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When the great debates were taking place over forest management in the mid to late nineties, one thing that emerged was the policy of smaller clearcuts, removing those big ugly scars from the landscape. The thinking was that smaller cut blocks produce less disturbance, make forestry gentler on the land base and easier on wildlife populations. This seems like good logic until you look at the other side of the story.

Imagine you are trying to carry a bucket of water from the garden tap over to the flower beds to water the plants. If the bucket is full of holes, you will get some water to the plants if the distance were short and you are fast, but a bucket full of holes doesn't hold water very well. It is the same with ecosystems. Fully intact ecosystems are much more capable of holding diverse wildlife populations than ones full of holes.

Holes in the ecosystem bucket are created by fragmentation. The process often starts with the creation of roads. New roads give access which allows people into areas where their activities can disturb wildlife populations. Accidental setting of fires, poaching, noise pollution, and the appearance of garbage in wild meadows are just a few of the effects these newcomers have on the land. Roads also provide easy access for predators to bring down game, especially in the winter.

Following the onset of the roads comes habitat loss. Whether from forest removal, residential development or conversion to other uses such as agriculture, the wild systems become more and more fragmented, full of holes. There is a branch of science called Island Bio-geography which studies the distribution of species diversity. The essential conclusion reached by plant ecologists, biologists, wildlife specialists and forest ecologists in the field is the same. Big islands survive better than small islands.

This is true in the literal sense. When the world's land masses are studied for their genetic diversity both of species and subspecies, small islands have fewer numbers and big islands have more. The biggest islands of all, the continents, have the most diversity.

Not only do big islands have more diversity, but because of this diversity they are more resilient. They can withstand the pressures of change more robustly and can adapt more quickly and easily to new situations.

This is true of our local ecosystems in the Chilcotin-Cariboo as well. A valley full of small clearcuts and lots of roads connecting them is full of holes. You can see that it's much better to have a larger cut area, fewer kilometres of roads and a larger leave area. These larger leave areas provide refuge and habitat for species while the other part of the valley grows back to a more useable state. Not only is the system of large cuts and large leave areas more friendly to wildlife, it is also more cost efficient from a timber perspective. Although it might seem counter-intuitive, it may be better to have a 1000 hectare cut area balanced by a 1000 hectare leave area; especially if you can put several such areas together.

This is not to argue for a moonscape. Riparian and soil and slope stability management still apply. However, it does mean that instead of trying to do everything everywhere, we concentrate our activities in one place and let Mother Nature concentrate her efforts in another.

In just ten years we have come to learn that the older prescriptive approach to forest management does not live up to its promise. Results-based approaches which provide flexibility for forest management as well as increased ecosystem function plug the holes in the bucket, making it much better for all concerned.

There are times when bigger is indeed better.

- Dave Neads

More articles in the series, The Other Side of The Story

Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society
Unit 201, 197 2nd Ave North Williams Lake, B.C., V2G 1Z5
Phone/Fax: 250 398-7929 • ccentre@ccconserv.org • Coordinator: Marg Evans

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