Branchlines - The University of British Columbia
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
branchlines Volume 25#2 Summer 2014 Inside: Rivers of light: Do street lights influence stream communities?.................................... 10 Measuring the city in 3D................ 11 Transforming findings into policies and practice (cover) ...... 14 Developing human well-being indicators for Haida Gwaii............. 20 Small-scale forestry in Ghana: Surviving reforms?........................... 22
dean’smessage
because forestry is so regionalized (some believing that we can train individuals
might even say parochial), we face to do this within a few short years. This
the same problem as forestry schools is impossible; we need to recognize that
everywhere in that our students have learning continues throughout a career,
been taught to meet local rather than long after someone adds the initials RPF
international needs. We have recently to their name. Which, in turn, brings me
introduced 4-week long field visits to to the next word in the title.
both China and India, but we need to ‘Student(s)’. At the UBC graduation
do more to encourage students, and ceremony, the President always exhorts
faculty members, to develop a more those receiving degrees to become life-
comprehensive world view of forestry, long learners – if we follow his advice,
and this needs to be integrated into does that make us all life-long students?
their teaching. National and provincial We could argue that the term student
forestry education and forester licensing refers only to somebody receiving a for-
systems need to take a careful look at mal education, yet even this is becoming
In August this year, forestry stu- how other professions are dealing with an extremely blurred distinction, and will
dents from the UBC Faculty of Forestry, our increasingly globalized world. Which become even more so in the future as
the University of Northern British brings me to the next part of the title. online learning increases in importance.
Columbia, and Thompson Rivers ‘Forestry’. It would be foolish to get Such learning has never been more
University will jointly be hosting the into a potentially endless argument over important than today, driven by the pace
annual International Forestry Students’ the definition of the term ‘forestry’ – the of change in the science and technology
Symposium. This is a tremendous discipline of geography has shown how advances underpinning our respective
opportunity for our students to meet pointlessly destructive such debates professions. We really all are life-long
other forestry students from around the can be. However, the Association of students. I guess this is good news for the
world, and for those students to learn University Forestry Schools of Canada membership officer of IFSA! It also implies
something about forestry and forestry (AUFSC) is seeking to have the defini- that the community of learners in forestry
education in British Columbia. Recently, tion of forestry broadened, which some is a lot larger than most people realize.
I had the opportunity to meet some of members believe will help enrollment ‘Association’. The final word in IFSA’s
the students who will be coming to BC numbers. For most students, forestry title implies a formal grouping of people,
in a few weeks’ time, and I challenged can be directly related to the manage- bound by regulations and practices, and
them to think carefully about what ment of forests, but this excludes many this is certainly the case. It is perhaps
the name of their association implied students studying in forestry schools. the only part of the title that today is
(the International Forestry Students’ For example, in the Faculty of Forestry, clear. What is not clear is why mem-
Association – IFSA). I’m not sure that our Forest Sciences, Natural Resources bership of IFSA in North America is so
anyone really understood what I was Conservation and Wood Products low. Why have so few North American
saying, so I repeat that challenge here. Processing programs currently fall out- student associations joined IFSA? Does
‘International’. What exactly do we side the remit of the forestry program this reflect the parochialism that I men-
mean by the term ‘international’? Just accreditation scheme, so are these tioned earlier, and which is viewed as
because someone attends a conference students ‘forestry’ students? I firmly so important globally that it received
in another country, does that make them believe that they are, and the Canadian a mention at the recent (22nd) session
‘international’? Does a 2-week place- Institute of Forestry agrees, awarding all of the Committee on Forestry of the
ment in another country make a student our graduating students silver rings. But Food and Agriculture Organization of
‘international’? This applies as much to that doesn’t necessarily mean that these the United Nations. Hopefully, this, and
faculty members as it does to students. programs should be accredited accord- some of the other issues that I have
UBC’s Faculty of Forestry is considered ing to standards developed by profes- mentioned above will be discussed dur-
by many to be international – more than sional forestry organizations. Instead, it ing the course of the 2014 International
a quarter of undergraduate students is time for those professional organiza- Forestry Students’ Symposium.
come from outside Canada, as do more tions to think carefully about what they
than half of our graduate students. Yet mean by a professional forester. The
the curricula that we deliver do not time of the general practitioner, who
adequately reflect this. Partly driven by knows everything about every aspect
the pressures of accreditation, and partly of a forest is long gone, yet we persist in John L Innes
Professor and Dean
2 branchlines 25#2 2014
forestrynews
Graduate student symposium
On February 18, UBC’s Faculty of The presentations were outstand- Sciences. This year’s presenter was Dr
Forestry supported the 3rd Future ing, evidenced by the excellent Q&A Colden Baxter, Associate Professor at
Forestry Leader Symposium. Organized sessions that followed. Awards for best the Stream and Ecology Center, Dept
by the Forestry Graduate Student talks were given, as well as an invitation of Biological Science, Idaho State
Association’s Emily Murphy and Letitia for all of the students to submit a paper University. His talk was titled “Fire and
Da Ros, along with Professors David for a special edition of the Forestry ice: responses by stream-riparian eco-
Cohen, Chris Gaston and Ivan Eastin, Chronicle this fall. systems to shifting disturbance regimes
this year’s symposium showed excel- The symposium was closed by the and some consequences for forest
lent enthusiasm, both by the students Leslie L Schaffer Lectureship in Forest management”.
and the invited guests.
As was the case in previous years,
the event was kicked off the evening
before by a networking night promot-
ing professional careers in forestry.
With over 80 in attendance, the night
included presentations by 15 industry,
government and Faculty representa-
tives, all sharing their views on a bright
future for graduating forestry students.
Those that were not able to present at
the symposium (due to an overwhelm-
ing response) had the opportunity
to present a poster for the occasion,
adding to the successful evening of
networking.
The research symposium itself
was made up of 3 sessions of stu-
dent presentations, Forests and the
Environment, Forest Products and
Technology and Markets and Policy.
