Volume 9 Issue 1 Spring 2007
From the Editor’s Stump
Very difficult and challenging times are here for us in the forest industry, with economic variables aligned against industry profitability for the near future. Finding the ‘sweet spot’ in keeping current silviculture cost down without creating legacy projects is a fine art.
The winter workshop in PG was a great success, and I was so tempted to yell out during the talk show; Jerr-y, Jerr-y! I have never actually been ejected from an NSC event…
Please enjoy the 2007 tour in Smithers.
Have a great summer.
Rob Cochrane – Editor
Winter Workshop Highlights
The winter NSC workshop on “Silviculture Science and the Translation to Evaluation and Forest Stewardship Plans” was a great success with over 200 attendees. The first session was an update on current research and the backbone for day two’s session on the progress of FRPA in developing effectiveness evaluations.
A few highlights of these sessions included
- Bruce Rogers update on Douglas-fir retention and how his research translates into management practices.
- Wendy Bergerund challenged the group to have a better understanding of stocking calculations.
- Norma Stromberg- Jones talked about the limitation of effectiveness evaluations in the field and the difficulty of interpretations for nonspecialists.
- Ian Brown challenged the group to look at big picture goals when considering free growing standards.
- Roberta Reader stressed the importance of being a professional and not handing over decision making to the courts.
For this conference a couple of new formats were tried. The breakout sessions were appreciated allowing attendees to choose areas of interest of both technical updates (GPS, PDA’s) and scientific updates (soils, Fire smart, range and woody debris).
The ‘talk show’ was very humorous; Jim Ladds the MC brought out the dry humor of Alan Banner and Denise Hogue while conveying their wealth of experience.