which breed in the lower Fraser River.
A new open-access study by the Martin Conservation Decisions Lab found that all 19 of these CUs are on a declining trajectory over the next 25 years.
The popular series is addressing some of the most important topics of conversation surrounding Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Whether taking the form of discrimination in the workplace or microaggressions woven into a casual conversation, at the core of racism are discriminatory acts against people based on their skin colour, religious views or cultural practices.
To help confront and address the root causes and histories that perpetuate racist and anti-Indigenous beliefs and acts into the 21st Century, UBC Forestry has launched a number of initiatives, including a webinar, podcast and the Forest(Reads) book club. UBC Forestry has also created an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council to address policies and structures within the Faculty, says UBC Forestry Assoc. Prof. and Assoc. Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Hisham Zerriffi.
These initiatives were spearheaded by the former Assoc. Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, UBC Forestry Professor Sarah Gergel; Estefanía Milla-Moreno, a graduate student in the Faculty; and Hisham, who previously chaired the council.
The last couple of years have brought to the fore many challenges to be addressed, notes Hisham. The global COVID-19 pandemic “raised all sorts of equity questions and concerns: from health impacts to employment and family issues that were often experienced to a greater extent among marginalized groups.”
The tragic murder of African American George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in May 2020 raised new questions and topics of discussion and spurred the genesis of various public initiatives.
“Our justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) approach to EDI makes clear that we also want to address issues of justice and power,” says Hisham. “Some of the topics we discuss can be uncomfortable or even controversial. At the same time, they are greatly needed to bring forward more marginalized voices that wouldn’t ordinarily be in the spotlight or heard.”
Forest(Reads) introduces UBC Forestry faculty, staff, students and interested members of the public to JEDI topics through a literary lens. The inaugural Forest(Reads), coordinated by graduate student Arial Eatherton, involved events and talks surrounding Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer. Conversations touched on the author’s examination of how scientific and Indigenous knowledge intersect in a world where many of us have lost touch with the life forces found within our natural environment.
Topics of black identity and belonging in parks and other outdoor spaces were explored in the 2022 Forest(Reads) book selection coordinated by graduate student Jaylen Bastos, Black Faces, White Spaces by cultural geographer Dr. Carolyn Finney.
“The book covers some of the deep roots of racism within the environmental movement in North America in terms of the legacy of how parks and park-related organizations were created, and how that history may be reinforcing the exclusion of members of some minority groups,” says Hisham.
Along with encouraging faculty, staff and students to read the book and attend the events, Hisham hopes the initiative “will spark more conversations and a deeper understanding of how to realize greater justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in our lives.”
Led by our very own Development and Alumni Engagement Office, and shaped by valuable feedback from our alumni community, the Spring 2022 issue of Branchlines showcases the dynamic and multifaceted fields of forestry.
UBC Faculty of Forestry’s Future Forests Fellowship (FFF), one of the largest single awards in the world given to an incoming doctoral student in forestry, is once again available in 2022.
Made possible by a private Canadian foundation, the award, amounting to $280,000 over four years, was created to underscore just how much forestry research impacts global current and emerging ecological issues. It is awarded to a student who demonstrates leadership skills and who’s intended studies fit within one of the Faculty’s areas of research excellence.
“Once again, we are so grateful to the foundation for this extraordinary opportunity to attract outstanding candidates from all over the world,” says Emma Tully, UBC Forestry Assistant Dean, Development, Alumni and External Relations. “We are looking for future leaders who are able to think critically about the many environmental challenges our planet faces and provide imaginative solutions that tackle those issues head-on.”
Past award recipients include current fellow PhD candidate Sarah Dickson-Hoyle whose research examines questions around collaborative wildfire management and community-led restoration. She aims to identify solutions for improving collaboration between First Nations and the provincial government across all stages of wildfire management and planning.
The inaugural FFF award recipient was Sara Barron whose research explored how future urban forests can be designed to be climate-ready, support local ecosystem services and improve the health and well-being of local residents. Today, Barron is the program director for both the faculty’s undergraduate and graduate urban forestry programs.
