Mounting fire, insect damage means Canada must manage more of its forests, not less: Nighbor
‘If you look at the Canadian experience, mainly because of a decline in the pulp and paper sector, the annual timber cut has declined by 25 per cent in the last 20 years – but our fire impacts are going up because many of our forests are simply dying,’ says Forest Products Association of Canada CEO Derek Nighbor
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‘This is a call to action on the need to manage more of our forests, not less,’ says Forest Products Association of Canada CEO Derek Nighbor.
As Canada seeks to preserve its forest heritage, we must pay more attention to the damage caused by fire and insect infestation that now has a greater impact than harvesting by the forestry sector, says an industry leader.
As keynote speaker at a recent Means & Ways event called Recognizing Rural Canada, Derek Nighbor, CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada, cited a federal government report showing that 15.9 million hectares are affected by insects annually, while 1.6 million hectares were burned in 2022. That compares to just 698,000 hectares harvested by the forestry sector the year before, Nighbor said.
“This is a call to action on the need to manage more of our forests, not less,” he said, pointing to concerns in the forestry sector that forest management is being overlooked as a tool to address worsening fire patterns.
Nighbor said the extent of forests destroyed by fire shot up in 2023, with 19.5 million hectares burned in the most catastrophic fire season on record.
“So, the fires last year, that’s about 25 times the land base that we would sustainably manage and harvest every year,” he told the audience of parliamentarians and industry leaders.
Countries like Sweden and Finland have realized that to take action on climate, more forest management is needed, Nighbor noted.
“The Swedes, for example, are harvesting more. They are getting nearly 10 times more fibre out of a similar-sized stand compared to Canada – and their carbon stocks are going up,” he said. “If you look at the Canadian experience, mainly because of a decline in the pulp and paper sector, the annual timber cut has declined by 25 per cent in the last 20 years – but our fire impacts are going up because many of our forests are simply dying.”
Nighbor said Canada needs to get more serious about using forest management as a tool to address forest fire risks.
Asked about his sector’s biggest challenge during a business panel, he said the forestry industry in Canada faces almost unique challenges because 94 per cent of the land on which companies operate is provincially owned. That compares to about 20 per cent publicly owned forestry land in the U.S.
Operating on public land means “a massive responsibility” when it comes to attaining social licence, Nighbor said, requiring forestry companies to spend tens of millions of dollars on forest management planning and consultations with affected groups.
“So we get frustrated when the feds come at the 11th hour on a species issue or whatnot after all this work is done. That’s not good for certainty and it’s not good for investment.”
Nighbor said forestry workers are environmentalists and “we should all be activists in our communities.” He said FPAC has good working relationships with many environmental organizations that are willing to partner with his sector.
Based on national polling, forestry workers have a high standing with Canadians, right up there near farmers, Nighbor said: “Canadian farmers are still the most popular, but we’re right behind you.”