As in previous years, students largely
represented UBC and the University
of Washington. However, this year also
included invited presentations from the
University of Victoria and the University
of Northern BC.
Presentation topics included
life cycle assessments of bioenergy
options, environmental monitoring by
Aboriginal communities, community
forests in Kenya, eco-labeling wood
products for the US construction
industry, investigating the potential
for bamboo-based fibre composites,
ramifications of the US Lacey Act,
wood product opportunities for the
BC coastal Nuxalk First Nations, and
many more.
branchlines 3
New appointments
Dr Verena Griess is joining the promotes the utilization of ecological
Department of Forest Resources effects with economic consequences,
Management as an Assistant Professor such as mixing tree species or close-
in Forest Management. Verena comes to to-nature-forestry. Verena is interested
us from Technische Universität München in the economic and social potential of
(TUM), Germany, where she has been tropical agroforestry as well as econom-
a faculty member since 2012. Verena ics of commercial plantations using
holds a PhD in forest management and native tree species and has carried out
economics, an MSc in forest and wood research in Panama, Colombia, China,
science and a degree in forest engineer- Russia and the EU. She will be teaching
ing from TUM. Her research and teach- in the forest resources management
ing interests focus on multifunctional and wood products components of our
forest management and the integration undergraduate and graduate programs
of multiple objectives into optimiza- and involved in our growing research on
tion software. Much of Verena´s work forest management.
Dr Bianca Eskelson will be joining resources and ecosystem services. She
the Department of Forest Resources is excited about applying her research
Management as an Assistant Professor to forest management challenges in
in Forest Biometrics. Bianca received British Columbia by advancing her work
forestry degrees (BS and MS) from the on copula models and by quantifying
University of Göttingen, Germany. She natural disturbance effects. Her teach-
completed an MS in statistics and a ing interests lie in forest biometrics and
PhD in forest biometrics at Oregon modelling and the implementation of
State University in Corvallis, Oregon, quantitative methods in statistical soft-
where she has worked as a research ware packages. Bianca looks forward
associate in the College of Forestry to contributing to the undergraduate
for the past 5 years. Bianca’s research and graduate-level forest biometrics
focuses on the application and exten- curriculum at UBC.
sion of statistical theory and methods
to inventory, monitor and model forest
Dr Julie Cool will be joining the Through her research, she aims to
Department of Wood Science as an quantify and control wood recovery,
Assistant Professor in Wood Machining. surface quality, and wood adhesion, as
Julie, a mechanial engineer, received well as productivity by developing the
her Masters and PhD in wood science knowledge on wood-knife interactions.
from Université Laval in 2011. Since Julie will be teaching undergradu-
then, she has worked closely with the ate classes in wood machining and
forest industry while at FPInnovations sawmilling.
and also as a research and develop-
ment consultant in the private sector.
Julie’s research and teaching interests
focus on wood machining and qual-
ity control (both in the primary and
secondary manufacturing sectors)
and how these affect the value chain.
4 branchlines 25#2 2014
Dr Rajat Panwar will joining the research examines adoption of sustain-
Faculty of Forestry as an Assistant able practices from a strategy perspec-
Professor of Sustainable Business tive in both established and new firms.
Management in a dual appoint- His teaching interests include forest
ment between the departments of products business, entrepreneurship,
Wood Science and Forest Resources and business sustainability. Rajat is
Management. Rajat comes to us from excited about the opportunity to teach
Northland College, Wisconsin, USA undergraduate forestry students at UBC
where he has been a faculty member and to train them as leading thinkers in
in the areas of corporate social respon- the realm of business sustainability. He
sibility and business sustainability since is looking forward to joining sustain-
2008. Rajat received his PhD in wood ability focused research groups in his
science and engineering from Oregon home departments of Wood Science
State University and his MBA from the and Forest Resources Management.
University of Lucknow in India. Rajat’s
Dr Scott Renneckar will be joining products sourced from nature are stron-
the Department of Wood Science as ger, lighter, and more energy efficient
an Associate Professor in Advanced than their petroleum analogs. He uses
Renewable Materials. Prior to joining materials such as high performance
us, Scott has been a faculty member fibers, transparent films and coatings,
in the Department of Sustainable and nanocomposites in applications for
Biomaterials at Virginia Tech since automobile, aerospace, building, and
2005. He obtained his degrees in wood the emerging additive manufacturing
science from Virginia Tech (BS, 1997 industries. Scott will also teach a course
and PhD, 2004) and the University of on wood adhesives and coatings in our
California, Berkeley (MS, 1999). Scott’s undergraduate program applying his
research program focuses on creating combined expertise in wood science
advanced renewable materials through and polymer chemistry.
cutting-edge science that will catalyze
a green economy. These sustainable
Dr Jeanine Rhemtulla will join the maintaining ecosystem functioning,
Department of Forest and Conservation especially in tropical regions, where
Sciences as an Assistant Professor in conservation and development goals
Landscape Ecology. Jeanine comes to frequently collide. Her work combines
us from the Department of Geography a broad range of methods, including
and School of Environment at McGill ecological fieldwork, remote sensing,
University, where she has been a faculty analysis of archival records and house-
member since 2009. Jeanine received hold surveys. She has field research sites
her PhD in landscape ecology from in the lowland forests of the Peruvian
the University of Wisconsin-Madison Amazon, in the agroforested landscapes
and her Masters in forest ecology from of Kerala, in southern India, and the
the University of Alberta. Her interests mixed agricultural region of southern
focus on the long-term effects of human Quebec. Jeanine will provide a valuable
land-use on ecosystems, and on under- asset to our Faculty’s research and teach-
standing how to manage landscapes ing expertise in international forestry.
to increase human well-being while
branchlines 5
New student engagement officer
Ileana Costrut has joined the stu- student learning and personal and
dent services team in Forestry as our professional development. In collabora-
new student engagement officer. Ileana tion with students and university part-
comes to us with 9 years of experience ners, Ileana will help new students to
in the student engagement field and become successful university learners,
has an MA in sustainability education, who are well prepared to engage in the
curriculum and pedagogy. She will be university community and achieve their
responsible for developing, delivering, personal and career goals. She can be
and evaluating programs and services reached at Ileana.costrut@ubc.ca.
to support and enrich undergraduate
Co-op graduate becomes “Lean Champion”
In 1989, Wolf Nickel began Pacific FPInnovations, who recommended opment and implemented an extensive
Closet Works Ltd (now STOR-X® sending job postings to the Faculty of quality program.
