Model Forest Program Research Articles

Forest governance as neoliberal strategy: A comparative case study of the Model Forest Program in Canada

This study addresses the often chaotic and confounding implications of neoliberalism as it applies to environmental governance in the Canadian forest sector. On one hand, neoliberal governance strategies are said to enhance collaborative and partnership approaches to forest management that empower local stakeholders and communities. On the other hand, these same strategies can entrench market discipline and optimize mechanisms for economic development at the expense of broader public interests. We explore these contrasting perspectives through a comparative case study of two Canadian Model Forest initiatives: Resources North and the Manitoba Model Forest. Results from interviews and document analysis reveal that local capacity development for collaborative management at the regional scale was limited and unevenly sustained. We identify intentions within the Model Forest program that migrated from wide-ranging public concerns toward more narrowly defined private-sector interests, such as forest certification. These outcomes resulted from strong federally mandated “action at a distance.” Results also reveal that while some initiatives provided for local empowerment at the beginning of the Model Forest program, over time, these initiatives became more prescriptive. Hence, there remained ongoing limitations of neoliberal governance in fostering capacity development for environmental governance at local scales.

Climate change adaptive capacity of the Canadian forest sector

Canada's forests will be affected by climate change to a greater degree than many other regions. The ability of the Canadian forest sector to successfully adapt to climate change, i.e. its adaptive capacity, was assessed through a series of group discussions and interviews with a variety of forestry stakeholders across Canada. The assessment was oriented to the following determinants of adaptive capacity: 1) The range of available technological options for adaptation that would be considered in response to a perceived climate-related stress; 2) The availability of resources; 3) The structure and functionality of critical institutions to understand the allocation of decision‐making authority, institutional flexibility, and the decision criteria that would be employed; 4) Human and social capital, including the distribution of educational achievement, differential access to personal security and robust property rights; 5) The system's (and individuals’) access to risk-spreading processes (both formal and informal); 6) Decision-makers’ ability to manage information, the processes by which these decision-makers determine which information is credible, and the credibility of the decision-makers themselves. Forest managers were generally optimistic about their ability to identify and implement adaptation options at the forest management unit level. However, institutional barriers were seen to be a major impediment; managers identified tenure reform and a more flexible regulatory environment as essential for the innovation that will be required by climate change. Other factors limiting adaptive capacity include lack of financial resources and low levels of investment in the forest sector, lack of specialized science capacity in climate change impacts and the long-term nature of planning required by long-lived forest species. Several non-governmental institutions may support increased adaptive capacity including forest certification systems, Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management, Canada's model forest program and others. However, these institutions will need to be modified in order to support forest managers in planning for climate change.

Sustainable management of Canada’s boreal forests: Progress and prospects

:The last decade of innovation in forest management in Canada is reviewed. Institutions such as the Sustainable Forest Management Network and Canada’s Model Forest Program have attempted to develop a better understanding of ecological disturbance patterns and processes. Additional research has explored socio-economic dimensions of sustainable forestry, such as ways to incorporate the aspirations of indigenous peoples, build community capacity, and facilitate forest certification. The most promising innovations tend to have both environmental benefits (sustaining non-timber values) and economic benefits (reducing costs and sustaining future timber values), making their implementation more likely. Some on-theground examples of “win-win” solutions at stand and landscape levels in Canada’s boreal forests include: patch retention in conjunction with the creation of large cutblocks; protection of advance regeneration during timber harvesting; promotion and prediction of natural regeneration; various approaches to mixedwood (broadleaf and conifer) management; avoidance of unnecessary brush control; extended rotations and selection management for some tree species and stand types; promoting the flow of fibre to its highest value uses; and zoning in support of intensive silviculture, thereby potentially reducing harvesting pressures from lands with high conservation value. More closely emulating natural patterns of forest disturbance and forest recovery can help sustain biodiversity and ecosystem services, but may not generate all values desired from managed forests. Further research is needed to calibrate indicators of ecological sustainability. Institutional and policy innovation must also be evaluated in the context of adaptive management to improve the effectiveness of forestry practices and nurture the social license for the utilization and management of public forests.

The Canadian ‘Model Forest’ Approach: A Way Forward for Tasmania?

Forest policy and forestry management in Tasmania have undergone a number of changes in the last thirty years, many explicitly aimed at improving industry sustainability, job security, and forest biodiversity conservation. Yet forestry remains a contentious issue in Tasmania, due to a number of interacting factors, most significant of which is the prevalence of a ‘command and control’ governance approach by policymakers and managers. New approaches such as multiple-stakeholder decision-making, adaptive management, and direct public participation in policymaking are needed. Such an approach has been attempted in Canada in the last decade, through the Canadian Model Forest Program, and may be suitable for Tasmania. This article seeks to describe what the Canadian Model Forest approach is, how it may be implemented in Tasmania, and what role it may play in the shift to a new forestry paradigm. Until such a paradigm shift occurs contentions and confrontations are likely to continue.

