Editorial

Ecosystem-Based Planning:
Why isn’t the Yukon Government doing it?

What is ecosystem-based planning? Experts in the field have one idea of what it means and the Yukon government, which is supposed to be committed to ecosystem-based planning, seems to have a rather different sense of the term. Who is right? What we do know is that the Yukon Government’s Forest Management Branch appears to have failed to date to live up to its commitment to ecosystem-based forest resource planning in the SE Yukon.

This aerial view of the east Hyland interim wood supply planning area is not a representation of ecosystem-based planning Photo by Peter Sandiford-CPAWS-Yukon

Recently, the Branch completed an Environmental Assessment of the Interim Wood Supply Plan for the Hyland area of the SE Yukon. This plan, as part of a memorandum of understanding among the Yukon Government, the Federal Government and the Kaska Nation, was supposed to be an ecosystem-based plan.

All of the above parties agreed to develop an ecosystem-based regional forest resource management plan. It is the role of the Forest Management Branch, as the division of the Yukon Government that oversees forestry, to ensure that forestry related work is fulfilling its commitments. However, it seems that the Forest Management Branch misunderstands or chooses to misinterpret ecosystem-based planning because they have shown little indication of actually practicing it in the SE Yukon.

Perhaps the problem is the lack of a clear definition of ecosystem-based planning. The British Columbia Coast Information Team, which provides independent scientific analysis to land use planning on the BC coast, defines ecosystem-based planning as: “…an adaptive approach to managing human activities that seeks to ensure the co-existence of healthy, fully functioning ecosystems and human communities.” This generally accepted definition, formulated by an expert panel, is being used to guide forest management on the BC Coast and can be applied in the Yukon.

The primary goal of ecosystem-based planning is fully functioning forests. In this holistic approach to forest planning, the larger picture is looked at first. All values, goods and services of the forest are considered at multiple scales, from the largest landscape to the smallest forest community, in both short and long time frames. Rather than merely targeting the best places to remove timber, areas of important conservation and cultural value are first identified. The intent is to sustain a diversity of ecosystem services, for humans, fish and wildlife populations and their associated habitat, across the forest landscape. An ecosystem-based approach focuses on what to leave on the landscape and then on what can be taken without serious damage to ecosystem functioning.

A core theme of ecosystem-based planning is that healthy forests support healthy communities. Economies are a part of human societies and human societies are a part of ecosystems. By maintaining, restoring and conserving key features of the Yukon’s natural ecosystems, we are in turn sustaining the Yukon communities that depend on these ecosystems.

At present, the SE Yukon’s forests are in a favourable condition relative to the rest of Canada’s boreal forests. Fully functioning and healthy forests are beneficial to all Yukoners for a variety of reasons. We all rely on clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, thriving rivers and intact landscapes with caribou, bears, marten and an abundance of wildlife. Many Yukoners take pride in the relatively undeveloped state of our forests and use the abundant forest resources for wood products, hunting, trapping, guiding, recreational activities and pure solitude. We want the forests to remain abundant and productive for our families, our children and the future generations to follow.

Maintenance of all the qualities and values of our forests depends on fully functioning ecosystems, the foundation of ecosystem-based planning. However, it appears that fully functioning forests are not a priority of the Forest Management Branch, as demonstrated by their current lack of commitment to this fundamental concept.

The status quo in management of Canada’s boreal forest has changed over the last decade, but it seems that the Branch wants to carry on with discredited, 1980s-style forest management as business as usual. In this outdated approach, first you identify the best timber, and then lay out the cutblocks to harvest the trees most efficiently while attempting to reduce the impacts on non-timber resources. Timber has priority, while non-timber values and resources are considered constraints to management. If the Branch is serious about maintaining healthy wildlife populations, biodiversity, ecological integrity, and the full range of forest values, then these factors must be regarded not as constraints but as management goals. . Why not look at the whole landscape first, adequately consider all of the values that we as Yukoners are interested in and then decide where timber can be harvested in a sustainable manner? In fact, this is how Yukoners told the government they wanted forestry to proceed and it is what the Yukon government said it was going to do.

If the Branch persists in its current approach to forest management, long-term environmental consequences could include landscapes covered by large cutblocks and fragmented wildlife habitat. We need to ensure that non-timber economies like trapping, tourism and subsistence use remain healthy. We want traditional uses to thrive and intact ecosystems and wilderness values to be maintained. A low volume, high value, ecosystem-based forest industry can provide stable timber-based employment and is much more realistic for SE Yukon than large-scale clearcut forestry. If the Forest Management Branch persists in its current ways, it threatens to jeopardize the long-term vitality of our forests and livelihoods.

It is time for the Yukon Government to honour its commitment to develop and implement a real and credible Ecosystem-Based Regional Forest Management Plan for the SE Yukon. The Yukon deserves responsible forest management now!