Organizing Systems) with the goal Forestry’s Wood Products Processing In February, 3 delegates from
of providing versatile, economical, Co-op Coordinator. This resulted in the Okayama University in Japan toured
and custom-fitted organizing units hiring of their current “Lean Champion” STOR-X® with the intent of creating their
for homeowners. During the recent and 2010 Wood Products Processing own co-op and exchange programs
economic downturn, STOR-X® made graduate, Luke Opacic. Luke is also a with the Wood Products Processing
drastic changes to the company in order graduate of the Co-op program, and program at UBC. The delegates were very
to stay on par with the decrease in the strongly recommended the program impressed by the co-op system, includ-
demand for organizing units. Their jour- to STOR-X®. “The Co-op program is well- ing the partnerships made with industry-
ney in “Lean Manufacturing” was aimed suited to companies such as STOR-X® leading companies, and the benefits to
at delivering product more efficiently, because it can help a company com- the company and the students. Also
with higher quality, and minimal waste. plete projects without deviating from part of the tour were Sudeh Jahan,
In effect, the goal of STOR-X® was to their corporate plans,” said Luke Opacic. Co-op Coordinator for UBC’s Wood
become a lean, green, machine. Along “I would encourage any company that Products Processing program, and Dr
with this, STOR-X® developed a franchise wants to participate in a Co-op program Robert Kozak, head of the Department
business model to expand the company to do so.” As a result of the recommen- of Wood Science. For further informa-
rapidly throughout Canada. dation, STOR-X® employed a Forestry tion on UBC’s Co-op Program in Wood
Much of this journey was done in Co-op student in 2013 who completed Products Processing, contact Sudeh
consultation with industry advisors from projects involving new product devel- Jahan at sudeh.jahan@ubc.ca.
Recent awards
The Canadian Forest Service (CFS) Nicholas and Andrés. for their work with the Regional District
has recognized the Lidar Best Practices Dr Scott Hinch has been awarded of North Okanagan (RDNO) titled
Team for their work in producing a the annual Certificate of Achievement Are We There Yet? Regional Growth
go-to handbook describing all of the from the Washington-British Columbia Strategy Monitoring & Evaluation
steps necessary for understanding Chapter of the American Fisheries Program. This work was selected as the
and implementing and airborne laser Society. This certificate is given out winner of a Gold Award in the category
scanning project. Dr Nicholas Coops annually to someone who has demon- of Planning Practice – Small Town &
(Forest Resources Management) and Dr strated significant professional achieve- Rural Areas. Dr Meitner received this
Andrés Varhola (recent graduate from ment. The American Fisheries Society award along with his students (Julian
UBC Forestry) are members of this team. was established in 1870 and is the Gonzalez and Lorien Nesbitt), William
The document “A best practices guide oldest professional fisheries organiza- Trousdale from EcoPlan International
for generating forest inventory attri- tion in North America with over 10,000 and Anthony Kittel from the RDNO
butes from airborne laser scanning data members. Congratulations Scott. at the 2014 BC Land Summit held in
using an area-based-approach”, was the Dr Michael Meitner and his team Vancouver. Congratulations to Mike
most downloaded document from the have received an award from the and his team.
CFS bookstore in 2013. Congratulations Planning Institute of British Columbia
6 branchlines 25#2 2014
Imbalances of power:
Reflecting on our
relationship with forests
By Andrea Vasquez, Hollie Carr, and Ana Elia Ramon Hidalgo
“It´s my pleasure to invite you to join me in organizing a raised about the role that the recently launched Canadian
documentary screening and discussion in our Faculty to raise International Institute for Extractive Industries and Development
awareness about socio-environmental issues of forest-related (hosted at UBC) will play in perpetuating the status quo.
practices globally. “ This was the opening line of an email sent Maldonado encouraged the attendees to reflect on our moral
by Maria Jose Ruiz-Esquide (MSc student) to engage other responsibilities, as Canadians and world citizens, in advocating
forestry graduate students in her idea. Maria Jose’s vision for global environmental and social justice. He suggested start-
materialized into a successful documentary series, held over ing at home: “now that you’ve heard all this information, you
the winter semesters. need to bring it to students and develop critical consciousness
The first documentary, “Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari about the relationship between UBC and these [Canadian-based
Maathai” presented the courageous story of the Kenyan Nobel mining] corporations.”
Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, whose perseverance
in planting trees grew into a nation-wide movement to safe-
guard the environment and protect human rights. The film
chronicled the difficulties involved in challenging gender
roles and power dynamics in a deeply entrenched patriarchal
society, and showcased the outcomes of a life of persever-
ance and co-operation toward reducing deforestation and
empowering women. Dr Leila Harris (Institute for Resources
Environment and Sustainability and at the Institute for Gender,
Race, Sexuality and Social Justice) facilitated a discussion on
the ways that systems of inequality (colonialism, gender, race,
sexuality) impact our relationship with the environment and
invited us to explore different ways that we, as students, can
challenge these systems of inequality.
The second film, “No Land, No Food, No Life”, documented
several communities’ plights in Cambodia and Uganda
fighting against corporate land grabs, forced evictions and
the destruction of forests and small-scale farms. Dr Hannah
Wittman (Associate Professor at the Institute for Resources
Environment and Sustainability and at the Faculty of Land
and Food Systems), drawing on her research, facilitated a dis-
cussion on how the loss of land often leads to a shift towards
food insecurity, due to a rise in crop prices and shift towards
cash crops. Participants agreed on the need for the regula-
tion of foreign investment and emphasized the importance
of Canadians’ obligation to be conscientious consumers, This series has been a very rewarding journey creating a
questioning the conditions of production of our food and its welcoming space to explore the often overlooked imbalances
impacts on deforestation. of power over forest resources and between forest stakeholders.
