Dr. Roy Rea’s somber message echoed in the audience’s minds last Friday, despite the abundance of laughs in the auditorium. There is a 70% reduction in moose population. This sobering fact is a direct result of our current logging and forest management practices as both moose food and habitat are degrading. For instance, moose require a mix of coniferous shrub and tree browse for cover, neither of which are found in clear cuts. In fact, on the rather unsurprising graphic showing moose dispersal, the obvious trend of moose frequency was away from clear cuts. Furthermore, herbicide use is killing moose food. Glyphosate is good at what it does, killing all deciduous in its path. Unfortunately for the moose, deciduous trees comprise ~50% of their diet. The other ~50% is subalpine fir which is not a management target, which means that it is not being left or replanted. Moose therefore are not being left with habitat or food under our current forest management system. This is similar to a number of issues in the Forestry industry, where “targets” are set that “should” be abided by. The Chief Forester has identified that clear cuts are bad for biodiversity, yet the practice continues. There are no repercussions for those who disregard the best practices and continue the greed filled conquest. From my own experience, I find that a large part of the problem in the Forestry industry stems from the production nature of the job. Corners are cut at every level to maximize profit, and the industry focus is on what is taken, not what is left behind (paraphrasing Jerry Franklin).

Dr. Rea gave several options for mitigating the impacts of tree removal. The first would be to leave tree cover on cut blocks. Second would be to have smaller cut blocks, as moose use 150m buffers around block edge. Third would be to promote heterogeneous environments rather than the conifer dominated monoculture that is currently favoured.

This talk was applicable to my own research where I’ll be looking at stand dynamics in mixedwood forests. My research will hopefully add to the voices that aim to promote mixedwood forests, and prove that a diverse stand is both productive and ecologically beneficial.

Dr. Rea’s use of humour was effective in getting his point across. It brought attention to how ridiculous many of the forest management practices are, and captured the audience’s attention.

In response to the question regarding herbicide or manual brushing when dealing with willow, Dr. Rea took to the board and explained the extensive network beneath the surface, which allows the willow root system to obtain nutrients from depth and bring it to the surface. Given the chance, I would have asked Dr. Rea “Is there anything we can do to current clear cuts that have been sprayed in order to make them more habitable?”