Opinion

December 4, 2000

McTrees: Why do we want to grow them
bigger, better, faster?

by: Patrick Lucas and Mark
Comars

On March 2, 2000, UNBC
opened the doors to the 1.6
million-dollar |.k. Barber
Enhanced Forestry Lab
(EFL). By now every student,
faculty and staff person to
grace our happy little temple
of reason atop the hill has
seen the new building-shiny
and modern with its glass
peak and rough not-quite-fin-
ished exterior. Questions and
rumors have abounded.
What was it for? The general
consensus seemed to be that
it was intended for use by the
forestry program, but not a
single marijuana plant could
be seen through the window.
With a little more probing |
discovered that, officially, the
EFL was_ intended to
“address vital questions in
mixed wood ecology, man-
agement, and forest growth
and yield.” The slogan “[to]
grow bigger better trees

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faster’ rang in my ears. The
laboratory was built through a

partnership between_the-_for- --

est industry, the provincial
government, and the univer-
sity. When these three
strange bedfellows get
together you have to wonder
what it is they hope to accom-
plish. The EFL has been
hailed as the next step for
sustainable forestry research
for BC. What is it they are
hoping to sustain, and for
whom? What does growing
bigger better trees faster
have do to with it?

The forests of British
Columbia are facing an
increasing onslaught of
incredible pressure from far
too many sources. The
importance of a diverse and
healthy environment is
becoming more prevalent
with every passing day; there
can be no argument that the
forest of this province form a
crucial part of its fragile eco-
logical backbone. Add to this

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the growing influence of glob-
alization, our wunshakable

belief-in-science and technol- —

ogy to solve all environmental
ills, and a form of social nar-
cosis that bars us from criti-
cally examining the free mar-
ket, grow or die economic
ethic that pervades our soci-
ety. The extent to which we
allow any one group to
manipulate the land base to
their own ends, demands
immediate and thorough dis-
cussion.

This is how | came to be sit-
ting in the office of Dr. Chris
Hawkins, Chair of Mixed
Wood Ecology and director of
the EFL, way, way, way too
early on a Friday morning. |
have to say that Dr. Hawkins
was very helpful, patiently
answering all of my blunder-
ing questions, and carefully
explaining his position and
point of view. He showed me
an outline of the projects that
have been, or are currently
taking place in the EFL.

Apparently, there are no stud-
ies involving the use of gene
insertion or splicing. Nor
does there appear to be any
plans for producing a unique
brand of “McTree” or applica-

tions for biological patents.

(Bummer! For those of us
imagining mad scientist cre-
ating Franken-forests we may
have to find something else
to do with our political car-
toons.)

We spent a considerable
amount of time discussing
one of his studies “Birch
Genecology”. Dr. Hawkins’
intent is to identify those
species of Birch that have
high quality wood and form
characteristics. He hopes
that what he learns will help
foresters extract larger
amounts of higher quality
fiber from a cut block, and
encourage the planting of
mixed wood stands rather
than monocultural tree farms.
He also pointed out that this
could be an opportunity for

the forest industry to correct
past wrongs by putting birch
back where they belong but
“haven't been due to past
management practices.”
Ultimately, Dr. Hawkins sees
their role as one of identifying
the gaps that exist in our
knowledge of the biological
systems of the forests, with,
supposedly, the motivation
that any information “will give
us a leg up on sustainability”
That’s not too bad. There are
some basic tenets of sustain-
ability hidden in there. But
trying to find a gap in our
knowledge of any ecological
system is a lot like throwing a
rock at the sky and then
being continuously surprised
when all we hit is dirt. | would
venture that Dr. Hawkins and
company are only interested
in seeking very specific ‘gaps’
within a particular frame of
reference.

(continued on page 5)

Debates Come to UNBC

Prince

Mark Walsh (NDP), Oliver:

Grogan from the (Green
Party), John Van der

On Monday November 20th
UNBC was the forum to
debate the future vote. The
Political Science Student
Association (PSSA) Brought
the Candidates from the
George-Bulkley
Valley Constituency. This?

Ray (PC), Suzanne’ ~
Woodrow (Canadian
Acton Party), John

ence professor, Rheanna
Caden a First Nations
Representative, John
McGladdery a school district
#57 administration
Representative, and Anne-
Marie Predi

a represen-

tative from Early Childhood
Education.

The Debates were well
done and certainly had a
bearing on my vote.

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Woulde (Christian
Heritage Party), Dick
Harris (Canadian Alliance
party) and Jeannette
Townsend (Liberal party).
The also made arrange-
ments for informed pan-
elists such as Dr. Jennifer® - ‘
Rice who is the Regional} is
Medical Director, Dr John PSSA Executive members: (from left to right) Daniel Wingham,
Young UNBC political sci- Fredrik Gunnarsson, Ajay Kapila and Regan Garbutt

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