“Gold Fever”, shown in the last session, portrayed social and We hope to see another series coming up next year! To those
environmental abuses perpetrated by Canadian mining compa- who collaborated, we express our deepest gratitude. In particu-
nies against local forest-dependent Guatemalan communities. lar we would like to thank Christie Lee, a Musqueam ambassador
The ensuing discussion was led by panellists Oscar Morales, from who welcomed us to their territory and shared reflections on
the Guatemalan community of San Rafael las Flores, affected by human-forest relationships, to Mariko Molander (MSc student)
Canadian mining operations; Rafael Maldonado, a Guatemalan for her insightful reminders of what it means to host this event
lawyer; Don Wright, from Amnesty International; and Samuel on unceded traditional territories, to the facilitators, and to Maria
Stime, a UBC MASc student in engineering. Questions were Jose for leading this project.
branchlines 7
Extending research
to practice over
generations
A 30-year re-entry period is stipulated
in the GAR Order.
As it happens, 30 years is also the
approximate length of a career, and
only 1 of the original researchers has
not yet retired. We are fortunate that
Michaela is still willing to help us return
to the original trial and continue the
learning.
Much of the expertise and craft
required to manage uneven-aged
forests has been lost while local forest
companies have been focused on log-
ging lodgepole pine. At a time when
allowable cuts are declining and the
Michaela Waterhouse describes mule deer winter habitat ecology to students
green wood in this region is primarily
A research project spanning 3 through the Cariboo-Chilcotin Land in the uneven-aged forests of Douglas-
decades at the Alex Fraser Research Use Plan, the Forest Practices Code, fir, there is an important extension role
Forest (AFRF) is poised to once again and most recently Government Actions for the Research Forest. Planners and
inform forest policy and management Regulation (GAR) Orders. silviculturists will need to visit the sites,
practice. Since the 1980s, the AFRF has Thirty years later we are plan- look at the logged and unlogged con-
been a primary site for researching ning a re-entry into the 3 replicated ditions, and understand the costs and
methods for timber harvesting in dry research blocks originally harvested benefits of this particular silvicultural
Douglas-fir forests while maintaining under the research project. In 2013 we strategy. Likewise, provincial compli-
mule deer winter habitat. Now involv- re-measured the original cruise plots, ance and enforcement staff will need
ing generations of foresters this proj- re-established the original transects for to understand the intent of the General
ect emphasizes the value of research monitoring mule deer use and avoid- Wildlife Measures published in the GAR
forests as repositories of knowledge ance, and re-mapped the original skid Order. Finally, the lessons learned on the
and places in which to apply adaptive trails. Pre-harvest winter track transects Forest will be important information
management. were monitored last winter. We have as regulators review the GAR Order, to
Research was initiated by the BC drafted site plans and developed mark- ensure that the regulation does in fact
Forest Service in the early 1980s due ing guidance, and are marking the achieve the intent of the guidance – the
to concerns that harvesting practices stands for cutting this July. co-ordination of timber and mule deer
of the day were detrimental to mule The silvicultural strategy for mule management.
deer winter habitat. The project was deer winter range in the dry Douglas- It is familiar territory for a research
led by Harold Armleder, Rick Dawson fir forests of the Cariboo Region is forest: learn the science, understand the
and Rob Thompson and resulted in described as “clumpy single tree selec- vision, implement a treatment, review
practice guidance first published in tion.” The Knife Creek Block of the the results, adapt and repeat. However,
1986. Throughout their careers, Harold Research Forest is managed entirely when the treatment cycle spans careers
and Rick (together with Michaela under this strategy. Uneven-aged the adaptation cycle needs to be
Waterhouse) continued to carry out stands are maintained in a structure passed on. The Alex Fraser Research
habitat ecology research. Research that provides snow interception and Forest has a pivotal role to play in real-
Forest Manager Ken Day helped to forage for deer by maintaining a con- izing the vision established back in the
refine the silvicultural strategy through tinuous supply of large, wide-crowned early 1980s, and passing along the les-
his graduate research in the mid trees, while removing groups of trees sons learned through implementation.
1990s. The practice guidance has to ensure regeneration, plus thinning For further information contact Ken
been consolidated for implementation to allow the growth of younger trees. Day at ken.day@ubc.ca.
8 branchlines 25#2 2014
Underwater
logging in
Panama
By Arnaud De Grave
I have to admit I knew nothing about underwater logging are attached to the trunk. Divers use air-driven chainsaws to cut
before my photo trip to Panama. However, I had done some the tree which is then pulled up, sometimes quite dramatically,
homework before stepping onto a barge on Lake Bayano with rather like a humpback whale jumping out of water. It can take a
a group of divers/loggers and their massive chainsaws. My expe- long time to manage the finalized cut because of extremely low
rience tells me that it is better to arrive with a fresh and open visibility below the lake surface. Once the trees are towed back
mind rather than with pre-conceived expectations. The project they are sorted in preparation for a long drying period before
required 2 trips to Panama. In March 2013 I spent 2 weeks tak- going to the mill. Interestingly, Coast Eco Timber is working in
ing photographs and 6 months later I returned to present my collaboration with UBC’s Faculty of Forestry on determining the
work in a photo exhibition at the Alliance Française du Panama. best drying techniques. The company owns a mill in Chepo, a
Lake (Lago) Bayano was created over 75 years ago during the nearby town, and has a showroom displaying large planks and
construction of a hydro-electric dam. The 353 km2 lake became high end furniture in Panama City. The wood is quite beautiful,
the second largest artificial lake in the world, second only to Lago full of knots and character.
