They say “old ways are the best ways” and maybe they’re right, This article is a lot to digest, but it sure makes sense to me.

Forests and watersheds: status quo not going to cut it anymore

The increasingly dire situation on the Chemainus River is also being seen on the neighbouring Koksilah and Cowichan Rivers and most other rivers on Vancouver Island, for that matter. While most are quick to attribute water scarcity solely to drought from climate change, Erik Piikkila of Ladysmith takes it a step farther from his experience to cite several other factors.

He refers to five prongs that must be properly addressed for the betterment of the environment and the ecosystems that contribute to such things as water flow on rivers. These include: ecosystem based management forestry, forest thinning (with multiple objectives), restoring fire in forests, restoring damaged ecosystems, and local governance of forest resources with regional districts and local governments engaging with small private landowners who have ecosystems such as the Coastal Douglas fir ecosystem.

“We have to look after all these factors and act on them immediately,” Piikkila said. “I don’t think we can keep logging old growth anymore. We need to change how our forests are managed and we need to start thinning these forests in a coordinated and massive way across the province.”

He recommends selective logging, of all forests and points out that when old growth trees are  allowed to remain they are like upright rivers retaining moisture on the landscape.

“It’s the trees up on the hillsides. The tree itself is like a vertical river, you’ve got moss, lichen and tree needles in the forest canopy. Old growth forest slows water down. Old growth Douglas-fir trees with 60 million needles slows down water, and rain and snow and allows the precipitation to drip slowly to the ground. On the ground, thick moss mats and logs on the ground act like dams, and once water reaches creeks and streams logs that have fallen in from riparian forests also dam water. All of these natural forest structures and species slow water down.”

“We need to stop clear-cutting,” Piikkila added. “We need to go to a selective logging system where we select more trees and patches of trees and logs to be retained during logging operations and left as biological legacies in the next and future forest. You need to have intact forest cover which shades and cools the soil, allowing moisture to stay in the soil, and creating the shady, cool and moist conditions moss, lichen and fungi require.

“Having moisture available in the ecosystem well into summer could counteract summer droughts like those we have experienced in the past decade and will experience as summer droughts intensify under climate change over the next century. Wetter soils may equal survival for trees like red cedar, grand fir and alder that are dying out from lack of summer moisture. Forests and, in particular old growth forests, capture moisture and release it slowly throughout the year, making sure there’s a water supply and good cold water for salmon.”

Something about this seems smart to me. Maybe because it seems like every forest in California is on fire at the moment, but maybe its the idea of old growth representing “Upright rivers”. That really appeals.

The importance of older forest structures is demonstrated by “rainfall washing over large, decaying downed 100-year-old and older logs covered by moss and lichen, inputs 49 pounds/acre/year of nitrogen into the soil. By harvesting old growth and middle age second growth forests, we are converting all of our older forests into young forests (0-60 years old) which is like a stock market crash where our older and long term forest portfolio is drastically reduced in size and amount.”

True.

Types of restoration include: planting riparian trees and plants such as broadleaf trees like alder, maple and cottonwood which provide leaf fall into streams that are eaten by small aquatic species and then become food for salmon, and placing logs in streams to create salmon habitat, restoring wetlands or building new wetlands, especially in urban areas. “Instead of hard infrastructure assets like storm drains and levees and pumping stations like in Duncan, bring back fire onto the landscape, bring back beavers to dam waters which provides a steady supply of water in periods of low water in late summer and early fall, and removing dams like Elwha Dam in Washington State which allows natural flows of water, natural flooding and deposition of silts and gravels creating salmon spawning habitat,” Piikkila noted.

Anything this smart was going to mention beavers sooner or later. You knew that right? Now I agree with him even more!

People might wonder about the implications of restoring fire as one of the factors. New research out of California on Aug. 6 reinforced the relation between fire, water and biodiversity, Piikkila said.

“They found that letting some prescribed fires burn more freely increased soil moisture, a 30 per cent increase in summer soil moisture, drought induced tree mortality decreased and increased biodiversity (pyrodiversity). When charred by fire, logs not completely burned and wetted by winter rains become super nutrient and water sponges.”

Not fires like we have now. Not EVERYTHING at once fires. But small controlled burns.

“Natural ecosystems like forests and the ecological goods and services that they produce for free such as clean air and water and store carbon, are going to be one of our cheapest options in fighting climate change. We just have to let and help them, to help provide for and protect us.”

Go read the entire article. It is well worth your time. Our forests need wisdom.