Applications are open to both domestic and international doctoral students who intend to register for programs beginning September 2023. Application submissions will open on Monday, August 1, 2022 and will be accepted until Friday, November 25, 2022 at 4 pm PST.
To learn more about how to apply and application eligibility guidelines, visit https://forestry.ubc.ca/future-forests-fellowship/.
After years of research, a wood scientist, mechanical engineer, and chemical engineer have invented a new way to protect cities from climate change: turning buildings into giant trees. Or at least, their invention can make some buildings do some of the things that trees can.
Reprinted from https://engineering.ubc.ca/news/2022/turning-skyscrapers-trees
They tower over our heads and inspire thoughts of prehistory. Big trees are a quintessential feature of the West Coast, stretching nearly 100 meters into the sky, and sometimes aging over 2,000 years.
Their sheer size makes old-growth trees not only a spectacular sight to behold but also a wellspring for cultural practices, ecological diversity, climate regulation, clean drinking water and timber. However, within the past two centuries in British Columbia (BC), they have also become rarer as they helped build thriving communities and drive economic activity in the province.
“Big trees are a culturally, economically and ecologically important component of our forests,” says Ira Sutherland (BSF’12).
As the landscape shifted with logging practices and development, many people have taken on the task of documenting the largest remaining stands in the forest. In the 1980s, BC naturalist and conservationist Randy Stoltmann started a register of big trees as a way to raise awareness and encourage people to visit and conserve them.
Stoltmann’s careful records of the locations of giant Douglas-firs and western redcedars passed hands a few times before finding a home at UBC’s Faculty of Forestry in 2010. Now known as the BC Big Tree Registry, the online portal houses data on the size and location of the biggest trees around the province, as discovered and measured by community members and the forest industry.
“We’ve built the registry to be inclusive so that anybody who wants to participate and nominate a tree can do so, but we also carefully verify each measurement,” says Ira Sutherland, who chairs the BC Big Tree Registry Committee and is pursuing a Ph.D. in historical ecology at UBC Forestry under Assoc. Prof. Jeanine Rhemtulla.
“We’re really trying to operate as a community science-driven initiative to improve information about the distribution and sizes of special trees across all of BC.” The number of trees in the registry has doubled in recent years, with many new giants of numerous species identified, measured and cataloged.
“Since 2014, the registry has grown from about 250 to 600 trees,” says Christine Chourmouzis, registrar with the Big Tree Registry. “In 2021 alone, almost 200 trees were nominated. Last year, the registry received nominations for seven interior trees that are the largest of their kind, including champion ponderosa pine, western redcedar, grand fir, subalpine fir, subalpine larch, western white pine and western hemlock.”
Technology has also moved the dial on identifying big trees, Ira adds. “Airborne laser scanning (ALS) can now give us a fairly precise estimate of tree height. We recently accepted nominations for many exceptionally large trees that were identified by Western Forest Products on Vancouver Island using ALS data, and who knows what the future may hold.”
Part of Ira’s vision for the registry involves bringing more stakeholders to the table.
“My big project right now is to create a bridge between entities that are doing tree monitoring, including industry (e.g., BC Timber Sales), environmental non-governmental organizations, (e.g., Raincoast Conservation Foundation), the BC provincial government and First Nations,” says Ira. “The goal is to form a network that will connect all the different people out there who are trying to find big trees.”
An important task of the network is to discuss how to define big trees or otherwise special trees that warrant protection under the province’s new Special Tree Protection Regulation, which is part of the Forest and Range Practices Act.
“Currently, big trees, or specified trees as they are referred to under BC’s Special Tree Protection Regulation, are defined based on their diameter at breast height (DBH), which is set based on analyzing the size distribution of big trees,” says Ira. “Trees that exceed that size can qualify for special protections.”
“However, the thresholds are set very high and most site conditions are unlikely to produce such large trees. This means that the largest stands on those sites would never be protected.”