Gatun, famous for the Panama canal. Although submerged trees One thing that struck me is that there are complete ecosys-
die, some of the hardwood species are preserved and can be har- tems living on the submerged parts of the trunks. As a tree is
vested. Underwater logging is done in various parts of the world brought out of the water there is an exodus of large cockroaches,
including Canada, Ghana (with the largest reservoir by surface bats, water-walking lizards (one nicknamed the Jesus lizard for its
area in the world), and Panama, the focus of my photo project. abilites) and a myriad of other beasts unknown to me. At one time
Following my usual modus operandi (see BranchLines 23#4 I had a bat clinging for its life to my head. The bat managed to dry
2012 for an account of my previous forestry-based photography and then take off, only to be snatched in mid-air by a vulture-like
project) I was introduced to Alana Husby, president of Coast Eco bird. Such is life in the jungle. Each time I was in the water taking
Timber the company operating on the lake. There are many spe- pictures with a Nikonos underwater camera (designed by scuba-
cies of trees that can be salvaged. The locals spoke of one type diving pioneer Commandant Jacques-Yves Cousteau) I became
of tree that they were quite fond of. They call it “espavé” (actually lunch for fish which nibbled on me when I stopped swimming
wild cashew Anacardium excelsum, an evergreen that can grow in order to frame a shot.
up to 45 metres tall with trunks as large as 3 metres in diameter). The exhibition consisted of 20 hand-made fibre prints
The legend is that during the Spanish conquest, locals or invaders (11”x14”), 16 (8”x10”) RC based prints and 2 large professional
would climb these tall trees to look around: “Es para ver” (it is to prints. The work covered documentary pictures of the workers
see, in Spanish), hence the name. in action as well as scenes of the daily lives of the workers. I also
Coast Eco Timber is FSC controlled. All of the workers are presented a slide show of over 100 digital colour pictures during
locals living in a nearby village. Many of them are indigenous the opening event of the exhibition. The exhibition (www.coast-
Kunas from Panama and Colombia famous for their attire and ecotimber.com/en/press/item/145-fotos.html) was produced in
textile making activities. Alana arranged for me to live with the collaboration with the Association Bricolages Ondulatoires et
workers and I commuted with them to the lake every day, where Particulaires (www.bop-photolab.org), Coast Eco Timber, EAS the
we would load the barges with the equipment necessary for the dam company, the Alliance Française du Panama, UBC’s Faculty of
day: scuba-diving gear, compressed-air operated chainsaws, Forestry and the Canadian Embassy. I am grateful to everyone for
lunch boxes, and plenty of cold drinkable water. During my first their help. One thing that made me happy was when the direc-
trip, every barge had an engine and was manned by 4 work- tor of the Alliance Française told me that the cleaning ladies had
ers able to harvest 6 or 8 trees every day. Later, the company spent a lot of time looking at my pictures and that this was the
evolved its operation by using air lines, rather than free-diving first time he had seem them paying attention to an exhibition.
equipment and tow boats to separate the cutting of trees Maybe the pictures talked to them, made them proud of the
from the process of bringing them back to the beach. The new work of these people, their people. This is all I hoped to achieve.
barges are non-motorized and towed to the site. The work is Arnaud De Grave has recently completed his MSc degree at UBC.
very physical and involves teams of 2 divers and 2 people on The Faculty of Forestry is a strong supporter of enabling students to
the barge taking care of the equipment. Once a tree is selected gain “enhanced educational experiences”, and particularly encour-
(by species and then by measuring the depth of the water as ages students to gain field experience whenever they can. Arnaud
an estimate of length) plastic barrels filled with compressed air can be reached at arnaud.de.grave@gmail.com.
branchlines 9
Rivers of light: Do
streetlights influence
stream communities?
Artificial lights, such as streetlights, are a valuable piece of to otherwise natural streams. She found that the density of
urban infrastructure that few of us have thought about in an larval aquatic insects in the drift was indeed lower in the lit
ecological context. This is largely because most of us do our reaches than in paired control reaches of the same stream.
research in the day and often fail to consider what the night However, she did not find evidence that the lights changed
environment means for most organisms, especially if they are the growth rates of cutthroat trout, the density of terrestrial
not night active. However, most animals, whether nocturnal or insects falling into the streams, the decomposition rate of
diurnal, have evolved with a regular light-dark cycle that changes leaves, or the density or diversity of the aquatic insects living
only with the moon phase, or seasons, in temperate latitudes. on the stream bottom. It seemed odd that there wouldn’t be
The introduction of artificial lights has changed that pattern, with any change in fish growth rates, since there was a decrease
potentially damaging effects for some organisms and ecosystems. in the density of drifting invertebrates and no increase in the
For example, multiple studies have found that migrating number of terrestrial inputs to the stream, both of which are
birds are disoriented by skyscraper lights and this disorienta- important food sources for cutthroat trout.
tion can cause them to fly into windows and die. Rather than Elizabeth decided to follow-up on this study in her cur-
just singing a brief dawn chorus as their country cousins do, rent position by observing the night-time behaviour of the
urban songbirds sing all night in the artificial dawn created trout under both lit and dark conditions. Returning to the
by streetlights. Perhaps most famously, lights from resorts same streams she studied earlier, she used under-water
along beaches cause sea turtle hatchlings to become disori- infrared cameras to record fish behaviour at night. She also
ented. Throughout their evolutionary history, the brightest took stomach content samples from fish. In this recent study,
point on the horizon was the moon reflecting on the ocean; Elizabeth found that trout do forage more from the surface
hatchlings that oriented to the brightest spot on the horizon of the water in lit reaches than in the dark, but that there was
were selected for, but now that preference is causing them to no difference in stomach fullness between fish foraging on lit
navigate towards bright artificial lights rather than the ocean. versus dark nights. It could be that because both studies were
One ecosystem type that has possibly received the least done during the summer when nights are short in Vancouver,
attention from artificial light researchers is streams. This is despite that night-time foraging simply doesn’t play an important role
the fact that people preferentially settle near aquatic habitats in trout growth rates. Future research could focus on similar
and roads (and therefore light systems) often run parallel to studies but at different times of the year to determine if this is
streams. Because of this, Elizabeth Perkin, a current post-doctoral the case. Also, the studies Elizabeth carried out used high pres-
fellow supervised by Dr John Richardson, based her PhD and sure sodium lights, which are currently the most commonly
now her post-doc on studying the effects of artificial light on used streetlight. However, many cities are changing their lights
stream ecosystems. It might be difficult to imagine how stream over to more efficient LEDs, which often emit light from the
organisms would be affected by artificial light at first, but there blue-end of the color spectra. Because water more readily
are many possibilities. For instance, insects such as caddisflies, absorbs the red and orange light commonly emitted by high
mayflies, and stoneflies spend most of their lives under water in pressure sodium lamps, but much less blue light, we might
streams. They emerge to mate as flying adults and die after a few expect LEDs to have a greater influence on stream organisms.