Canada's Model Forest Program

Society has grappled with the concept of managing forests sustainably for several decades. As one of the most widespread of the earth's ecosystems, and as a renewable resource providing a wide range of consumptive and non-consumptive benefits to society, forests have been at the centre of many policy discussions. While much progress was made at the Earth Summit in 1992 and since that time, there are few concrete examples illustrating the principles of sustainable forest management (SFM). Public participation in forest management is based on the hypothesis that if those whose daily lives are affected by the operation of a forest management system are involved in the decisions controlling the system, efforts can be made to protect the health of ecosystems and meet economic needs at the same time. At the same time, since ecological, social and economic conditions vary from place to place, there must be a wide range of participatory approaches to sustainable forest management. Canada's Model Forest Program was developed to provide public participation in decisions about how managing the forests supported by the most up-to-date science and technology. Within each model forest there exists a partnership consisting of a broad range of interests working within a neutral forum that is respectful of individual interests and united in the difficult task of addressing sustainable forest management. The strength of the Program lies in the fact that each partner has a voice in the overall decision-making within the model forest. Access to shared information and the learning process fostered through participation at individual and organizational levels are important factors motivating participation and fostering capacity-building. Model forests are showing that the inclusive partnership approach, although time-consuming, leads to better and more sustainable decisions. Key words: sustainable forest management, model forest, integrated resource management, public participation, partnerships, Canada.

Canada's Model Forest Program

Society has grappled with the concept of managing forests sustainably for several decades. As one of the most widespread of the earth’s ecosystems, and as a renewable resource providing a wide range of consumptive and non-consumptive benefits to society, forests have been at the centre of many policy discussions. While much progress was made at the Earth Summit in 1992 and since that time, there are few concrete examples illustrating the principles of sustainable forest management (SFM). Public participation in forest management is based on the hypothesis that if those whose daily lives are affected by the operation of a forest management system are involved in the decisions controlling the system, efforts can be made to protect the health of ecosystems and meet economic needs at the same time. At the same time, since ecological, social and economic conditions vary from place to place, there must be a wide range of participatory approaches to sustainable forest management. Canada’s Model Forest Program was developed to provide public participation in decisions about how managing the forests supported by the most up-to-date science and technology. Within each model forest there exists a partnership consisting of a broad range of interests working within a neutral forum that is respectful of individual interests and united in the difficult task of addressing sustainable forest management. The strength of the Program lies in the fact that each partner has a voice in the overall decision-making within the model forest. Access to shared information and the learning process fostered through participation at individual and organizational levels are important factors motivating participation and fostering capacity-building. Model forests are showing that the inclusive partnership approach, although time-consuming, leads to better and more sustainable decisions. Key words: sustainable forest management, model forest, integrated resource management, public participation, partnerships, Canada

Forest management planning in Newfoundland and Labrador: The Western Newfoundland Model Forest contribution

The management of forests has dramatically changed in the past few decades. Forest managers no longer can prepare and implement forest management plans in isolation of other resource values and local citizens. Today, the economic, ecological and social values are blended together into sustainable forest management. Finding a balance among these values in Newfoundland and Labrador is done through local district planning teams. The team participants need to understand the principles of sustainable forest management and the overall planning process. A primary focus of the Western Newfoundland Model Forest has been to support planning teams through the development of management tools to enhance management of the Province’s forest ecosystems. The Model forest program will continue to test, document and transfer new and innovative management options to forest managers. Key words: adaptive management, consensus, sustainable forest management, planning teams, public involvement, model forests

Selective Integration: Knowledge and Interests in the Model Forest Program

This essay examines the federal Model Forest Program (1992-1997), focussing on the process by which model forests were selected at the start of the program. The outcomes of this process suggest that ecological ideas cannot be readily separated from the prevailing material interests, including forestry experts, that advocate them. This study supports the concept of partial integration of new knowledge into resource policy, in which some ideas are favoured while others are discarded or modified so as to fit the orthodox point of view. As a result of the selectivity of expert interpretation of ecological ideas, the program fell short of innovation. This conservatism will constrain the choices available to Canadian forest management in the future.

