Certifying the woodlot of Rob Blake: Here's how it unfolded

Cam Brewer

The Silva Forest Foundation (SFF) recently announced the first eco-certified forest in BC, a woodlot ecoforestry operation near Williams Lake operated by Rob Blake. This ecoforestry operation demonstrates the social, economic and ecological rewards of ecoforestry and shows what can truly be done in the forests of BC.

The process that led to Blake's woodlot becoming certified involved a comparison between the Silva Forest Foundation Standards Checklist for Ecologically Responsible Timber Management (SFF Standards) and Blake's actual operation. In order to be certified, an applicant does not need to meet every requirement of the SFF Standards during the first evaluation; however, there are entry-level minimums, and continual improvement is required. In practice, the evaluation process results in scores assigned to each section of the SFF Standards, with sub-section and overall scores having to meet pre-defined minimums.

In general, the certification process begins with a request for information and the subsequent submission of an application to SFF. This is followed by a scoping visit and the signing of an evaluation agreement. Formal evaluation then commences with a document evaluation, continues through the field evaluation, the peer reviews, and culminates with a certification decision. In this article, I will walk you through these general steps and describe the actual process of evaluating Rod Blake's woodlot for certification.

Application
The certification process begins when an interested ecoforester contacts SFF and requests the information necessary to decide whether to apply for certification. After reviewing this information, those that choose to apply should send SFF as much detail as possible, since these documents provide the foundation for commencing a full evaluation. Generally, applications include planning documents, cutting and road permits, maps and aerial photographs, proof of legal rights to timber management on applicant lands, a list of suggested First Nation and stakeholder contacts, and the completed application form. SFF has the ability to provide some financial assistance to help small operators become certified and requests for such assistance are generally included with the application.

Rod Blake submitted an application for certification of Woodlot License W0588 in the Spring of 1998. Included in his application was the "Long Term Management Philosophy" for Woodlot W0588 which states:

"The long term management philosophy for woodlot W0588 is one that spans not just decades, but generations. The vision is a continuous forest crop that maintains and enhances both timber and non-timber values. The starting point for attaining this vision is a management approach that will maintain and nurture healthy ecosystems. Healthy ecosystems are characterized by stable soils, clean water, natural flora and fauna, and which do not exhibit long term evidence of intrusion…" (Blake 1997, 1)

Scoping
Application documents offer great insight into management philosophies, objectives and plans, but what is happening on the ground? Before signing an agreement and moving forward with a formal evaluation, SFF wants to look around in the woods. This "scoping" visit provides SFF with a chance to discover any obvious problems and to provide the applicant with a more specific analysis of how certification might mesh with their operation. The scoping stage also provides a chance to make initial contact with local First Nations.

During SFF's scoping visit of Blake's woodlot, conducted in May 1998, it became clear that certification was a strong possibility. The rough gravel haul roads weaving through the bush seemed more like nature trails than tentacles of industry, and the landings were small patches with trees encroaching from all sides. All around was the richness and wholeness of a forest: the sounds of animals, the smell of growth, the diversity of life. Tours of recent cut-blocks revealed a cutting approach in which Blake was generally able to protect forest composition, structure and function. The occasional stump, hidden among towering firs, was just another component of a diverse and intact forest. There were no clearcuts. No washed-away hillsides. No burnt-over slash piles.

SFF's discussions with local First Nations – the Soda Creek and Williams Lake Bands – raised no issues of concern, and an initial assessment of application documents indicated a reasonable probability of Blake's operations achieving certification. SFF drafted a Scoping Report, and after discussing the report's findings, Blake and SFF negotiated an evaluation agreement and moved into the formal evaluation stage. At this point, evaluation personnel were selected, the public consultation process was outlined and a budget and timeline was established.

First Nations and Stakeholder Consultation
The first step in formal evaluation is consulting with First Nations and stakeholders, such as neighbours of applicant lands, current and former employees, the Ministry of Forests (MoF), community and environmental groups, and businesses that have contact with the applicant operation. First Nations whose traditional territory includes the applicant lands are asked about the applicant's accounting for aboriginal rights and title, about sites of cultural or archaeological significance, about opportunities for involvement in developing management plans, and about their traditional use of the area. If the consulted First Nations feel that applicant operations threaten their resources or tenure rights, or object to the applicant's control over timber management in the area, then certification may be rejected.