days. While living in the stream as larvae, they move by drifting Elizabeth looks forward to continuing her research on arti-
in the water column, but generally only at night when visually- ficial light and stream ecosystems. She is particularly interested
foraging fish cannot see them well. Elizabeth was curious as to in developing a better understanding of how different light
how streetlights might change this drifting behaviour, as well as spectra change the behaviour of stream organisms so she can
the behaviour of the adult flying stage of the aquatic insects and help advise city planners on how to best design appropriate
cutthrout trout that are common in British Columbia streams. lighting infrastructure near water bodies.
To better understand these potential changes, Elizabeth For more information contact Dr Elizabeth Perkin at
ran a month-long experiment in the Malcolm Knapp Research eperkin@mail.ubc.ca or Dr John Richardson at
Forest during her doctoral studies, installing streetlights next john.richardson@ubc.ca.
10 branchlines 25#2 2014Measuring the
city in 3D
Over 5 million LiDAR-generated points make up this 3 dimensional representation of the area around Oakridge Mall in Vancouver
If you were in Vancouver in February returns provides a highly accurate incorporating supplementary statistics
2013 and happened to look up in the representation of urban form that Rory on building energy performance, Rory
sky, you may have noticed an airplane analyzed to determine the influence was able to provide predictions of
flying back and forth over the city. of obstructions that cast shadows on a energy demand that closely match the
However, what you would not have rooftop, such as another building or a results from much more laborious and
seen were the millions of infrared laser tree, and the geometry of the roof itself. time consuming simulation software.
signals blanketing the city surface. For Combining this information with the The application of this research offers
any given second, a scanner mounted location of the sun in the sky and the insights into the specific energy effi-
beneath that aircraft was shooting influence of clouds in the atmosphere, ciency strategies that are contextually
over 350,000 laser pulses towards the Rory generated detailed estimates of appropriate for individual homes.
ground while measuring the time every the changes in solar energy across the While elements of Rory’s research
pulse took to hit an object and return Metro Vancouver region. have focused on developing tech-
to the aircraft. After 3 days and a total of In an effort to inform homeowners niques to extract features from the
7 hours flying time, a dense cloud of 3 and decision makers of the potential LiDAR, such as buildings and trees, he
billion points was collected, each point for generating electricity and hot water sees the broader value of LiDAR as a
providing a highly accurate measure of using the sun’s energy, Rory teamed- tool that can be used to improve our
height and location in space. up with staff at the District of North understanding of a range of topics
This technology, known as Light Vancouver and applied his research unique to urban settings.
Detection and Ranging, or LiDAR for to help develop the interactive Solar “Because cities are such complex
short, while long used in the natural Calculator App (www.geoweb.dnv.org/ environments we need new and
resource sector, is becoming an increas- applications/solarapp/). The award- improved ways of measuring and
ingly popular tool for urban planners winning online tool shows residents representing them” says Rory. Like
and civil engineers. Since beginning his how much sunlight reaches different aerial photography a century ago, the
master’s degree in Forestry in 2007, Rory areas of their roof, how much money ultimate utility of LiDAR as a planning
Tooke, now a recent PhD graduate, has they could save on their energy bills tool has yet to emerge, but as digital
been researching the use of LiDAR to and how much carbon dioxide emis- technology diffuses into the urban
better understand urban environments. sion they can avoid compared to con- planning process, LiDAR will undoubt-
Recognizing that local govern- ventional gas heaters. edly play a critical role.
ments in British Columbia have a man- Rory has also focused his research Dr Rory Tooke completed his gradu-
date to address energy and emissions, on estimating the demand for ther- ate degrees under the supervision of Dr
Rory’s graduate research has been mal energy services in the residential Nicholas Coops (director of the Integrated
primarily focused on questions related building sector. These thermal services Remote Sensing Studio in the Faculty of
to energy supply and demand in the include hot water and space heating, Forestry). Rory continues to investigate the
city. On the supply side, his research has which together are responsible for role of technology in understanding energy
focused on techniques to better map the vast majority of building energy in the urban environment at UBC’s Centre
the solar energy available on building use. Using LiDAR to derive the shape for Interactive Research on Sustainability
rooftops. The dense cloud of LiDAR and size of individual buildings and and can be reached at rory.tooke@ubc.ca.
branchlines 11Forest-based
solutions for the
Kingdom of Lesotho
In the spring of 2012 Lesotho‘s High Commissioner to an alumna of UBC, Dr Tsepa appealed to UBC Forestry to apply
Canada, Her Excellency Mathabo Tsepa, visited UBC Forestry our multidisciplinary expertise to the problem.