Factors Influencing Forest Values and Attitudes of Two Stakeholder Groups: The Case of the Foothills Model Forest, Alberta, Canada

Canada's Model Forest Program was established as a means of implementing concepts of sustainable forest management. An initial step to achieving this is understanding stakeholders' forest values and attitudes. A study was undertaken to examine forest values and attitudes toward forest management of campers and hunters in the Foothills Model Forest of Alberta within the context of a cognitive hierarchy model. Data were collected by mail survey in 1996. Campers and hunters were primarily biocentric in their forest values orientation. These groups supported protection-oriented management strategies, were not in favor of economic development and timber-oriented strategies, and did not believe that current forest management is sustainable. Socioeconomic factors, social influences, and knowledge had little influence on values or attitudes. Forest values were related strongly to attitudes providing support for the cognitive hierarchy model.

Policy Review The Model Forest Program in Canada: Building Consensus on Sustainable Forest Management?

Contemporary sustainable development theory recognizes the need for participants in resource management issues to work in partnership to build consensus on options for moving forward. Thus, building consensus within cooperative multi-stakeholder partnership settings is receiving considerable attention from governments and resource managers alike. In Canada, the Model Forest Program was developed with aneye to bringing traditional adversaries in forest resource management issues to the same table to build consensus on programs, policies, and approaches to achieving sustainable forest management. This article applies the "Guiding Prin ciples" for building consensus for a sustainable future, developed by the Round Tables on the Environment and Economy in Canada, to the Canadian Model Forest Program, in general, and specifically tothe Manitoba Model Forest. This is done to illuminate the approaches to working together to build consensus on sus tainable forest management attempted by disparate stakeholder organizations.

Canada's Model Forest Program: Challenges for Phase II

Canada's Model Forest Program: Challenges for Phase II

MULTI-STAKEHOLDER DECISION MAKING: THE SHOAL LAKE WATERSHED CASE

There is a growing trend in Canadian society to consistently demand more say in public decision-making processes, particularly with respect to the conservation of resources and environmental protection. As a result, experience in multi-stakeholder decision making (MSDM) is growing in Canada. There are now several functioning MSDM forums such as the Commission on Resources and the Environment, the Model Forest Program, and the Dauphin Lake Advisory Board. This paper reports the results of the development and attempted implementation of an MSDM process for the Shoal Lake (Manitoba/Ontario) watershed. The process was developed by Shoal Lake First Nation No. 40, with the collaboration and technical assistance of the authors, and involved interviews and workshops with stakeholders within and outside the watershed, as well as participants in other MSDM forums in Canada. The MSDM process eventually conceived has four phases and seven steps: Phase 1 Start-up 1) establish government alliance 2) constitute initiating committee 3) hold stakeholder meeting 4) establish working forum structure; Phase 2 Search for common ground: forum meetings/consensus building; Phase 3 Establish rules: negotiation of ground rules; Phase 4 Decision making: make decisions and re-evaluate goals, process, structure. The public policy implications of the findings, particularly regarding the failed implementation attempts, are discussed in the paper.

Quo Vadimus?

Deforestation has caused the collapse of past civilisations, including those of Easter Island, the Mayas of Central America, and the Sumerians of Mesopotamia. To avoid a similar fate, we should be prepared to undertake forceful and effective forestry action. This will entail food security and rural development; an increase in income for farmers and safe environments for indigenous peoples; empowerment of women and local groups; and family planning. At an operational level forestry measures we should focus on include plantation forestry, agroforestry and the regeneration and rehabilitation of secondary forests. If such action is to succeed, and if global deforestation is to be avoided, it will require a well guided process of international cooperation. The internationalization of the Model Forest Program puts new impetus in this direction.

Sustainable use of the boreal Prince Albert Model Forest in Saskatchewan

Canada recently embarked on a model forest program that is guided by the notion of sustainable development. Ten model forest sites have been established at operational scales (0.1–1.5 million ha) in different ecoregions since 1992. This study presents a framework for advancing both the human welfare and environmental dimensions of sustainable forest use by a localized multi-stake-holdership of First Nations, government and industry in the boreal Prince Albert Model Forest, Saskatchewan. The pressure on the local forest environment has been rising due to timber harvest and tourism. Human welfare has been influenced strongly by colonial legacies such as racial divisions, territorial boundaries, and centralized forest administration. The landbase, productivity and forest value approaches are proposed to advance sustainable forest use; but current data availability favours the land-base approach. Analysis of forest inventory data suggests that management needs to plan for a significant aggregation of harvest areas to sustain ecological and cultural functions which depend on large and continuous patch size. Forest policy-making must address ownership issues, local economic development, and economic philosophies of the stakeholders in order to overcome the colonial legacies and to redefine management responsibilities. The study proposes that the currently dominating government-owned management concepts should evolve into a more localized concept of ownership and management that can be sustainably supported and financed by forest stakeholders, governments, and local communities. Key words: sustainable development, boreal forest, patch size, forest policy-making, stakeholder, First Nation, community