First Certified Canadian Logging Operation

Two small stands within a government-managed forestry operation in central British Columbia were certified in November 1995 by the Silva Forest Foundation. The 25- to 30-hectare (60- to 75-acre) stands in the Vernon Forest District are part of a larger area run by the Ministry of Forests Small Business Programme, which is collecting and sorting trees in its own log yard. Such arrangements are unusual in British Columbia, where the vast majority of logging is done under license by corporations that pay a stumpage fee to the government for the right to harvest.

Vernon foresters have been experimenting with various harvesting strategies on the several hundred acres that supply their log yard. Officially recognized as the Vernon Log Sale project in March 1993, staff foresters planned clear-cuts with reserves (designed to mimic the effect of catastrophic fires), very small clear-cuts, strip harvesting, and single-tree harvesting. The two recently certified stands are managed for single-tree harvesting and strip harvesting. In the entire Vernon Forest District there are about 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) of working forest, according to district supervisor Ken Belik, so the two certified stands represent a tiny first step.

Greenpeace British Columbia, seeking a forestry model it could endorse, was a key sponsor of the certification effort. The certifying organization, the Silva Forest Foundation, is a member of the international Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and has just begun the application process for FSC accreditation as a certifier. Not much would have to change for the entire Small Business Programme operation to become certified, according to Susan Hammond of Silva. She has high regard for Jim Smith, the Programme’s Director, adding that “the excitement within the Programme about the certification process is very heartening.”