with an official request for assistance regarding land change After securing some initial seed funding through CIDA’s
and forest management in Lesotho. The Kingdom of Lesotho University Partnerships Program and Lucara Diamond
is a tiny landlocked country entirely surrounded by South Corporation, a delegation consisting of Iain Macdonald from
Africa. It is afflicted with serious soil erosion and land degra- CAWP, Joleen Timko from AFRICAD (UBC’s Africa Forests
dation challenges, is losing woodlots due to cattle browsing Research Initiative on Conservation and Development) and
and illegal harvesting for fuelwood, and has ongoing land use 3 South Africa-based team members from Stellenbosch
conflicts with the large numbers of herders who roam the University and Furntech (a business incubation organization)
foothills and mountains. At the same time, there is chronic traveled to Lesotho in November 2013. The group first toured
unemployment and poverty in the rural communities, high various woodlots, agroforestry sites, indigenous forest areas,
rates of HIV infection, and declining employment prospects and a wood processing operation, as well as meeting with
for Lesotho adults in neighbouring South Africa. There are high-level decision makers in government and the education
viable opportunities to mitigate these challenges through sector. The group then participated in a 3-day planning forum
broad-based forestry-related initiatives. However, this will at which Lesotho stakeholders and the visiting delegation
require significant research, institutional capacity building, exchanged ideas on forestry-related strategies and activities
training, and business mentoring over several years. Having that would be suitable for application in the Lesotho context.
heard about the successful work that our Centre for Advanced The ultimate goal was to develop an action plan based on
Wood Processing (CAWP) had done in South Africa, and herself the input of all present, and draw from local and international
12 branchlines 25#2 2014There is a
critical need for
educational alternatives
that focus on locally
relevant forestry and
forest management
practices. “
experiences and knowledge.
The meeting identified a huge
need for education and training capac-
ity in forestry and wood processing.
There are virtually no forestry-specific
courses offered at Lesotho’s only uni-
versity. Forestry officers in the Ministry
of Forestry and Land Reclamation Portable sawmill in operation in the Leribe District
typically come from the Soil Science
program at the National University of and shrubs for fuelwood. have the buy-in and participation of
Lesotho or from Lesotho Agricultural Lesotho’s people (Basotho) rely rural communities. It has adopted a
College, or have obtained advanced heavily on biomass (wood, shrubs, policy of decentralizing control and
degrees overseas. There is a critical animal dung and agricultural residues) management of woodlots so that
need for educational alternatives that to supply nearly three-quarters of their communities located close to them will
focus on locally relevant forestry and energy needs – the average for the rural feel greater ownership of the resource,
forest management practices. At the population is closer to 95%. Several ideally resulting in better stewardship
same time, Lesotho is almost devoid hundred woodlots were established and protection of the woodlots. This is
of wood processing infrastructure. Only 40-45 years ago, but the need for a promising strategy but it will require
one portable sawmill exists in the entire firewood has meant that many have significant training and mentoring of
country – itself a pilot project by the fallen prey to widespread unauthor- community members in order to suc-
Ministry – and there are no permanent ized felling. Tree plantations have been ceed. That is why the first priority of the
mills. Timber for furniture, roof trusses viewed as land use competition for the UBC-African team in 2014 has been to
and other industrial needs is sourced range lands that herders have used to propose a community research and
exclusively from South Africa. graze their cattle, and animals have training program in 9 pilot communi-
From an environmental standpoint been allowed to browse the unfenced ties. As well as gathering information
Lesotho is in great need of sustainable, woodlots, resulting in the further loss of on the attitudes and knowledge that
effective forest management strategies. significant numbers of young trees. Of community members have related to
Erosion gullies (known as “dongas”) are the pine woodlots that have survived, forests and their benefits, it will attempt
a common sight around the country, many are now mature, and if they are to engage some of those communities
and topsoil is being lost at the alarming not harvested soon the trees will begin in pilot projects to help manage wood-
rate of around 2% each year – indeed, to decay and emit CO2. lots, extract timber, grow mushrooms,
the UN has estimated that if current The output of our 2013 forum was make honey and other non-timber
erosion rates continue there will be no a holistic plan for forest-related devel- products, and engage in microbusi-
farmable soil left by 2040. Lesotho is opment centered on the 4 themes of ness enterprises that can alleviate rural
a mountainous country whose steep agroforestry, sustainable forest man- unemployment. The knowledge and
slopes and poor soils do not lend agement, community participation results gained from this initial project
themselves to productive agriculture, and business and livelihoods. Each is will help to inform a broad range of
and with most of the viable land in the intrinsically linked to the other, and intervention and assistance strategies,
western lowlands already fully utilized, the plan as a whole is focused on including the creation of a business
farming has been established on slopes managing and growing forest lands to incubator for the production of furni-
and thin volcanic soils in areas of higher sustainably produce outputs that can ture and other wood products.
elevation that can quickly wash away in help the environment and the poor. If you would like to know more about
heavy rains. The problem is exacerbated The third pillar – community participa- UBC Forestry’s work in Lesotho, contact
by the digging of irrigation furrows that tion – is a critical cross-cutting issue. Iain Macdonald or Joleen Timko at
allow the soil to wash downhill more Lesotho’s government has recognized iain.macdonald@ubc.ca or
easily, and by widespread felling of trees that for forestry to succeed it must joleen.timko@ubc.ca.
branchlines 13Transforming findings
into policies and practice
The “proof of the pudding is in the be allowed to disappear or remain need for innovative policies that will
eating” is a very old proverb with the obscure. put environmental governance on a
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations dating Suzi Malan is a doctoral candi- sustainable path has become crucial.
it back to the early 14th century, and it date working under the supervision Since the southern region of Africa is
is widely attributed to Cervantes in The of Dr John Innes in the Department home to a diverse array of fauna and
History of Don Quixote. However, what of Forest Resources Management at flora, much of which is facing the threat
if the “pudding” never gets eaten, or if UBC. Her PhD research is focussing of extinction, conservation policies are
that which the chef cooks up is ined- on the decision-making processes of particularly critical to halt this trajectory.
