Liam Parfitt, the owner of Freya Logging, a local company that specializes in selective logging, knows the forest industry is in trouble and believes he has a helpful solution.
“I think that selective logging is the only way to fix our big clearcuts from, starting in the ‘80s – all our clearcuts are actually full of wood and they can give us the wood we need to keep our mills open and keep our jobs and make our forests functional for what we want again,” said Parfitt, who spoke at the Future of Forestry forum Tuesday night at UNBC.
Parfitt says too many logged areas have been replanted with pine and forgotten about for decades, having been allowed to grow into thick canopies that block sunlight and don’t allow any other species to thrive. He said pine stands burn naturally every 30-70 years and that fire hazard could be reduced by thinning.
He refers to pine stands he sees in the forest as a “circle of death,” because they are too dense to support moose populations. If some of those trees are removed, deciduous vegetation will naturally propagate in that space and animal habitat will be restored. He said harvesting techniques will have to change and so will the equipment, which will have to be more nimble and more portable than traditional bunchers and skidders for clearcutting. It’s a formula that’s worked well in places like Sweden to create more diverse and healthier forests.“Getting contractors and stumpage is the big issue right now. We need the government to figure out how much money to charge for thinning,” Parfitt said.
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