Both the Williams Lake and the Soda Creek Bands were content with the consultation carried out by Blake, as well as the provisions he made for cultural maintenance. The Williams Lake Nation, however, was not satisfied with the quality of the archaeological assessment used by Blake, and subsequent arrangements had to be made to address this issue. By the time certification evaluation commenced, both parties were satisfied that the situation had been addressed.

The stakeholder consultation period for Woodlot W0588 spanned June through August of 1998, and resulted in uniformly positive feedback. Not a single stakeholder consulted raised doubts about the ecological or social quality of Blake's operation. In fact, the overall consensus was that Blake is a socially and ecologically conscientious operator, with a meticulous and fair approach regarding employees, community and the non-timber values on his woodlot.

Document Evaluation
The document evaluation stage includes reviewing plans related to the forest's natural character and current condition, the protected stand and landscape networks, the protection of soils and hydrological functioning, the incorporation of community social and economic needs, the access infrastructure and the level and methods of timber extraction. This review results in scoring some of the SFF Standards and may include conditions or pre-conditions. Conditions will eventually become legal requirements that the applicant must meet if awarded certification, while pre-conditions must be met before certification is awarded.

Based on the document evaluation, adjustments may be made to the weighting of scores in SFF Standards to account for specific constraints faced by the applicant. The SFF Evaluation Team may also elect to change the scope of evaluation or request further information from the applicant before proceeding.

The planning documents produced by Rod Blake, as with most woodlot licensees, are written primarily to satisfy MoF requirements. Given the limited resources available to a single woodlot licensee, it is unrealistic to expect otherwise. In the spirit of encouraging continual improvement, SFF stipulated some conditions of certification based on the review of planning documents. These conditions included the mapping and describing of forest character (how the forest worked prior to European contact) and condition (the way the forest is today), the mapping of his woodlot's protected stand network, and a detailed documentation of community concerns related to the woodlot.

The review of Blake's documents was helpful in designing the subsequent field visit. For instance, a relatively steep section of a proposed road was flagged for inspection. Also, a small area in which the pine overstory was removed to address the risk of damage from mountain pine beetle and dwarf mistletoe was identified as a key site to examine. Plans indicated that Blake had a small patch of old growth on his woodlot - which is quite rare in a landscape context - and this was noted to ensure it was visited in the field.

Field Visit
The heart of a certification evaluation is the field visit. It provides the Evaluation Team with an opportunity to examine the applicant's lands in detail, and ideally to observe logging in progress. The field visit also provides an opportunity for the Evaluation Team to meet with any concerned local First Nations or stakeholders. The applicant's lands are stratified according to ecological types and each stratum is visited in the field. Areas that have been recently logged, as well as areas that are planned for logging in the near future, are examined.

Blake's field visit, in late July of 1998, included samples of all forest types in Woodlot W0588, all existing and proposed biodiversity reserves, 13 out of 14 past and planned cutblocks, the entire length of the main haul road, and all sites identified during the document evaluation. Blake employs both single-tree selection and patch-cuts, depending on stand type, but unfortunately the Evaluation Team was not able to view active logging because Blake does most of his cutting in the fall and winter. However, the care taken with past cutting was clearly evident and the team was able to evaluate Blake's plans for future entries.

The Evaluation Team visited the various components of Blake's "protected stand network," including: protected riparian ecosystems with no-logging buffers of at least 10 metres; the protection of ecologically sensitive sites such as very dry Douglas fir stands with shallow soils; permanently reserved "full-cycle" trees; biodiversity reserves such as an aspen and spruce wetland with signs of heavy moose use; and provision for small-scale connectivity through the maintenance of forest cover and stand-level structures such as large trees, snags, and fallen trees. Blake's biodiversity reserves, in particular, go far beyond MoF requirements and are quite exceptional for woodlots.

