Forest Research Priorities in Canada, 1991

Abstract

This third annual overview of forest research priorities across Canada has been prepared by the Forestry Research Advisory Council of Canada for the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers. It is based on input from the provincial and territorial forest research bodies, who were asked to give their top five priorities for forest research.The priorities so identified were assembled and assigned scores, ranging from five points for a jurisdiction's top priority down to one point for its lowest. The result is a list of 12 forest research topics presented here in descending order of priority.• Environmental effects of forest management.• Pest and weed management and alternatives to chemicals.• Decision support for management, silviculture and land use.• Ecological knowledge for intensive forest management.• Integrated resource management systems.• Site-productivity classification systems.• Growth and yield data for managed and unmanaged stands.• Silvicultural and harvesting methods and cost reduction.• Forest fire management and control.• Tree improvement and genetics.• Increasing forest productivity.• Wood processing and value-added products.The importance of modern information-handling systems, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology in conducting research was frequently mentioned by respondents, but because these are usually considered research tools rather than research topics, they have not been rated.Comparing this year's priorities with those of previous years might raise some concerns that priorities are changing faster than research programs can adjust. However, the current priorities are not new. Although wording and grouping may differ, they all were covered in the Research Priorities Overview for 1990, where most were identified as priorities by a majority of respondents. Identifying only the top five priorities in each jurisdiction has focused attention on the major problems and research needs and made it possible to simplify the categorization of the topics.Few of the 12 topics are considered adequately funded in any region and research on the environmental effects of forest management appears to be undersupported in all regions. All responses stress the importance of the federal-provincial forestry agreements in supporting research. Suggestions for improving support include placing more emphasis on cooperative programs such as interprovincial cooperation and joint approaches to funding agencies; the gathering of special pools of funds from industry and governments and their joint administration to support project proposals; and the reallocation of funds from work of lesser importance.Thirteen issues that may affect research priorities were identified as follows:• Public concern about forestry, the environment and sustainable development.• International opinion about Canadian forestry practices.• Globalization of trade and increased competition.• Economics of viable secondary forest-products industries.• Increasing requirements for information at all levels.• Shrinking forest land base for sustained timber harvest.• Forest modeling and sustainable harvests.• Information on the socioeconomic importance of the forests.• Monitoring the managed forest to ensure predicted yields.• Managing the boreal mixed-wood resource.• Forestry on Indian lands.• Small-scale forestry on farms and for shelterbelts.• Properties of wood from managed stands.A few of these topics have appeared in previous lists of research priorities in this series of overviews, for example, "Small-scale forestry on farms and for shelterbelts," "Forestry on Indian lands" and "Properties of wood from managed stands." They do not appear in the 1991 priority listing because they are not in the top five priorities in any jurisdiction. However, these and other concerns, many of which are local, must figure in the final mix of research projects undertaken by any agency.Forest research in Canada is considered pertinent to needs, but more effort to improve local applications of research results and increased funding for most regions are required.