Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
■ FORESTRY RESEARCH
Forestry research includes silviculture and Ian
use. The focus within silviculture is three-fold:
■ REGENERATION
The development of techniques which
best prepare growing sites and
establish the next crop to ensure its
survival.
■ GROWTH AND YIELD
The development of a database to
realistically predict the rate of growth
and the expected yield from the wide
variety of growing sites. Soil
conditions, weather, elevation, animal
habitat are considered.
■ FERTILIZATION
Research-based decisions on the
“how" and "when” of fertilization to
optimize the potential for growth and
yield improvement of the forest.
Landuse research concentrates on the
impact of forest management practices
on soil, fisheries and wildlife resources.
This work contributes to the integrated
management of the company's land
base giving consideration to the variety
of needs and demands placed on it.
Above is reproduced a page from a 1993 MacMillan Bloedel public relations pamphlet distributed
in British Columbia. It comprises a very particular representation of the work performed by an
epistemic community of forest scientists employed by the firm. Written in matter-of-fact prose,
it points to the scientists' twin focus on achieving the maximum yield of timber while protect-
ing soils, water, fish, etc. The pamphlet avoids emotive language and makes few overt moral or
aesthetic claims about the value of trees.
products markets. Managed scientifically and responsibly, they could (it was
suggested) provide employment and profits well into the future.
On the wild side
What of the environmentalist riposte? What representation of Clayoquot
was created and circulated by the likes of the Western Canadian Wilderness
Committee (WCWC), the Rainforest Action Network, the Sierra Club of
BC and Greenpeace Canada? A notable similarity and consistency was evi-
dent before and after the Clayoquot protests, feeding into the Great Bear
Rainforest campaign. A popular WCWC-endorsed book of photographs,
