Here are the concluding paragraphs for the March 9, 2012 Shuswap Passion column (a concise version of the comprehensive Forest neglect article for the Watershed Sentinel:

Here in the Shuswap, the situation is not as grim, since there are fewer pine stands. However, where lodgepole pine does grow, the beetles have wiped out vast numbers of hectares, such as in the Salmon River watershed and on the hills above Adams Lake. Plus, pine has long been the preferred species in the plantations and the beetles have hit some of these.

A local forester reports that the major issue here is not the dismal state of the future timber supply, but is that the companies are having problems locating enough timber to feed their mills. He explained how there is a “ribbon war” in the woods as First Nations are competing with mills to ribbon off planned cutblocks. This comes as no surprise, as our organization, SEAS, did a comprehensive spatial timber modeling analysis in 1995 that showed how overcutting then would lead to the situation we are seeing now. And that was before the beetles hit!

British Columbians need to face the facts: forestry is a sunset industry due to decades of high-grading and overcutting, the massive climate change caused beetle kill, and now over a decade of sympathetic mismanagement by the provincial government.

This map was done in 1994 and shows how a portion of the Shuswap would look in 2012 if overcutting continued. The red blocks are the projected logging blocks.