At a recent fireside chat in Canmore, former Western Forest Products CEO Rick Doman sat down to talk sustainable forest management, and how Canada is lagging behind on genuine solutions to reducing wildfire impact.

Rick Doman knows timber. And there in Canmore, he walked the audience through the last 30 years of forest management in BC and Alberta.

What you need to know essentially, is that when Mountain Pine Beetle infestations intensified in North-East BC in the 1990’s, forestry companies applied to harvest the affected areas and form a ring around hot zones, to stop outbreaks from spreading.

But, environmental groups, in their infinite wisdom, decided that cutting down any trees was a terrible idea and effectively protested against this forest management technique.

As we know now, more than half of the commercial pine trees in BC have been destroyed. Millions of hectares across BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan have been utterly laid waste. And, because of successful advocacy against proper forest management and appropriate resource extraction, annual fires are getting worse.

Doman explains: “When a pine beetle attacks a tree, it slowly kills it over 10 to 12 years. During that time it is still an economical resource. But afterwards it becomes a standing matchbox.”

Rather than taking a proactive approach, governments (provincially in BC and federally in Ottawa) decided to ignore the pine beetle plight and push the problem down the road. Unfortunately, last summer the issue came to a head in Jasper, with the largest fire in town history destroying over a third of buildings.

“Jasper should have been stopped, but it wasn’t,” Doman explains. Because of a refusal to remove the dead trees infected by pine beetles, Jasper and the surrounding area became essentially a large wildfire region ready to burn if impacted by lightning strikes or other challenges that cause wildfires.

“The solution is harvesting dead and at-risk trees, and not impacting wildlife.” This way, fire hazards are removed, pine beetle spread is limited, and local communities can use the deadwood for projects like biomass power and heat plants, greenhouse production.

In addition to reducing the impact of wildfires, sustainable forest management is good for the economy.

Dozens of mills have closed since the pine beetle outbreak started. Doman reiterates that over the past few decades, 47 mills have gone and with them, the loss of 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in BC. Governments that allow for science-based timber harvest will see reduced deadfall, plant more trees, create more jobs, and receive greater tax revenue.

Generally, a logging company will implement a “3 for 1” rule, whereby three new trees are planted for every one harvested. These new trees are excellent carbon sinks, as every tree while growing absorbs one tonne of carbon dioxide per year. Another forestry practice to consider is thinning, where overly dense areas are cleared out, allowing for more room for the remaining trees, leading to a much healthier forest.

In Scandinavia, particularly Sweden and neighbouring Finland, sustainable forestry management is standard practice, with forestry assets increasing by 50 percent or more in the past 100 years in Sweden alone.

These countries recognize the incredible benefits of proper forest management, and have heavily invested in the value-added timber industries of pulp, paper, finished wood products, and biomass energy. Unlike most governments here, the Nordic nations understand what forest management is and the use of natural resources brings prosperity to the people, revenue for government programs, and a better environment.

Currently, our country sits at a crossroads. In 2023, 18.5 million hectares of land burned.

But imagine if we had proactive investments in sustainable forest managements, whereby the wood resource was extracted at a sustainable pace and while simultaneously building a resilient and healthy environment. A ramp-up of logging would go a long way in addressing dramatic homebuilding shortage, as the 250,000 total housing units constructed in 2024 is only half of what is needed to catch up to housing affordability.

Maintaining the status quo will not cut it anymore. Ignoring the benefits of an increased forestry industry will make the country poorer and save no trees in the long run.

“Canada has a choice”, Doman concludes. “We can do what Sweden and Finland have done, take proactive measures to thin forests, improve harvest capacity, increase carbon dioxide absorption, and get into value added industries to improve forest health and build our economy, or we can stick our head in the sand and continue to allow our forests to burn down.”

May we all pray the decision makers in Victoria, Edmonton, and Ottawa make their choice the right one.

Conner Hall is an engineer who works in Calgary’s energy sector.

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