The Team was also quite impressed with the roads on Woodlot W0588 - Rod Blake's decades of experience as an excavator operator really showed. The roads were narrow, constructed in a winding fashion, and placed on stable portions of the terrain. Such road construction results in minimal site disturbance, reduces the need for maintenance, and helps protect large mammals from hunting losses since there is never a long line of sight along the roads.

The Evaluation Team also gave high marks for the elegant and innovative system Blake has developed for extracting cut trees. This system included long-line skidding that kept machines out of marginally sensitive areas, self-loading trucks that reduced the need for decking space at landings, and extensive use of "rub" trees that helped protect other trees from damage.

During the course of the field evaluation, the SFF team and Blake were able to explore issues that arose during the document evaluation and to discuss new concerns that arose in the field visit. Some of these issues became conditions in the certification report. These issues included increasing the number of fallen trees per hectare, agreeing to specific riparian buffer sizes, and marking full-cycle trees. This last issue - that SFF requires the permanent marking of full-cycle trees so that future generations can clearly understand which trees have been designated to grow old, die and fall to the forest floor - became a significant issue because nobody had ever developed a recognised system for marking or mapping such trees. Blake has subsequently developed a system for marking full-cycle trees and is currently experimenting with modifications to the system.

After the field visit, the evaluation team met and strove for consensus in determining scores for all applicable sections of the SFF Standards. Once scores were assigned, the evaluation team leader produced a draft Certification Report, complete with a recommendation to certify Rod Blake and a concomitant list of conditions. The report was then distributed to peer reviewers and the applicant for comment.

Peer Review and the Certification Committee
SFF peer reviewers work in teams to provide a strong background in ecologically responsible forest use and forest ecology, a thorough understanding of relevant political, economic and legal contexts, and a solid knowledge of the forest ecosystem where the evaluation is taking place. Their role is to vet the draft certification report for technical and analytical adequacy, provide feedback on the application of SFF standards and procedures, and comment on the appropriateness of the certification recommendation in light of the findings and opinions expressed in the report.

The peer reviewers' comments are forwarded to the SFF Certification Committee - the sole body responsible for making the certification decision. The committee also reviews all application documents, the Scoping Report, the draft Certification Report, the applicant's response to the draft Certification Report, any further written responses from the Evaluation Team Leader, and the recommendation for the certification decision. The committee, after obtaining all the information it deems necessary, can decide to grant certification (with or without conditions), to specify pre-conditions before certification is granted, or to reject the application.

The decision with Blake's evaluation was to grant certification with conditions. Blake had applied for "limited chain-of-custody" with his timber management certification, which was also granted. This "limited chain-of-custody" allows him to put a certified mark on the logs coming from his woodlot so the logs can then continue on in a certified chain-of-custody and be made into certified wood products.

Award, Public Summary, and Certification Agreement
Once the certification decision had been made, a final Certification Report was completed and distributed to the applicant. In the spirit of transparency, a Public Summary of the Report was then produced which provided an overview of relevant aspects of the certification process, a description of Blake's operation, and a listing of the conditions that Blake must meet to maintain his certified status. This Public Summary is available to anyone who requests it.

In March of 1999, Blake was awarded a five-year certificate, subject to the conditions specified and to annual monitorings of his operation. The legal agreement which binds Blake to the conditions of certification and which specifies the rights and responsibilities of both Blake and SFF is called the Certification Agreement, and includes a Licensing Agreement that gives Blake the legal right to use the SFF "Eco-Cert" logo according to specific requirements.

And the process starts again…
SFF continues to move forward with certification evaluations with various operators in different parts of BC, but the process remains essentially the same as with Rod Blake's evaluation. Consistency, transparency and rigorous standards form the basis of SFF evaluations and we hope to announce more certified operations in the near future.

Cam Brewer has an MSc in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon, and is currently Certification Program Co-Manager with the Silva Forest Foundation.

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References:
Blake, Roger Roy. 1997. Woodlot Licence W0588: Management Plan. Williams Lake, BC.

© 1999 Ecoforestry Institute
Originally published in the Ecoforestry 14(3):26-31