For example, Ira notes that the threshold for protecting a coastal Douglas-fir is 2.7 meters DBH, “but there are relatively few locations and site conditions in BC where we find such large Douglas-fir.”
“There’s a huge information gap about big trees, and the registry can support setting and evaluating science-based policies about which trees should qualify for specified tree status.”
Ira also believes more emphasis should be placed on understanding the cultural and social value of big trees. In the future, he would like to create more opportunities within the registry or through other networks for people to share why big trees are important to them.
Learn more about the BC Big Tree Registry and nominate a tree
Led by our very own Development and Alumni Engagement Office, and shaped by valuable feedback from our alumni community, the Spring 2022 issue of Branchlines showcases the dynamic and multifaceted fields of forestry.
As one makes one’s bed, one finds it. The French proverb from around the middle of the past century is being realized as human activities make their mark on everything from weather patterns to species extinction at an alarming rate.
Approximately 713 wildlife are currently listed in Canada’s Species at Risk Act. In British Columbia, home to the most biodiversity in the country, widespread habitat changes are threatening the survival of many of the province’s native flora and fauna.
UBC Forestry Professor Tara Martin’s Conservation Decisions Lab is taking a big picture view of the cumulative impacts threatening species loss.
She and her colleagues designed the Priority Threat Management framework to identify actions that could feasibly lead to the greatest species survival and ecosystem resilience. Recommendations could include modifying or relocating industry, fishing, forestry, mining, urbanization and other activities located near ecologically sensitive areas to prevent further ecosystem degradation.
“Our framework is transparent, repeatable and robust to uncertainty, and will deliver costed portfolios of options which inform how to recover and protect the places and species we care most about with the least impact to societies and the economy,” says Tara, who holds the UBC Liber Ero Chair in Conservation.
Informed by conservation decision science, the approach combines mathematics, socio-economics, operations research and applied ecology to identify which species have the greatest chance of survival in priority areas.
It’s a tactic that spoke to Reid Carter (BSc forest biology’79, MSc soil science’83, RPF), whose $1.5 million gifts is making possible the launch of Tara’s Priority Threat Management initiative in BC’s Salish Sea and Central Coast areas.
A former lead of Brookfield Timberlands Management’s investment management organization and past president and CEO of Acadian Timber, Reid spent much of his early adulthood researching and working in forest ecology and forest soils while at UBC Forestry.
“A lot of the world’s ecosystems don’t receive enough attention, and a lot of conservation work is focused on saving one species at a time,” says Reid. “It can feel like playing whack-a-mole, as this approach only addresses one perceived problem in isolation from everything else.”
“Tara’s Priority Threat Management offers a much more thoughtful and holistic approach, and one that I believe has a much greater chance of success,” he adds. “Her risk and cost adjusted process maximize the positive impact human actions can have on species and ecosystem health and survival as a whole.”
Data from Tara’s work will be transferred into timeline-framed action plans that identify key stakeholder involvement and funds needed to make it happen.
Her team is creating ecological data maps using state-of-the-art LiDAR light detection and ranging equipment – the technology’s aerial light pulses render three-dimensional images of the surface characteristics of a landscape – along with aerial and underwater drone footage. Open-source software developed for the project will help process data and crunch the numbers.
Tara and her team also work with Indigenous governments and different levels within federal, provincial and municipal agencies to formulate their recommendations.
“There is a huge knowledge gap that needs to be filled to slow and stop further biodiversity loss in Canada,” says Tara. “Working with our government and non-government partners and stakeholders, this project can produce actionable conservation plans for BC, Canada and beyond.”
Led by our very own Development and Alumni Engagement Office, and shaped by valuable feedback from our alumni community, the Spring 2022 issue of Branchlines showcases the dynamic and multifaceted fields of forestry.
Growing up in various homes and locations around Whitehorse and the Yukon territory, Garry Merkel will be the first to tell you that he could never have anticipated the trajectory of his life. Today the member of the Tahltan Nation and Registered Professional Forester is a lead voice behind the Government of British Columbia’s newly adopted old-growth forest strategy, and a recent recipient of a UBC honorary doctorate degree.