ible? This perversion of the old adage southern African transboundary con- The dilemma is finding the balance
provides some analogy to the fact that servation areas as models of natural between protection and development,
much research has no application in resource governance among multi- since this region also supports large
real life, or is simply not communicated national governments. With the African populations of impoverished rural
to the right audience. Although not all continent’s natural resources facing communities, who often bear the costs
research could directly impact policy increasing demands not only by its of environmental protection through
making or management decisions, growing human populations, but also diminished access to natural resources
the sphere of resource governance from large emerging economies on or through forced removal, but have
research is one area which should not the continent as well as abroad, the little share in the direct benefits of these
A community athletics day in Gonarezhou National Park’s buffer zone, under a massive baobab tree
14 branchlines 25#2 2014Nguni cattle in Parque National do Limpopo, Mozambique
protected ecosystem services. cesses. The research involved conduct- current directions being taken, and
It was therefore one of Suzi’s main ing 102 semi-structured interviews with are presently being developed – these
objectives to not only identify and community members, park officials include: the need to establish some
understand the decision-making pro- and managers at various levels, local form of park management forums
cesses behind establishing and man- government officials, national policy among the bordering national parks;
aging such cross-border conservation makers and NGOs involved in the trans- and the need to build communities of
areas, but to also translate any potential frontier conservation areas, as well as an practice that would strengthen com-
recommendations to the policy and in-depth scrutiny of relevant policies munication networks and improve
decision makers driving the initiative and treaty documents. A value system collaboration at the operational level
behind these mega parks. To this end, framework was developed as a result, among neighbouring conservation
she saw an opportunity to create a and each of the ecosystem, socio- areas.
platform for discussion when one economic and governance dimensions One further development which
high-level politician invited her after an received a cumulative score for the ensued from the governance inter-
interview to return towards the end of 2 case study areas which were being views during the research, was that
her studies and present her findings. investigated. The findings particularly Suzi was invited to become part of
The overall objective of the research in the governance and decision-making a transboundary conservation “think
project had been to consult with all sphere were analysed using Capability tank” that meets from time to time
layers of decision and policy makers Maturity Model theory and the NATO to discuss challenges and issues per-
involved to synthesize the current state Network Enabling Capability model tinent to transboundary resource
of knowledge, identify the range of theory. governance. The objective of these
potential land management options Armed with an arsenal of resource discussions is to advise policy makers
and adaptation actions at various governance findings and recommen- on ways of addressing these challenges
scales, and determine the range of dations, Suzi invited a group of key either through appropriate policies,
values that drive decision-making pro- policy and decision makers directly or through alternative management
involved in the planning and manage- practices. The invitation to be part of
ment of the 2 case studies to a policy such a distinguished group was the
With the African feedback session. In addition to her ultimate reward for a long and arduous
continent’s natural own findings, she also invited another journey, and has resulted in forging
resources facing PhD and a post-doc student, both from strong ties with people driven by the
Zimbabwe to co-present their own rec- same passion – to find practical solu-
increasing demands... ommendations on related issues in the tions to managing Africa’s rich natural
the need for innovative areas of tourism and eco-agriculture resources without compromising their
policies that will within these “peace parks”. An impor- future existence.
tant outcome from this policy session For further information on this
put environmental was that 2 major recommendations research project, contact Suzi Malan at
governance on a from her research both strengthened suzimalan@gmail.com.
sustainable path has
become crucial. “ branchlines 15Matching market
signals to the Canadian
wood products value
chain
Canada’s solid wood products industry has a strong history optimization problem became getting the right log to the
of being commodity driven, which on the solid wood side, has right manufacturing facility for the right end-use application.
predominately served the low-cost North American residential Resource allocation considers all product-manufacturing
construction market. Over a decade of North American hous- alternatives, including lumber in various grades, co-product
ing growth (with over 2 million annual single and multi-family chips and residues (and whole log chipping) for pulp, wood
housing starts) has created clear economic signals for high composites, bio-chemicals, bio-energy, etc. The return-to-log
volume/low cost manufacturing. The resulting products that is maximized by considering all possible “bio-pathways” or
have dominated have been - and largely remain - dimension “value-pathways”, both for meeting potential domestic and
lumber, wood-based panels and wood chips as a manufactur- export demands (see www.fpac.ca/index.php/en/page/value-
ing co-product. pathways, for a discussion of these concepts).
In this commodity world, research and industry has under-
standably been focused on technologies and processes that NSERC Strategic Research Network on Value
minimize cost, rather than maximize value. This has led to Chain Optimization (VCO)
decades of supply chain optimization, creating tremendous In partial response to a growing emphasis on value-chains,
efficiencies in harvesting, manufacture and distribution. the NSERC VCO Network was established as 1 of 8 networks
Indeed, the ‘platform-frame’ housing system evolved in North for Canada’s Forest Innovation by Research & Education (FIBRE)
America to be amongst the most efficient in the world, deliv- program. These are federally funded strategic research &
ering attributes demanded in the marketplace including a development networks “in support of the priorities of Canada’s
highly competitive price. vital forest sector innovation system” (www.fibrenetwork.org).
In the manufacture of any commodity, however, at some Officially launched in February of 2010, the VCO Network’s
point declining real prices and the diminishing returns to stated mission is “to improve the Canadian forest industry
cost-reduction combine to challenge the sustainability of competitiveness through forest and business innovation by
the industry. Add in the housing collapse in the US, a strong training the best highly qualified personnel in the emerging
Canadian dollar, structural changes in the pulp and paper field of value chain modelling and by providing analysis tools
sector (affecting co-product wood chip demand), and sup- and decision support for optimization of the modern forest
ply constraints (including the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic bioeconomy networks [being] the entire network of activities
in BC), and one might conclude that the need for industry and processes from the tree through to the consumers of
diversification has never been stronger. conventional forest products, new value-added products, new
These underlying supply and demand challenges have fibre products and new biochemical and biofuel products.”
strongly contributed to the evolution of supply chain into VCO has the inherent objective of adding value to the
value chain optimization. By adding the focus on value, the Canadian forest resource. By definition, ‘value’ adding will
16 branchlines 25#2 2014You can also read