We sat down with Garry to learn more about the mindset and decisions that led him down his current path, and what projects he’s setting his sights on next.
When I was growing up I had fought fires and then met a photo interpreter and trapper who I became close with. He suggested that if I went to school for two years I could get a job as a resource management officer and potentially have my education paid for because the need for educated professionals in the north was so great. After getting a job and receiving a forest technologist degree, I worked for a while as a surveyor, forest inventory technician, software engineer, you name it. I led a few large projects, including the “City of Cranbrook Watershed Forest Development Plan”. After a while, for what I wanted to do with my career, I realized that I would need to get a degree. So, I went to the University of Alberta and completed a BSF degree.
When I took over the job as a regional forester with Indian and Northern Affairs in BC in the late 1980s there were only two Indigenous professionals and 12 Indigenous technicians in Canada in the natural resources sector. That was right when the R v. Sparrow case brought Aboriginal rights into law through the Supreme Court of Canada. I realized how few of our people were properly educated at that time due to the institutional racism that was barring them from success; and, it became clear to me that this needed to change.
This led me to chair the Aboriginal Forestry Training and Employment Review Committee, which laid out a framework to improve training, education and employment opportunities for Aboriginal peoples in the forestry sector across Canada. It also took me down the road of providing feedback and strategic recommendations for the “Provincial Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education Strategy in BC”, and playing a leadership role with the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT) in Merritt. The success of NVIT demonstrated that amazing things can happen when educational institutions take into account the needs of Aboriginal students. Around 80-90% of Aboriginal students in various departments were graduating at NVIT, compared to 5% at other post-secondary institutions, and with no compromise on educational standards. Today, an Aboriginal student at a Canadian post-secondary institution has the same chance at success as other students.
I’ve also been working with the UBC Faculty of Forestry on their Indigenous strategy for about 15 years. We have worked really hard to shape policy and train foresters to understand Indigenous perspectives and forestry practices. Across natural resources educational programs, there is a need to integrate content that is grounded as much as possible in Indigenous communities and that builds relationships within those communities. We also need programs to include Indigenous speakers and applied research. At the same time, in Canada, the systemic racism towards the Indigenous population that persists must be rooted out; and, more work is needed to move towards meaningful reconciliation.
One thing in particular about growing up in an Indigenous community is that I saw a first-hand immense need. We needed to build our government, education systems, economy, infrastructure and so on all at the same time. This is the way it’s been for a while now.
When I was young, I read something that really rang true to me. It was a quote in the inspirational book Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach: “Argue your limitations and they are yours.” My family is the kind that didn’t really believe in limitations. And so, my philosophy in life has always been to look for possibilities and to pick the path that scared me the most. It will push you and stretch your limits. The more you keep doing that over and over again, the more it becomes a way of life. So, now, to live in that space is normal for me. But, it’s a space that has opened many doors for me, including accepting a new position with the province of BC in a leadership role to implement the recommendations from the old-growth strategic review that Al Gorley and I recently prepared for the province.
I will be helping to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations and the paradigm shift recommended in our old-growth strategic review (April 2021) “A New Future for Old Forests: A Strategic Review of How British Columbia Manages for Old Forests Within its Ancient Ecosystems.” There’s this notion that old-growth forests are renewable, and that’s not true. In most cases, they are not – within any reasonable timeframe – particularly with the effects of climate change now and on the horizon. When you start to remove old growth on a mass scale, you start to lose species, connectivity and the diversity of the forest. My job is to collect views from everybody in the sector and to provide coaching to government staff on engagement and policy options. As well, I will provide mentorship to government staff and the sector as a whole on how to move through this paradigm shift, and will facilitate collaboration among all of these players.
We’re working on an Indigenous Land Stewardship Centre of Excellence. The Centre will document Indigenous land ethics and translate that into practice management systems and practices. It would be a combination of professional development courses and applied research, and maybe more. We will also work with other institutions to develop a similar curriculum. Ultimately, a key goal will be to establish replicable, next-generation sustainable forestry models.
Learn more about Indigenous Forestry initiatives at UBC Forestry
Led by our very own Development and Alumni Engagement Office, and shaped by valuable feedback from our alumni community, the Spring 2022 issue of Branchlines showcases the dynamic and multifaceted fields of forestry.
A captivation with the outdoors attracted Professor Emeritus Peter Marshall to forestry, but a love of teaching kept him transfixed for over four decades. After officially retiring at the end of Dec. 2021, Peter is getting set for what lies ahead. A much-beloved professor of forest measurements and biometrics in the Faculty of Forestry – and recent recipient of the ABCFP Distinguished Forest Professional award – Peter shares memories of the lessons he has learned throughout his career, along with his enduring passion for the profession.
As a child, a lot of my summers were spent outdoors with my mother’s family either working on the farm, going fishing with my uncle and the like. I knew that I wanted my career to be outdoors and landed on studying forestry with the goal of specializing in wildlife management. During my BSF at the University of Toronto (U of T), I discovered that forestry involved math and statistics, which were things that I was good at and enjoyed in high school. My guidance counsellor tried to steer me towards engineering, but I was committed to forestry at that point and my interest in math drew me to forestry measurements and biometrics.
Well, I taught my first university course in 1977 during the second year of my master’s program. My supervisor was going on sabbatical and asked me if I would teach his course. I was more scared of him than I was of teaching and soon discovered that I liked it. I guess I did all right because U of T offered me a job as a lecturer. After coming to UBC to complete a Ph.D. in forest management, the Faculty of Forestry asked me to teach the forest mensuration course (FRST 236) and a forest sampling course (FRST 431) during my second year, which was in 1981/82. Just as I was finishing up my Ph.D. at the end of 1983, a full-time position became available and I was offered the job.
I’ve always enjoyed the research side of my career and the breadth of research questions you can ask within the area – from modelling carbon in the forests of Nepal to modelling forest growth and yield using laser scanning and 3D images. Another highlight has been travelling to many different places. In the past 10 to 15 years, I spent a lot of time in China helping to set up transfer programs for students there. Having spent some time there in the early 1990s and then around two to four times per year since around 2010, I witnessed the speed of the country’s economic development – not just in Beijing and Shanghai, but in many other cities – as well as an increasing openness to sharing ideas and information.
Technological innovations have significantly changed the application side of things, including the measurement instruments we use. My undergraduate papers were typed on a manual typewriter, my master’s thesis on an electric typewriter and my Ph.D. dissertation on a mainframe computer using word processing software. In the quantitative world, the ability to run things on personal and field computers, access powerful software tools and use remote sensing technology to inventory forest biomass and the like has been a huge change.
I have always been proud to be a forester, and these links to government and industry have provided an opportunity for me to stay connected to the profession and see the practical applications of theoretical developments. Also, it’s another way to stay in touch with some students I’ve taught.
I like to cook. I used to play a lot of hockey, but these days I stick more to watching sports. Instead, I keep active by walking at least 15 kilometres per day. And I like to read.
One that I enjoy that’s related to my field is The Lady Tasting Tea by David Salsburg. It tells the story of Ronald Fisher, one of the founders of modern statistics, along with many other early statisticians, in an entertaining and non-technical way.
Well, despite having just retired, I taught again at UBC this past spring, and I continue to serve on several committees, both provincially and nationally. I will likely also do a bit of consulting on the side. Once the pandemic is more under control, my wife and I hope to travel.
Led by our very own Development and Alumni Engagement Office, and shaped by valuable feedback from our alumni community, the Spring 2022 issue of Branchlines showcases the dynamic and multifaceted fields of forestry.
UBC Forestry’s Future Forests Fellowship is awarding a single grant of up to $280,000 for an incoming forestry PhD student. Applications open August 1, 2022.