Through sustainable forest management practices, the forest industry is also a significant contributor to the environmental well-being of Alberta’s forested lands, biodiversity – the myriad of flora and fauna that reside there, and to the health of our watersheds. As a demonstration of this commitment, AFPA member companies have received internationally-recognized, third-party certification and undertake ongoing audits for sustainable forest management. As of June 2007, almost 12 million hectares (29.6 million acres) of forest lands under tenure to AFPA member companies are certified in Alberta[i].

Taken together, the triple-bottom line – environmental, economic and social – benefits of a thriving provincial forest products industry will be a significant component of our future prosperity, just as it has been through the past century.

With the Government of Alberta developing a land use framework the forest industry has been an active and engaged participant in the consultation process. Like government, the forest industry is keenly interested in finding durable, long-term solutions to public policy issues such as:

• land-use conflicts and competing land interests;
• comprehensive integrated resource management planning;
• cumulative effects management, and;
• integration of land, air and water management.[ii]

Among the backdrop of shared interests and a desire for long-term operational certainty, the Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA), in consultation with its membership, has prepared this white paper to detail its thoughts related to key concepts within the land use framework deliberations.

With the significant economic and demographic growth our province has experienced in the early years of the 21^st Century, Albertans are advocating a new, coordinated and sustainable approach to deal with the cumulative impact of human uses on the province’s landbase. The Government of Alberta has responded by committing to developing a provincial Land Use Framework.[iii]

In government consultation undertaken over the past year, Albertans have clearly expressed the desire for an over-arching framework that ties together provincial strategies such as Water for Life, Alberta Forest Legacy, and Alberta’s Integrated Energy Vision. Further, they want the government to address growth pressures and cumulative environmental impacts.

While these issues are prevalent across the province as a whole, the Alberta Forest Products Association and its members are most familiar with forest land issues so confine our comments within that scope.

Problems and risks emerging in forest regions where the human and industrial footprint is growing include:

• The permanent loss of forested land and the resulting impacts to forest sustainability and the renewable fibre supply for the forest sector.
• Inefficient planning and operating practices that do not satisfy long-term needs and become increasingly costly to maintain.
• Conflicting or inconsistent regulatory requirements that, while intended to address specific areas or sectors, do not stand the test of time or provide certainty.
• Public concern and ENGO advocacy about long-term forest values.
• Customers are targeted and ‘campaigns’ are launched.
• Protection emerges in the absence of science-based integrated land management targets and practices (and conservation is ignored).
• Ad hoc duplicate access and linear corridors.
• Fragmented, expensive and inconsistent reclamation requirements and results.
• Without ‘evidence’ of long-term sustainability, access to the resource is threatened or becomes increasingly restrictive. 
• One industrial sector compromises or impacts the business interests of another sector.

Alberta Forest Products Association members have a long history of working in Alberta’s forests and dealing with the diversity of challenges inherent in managing for multiple values on a landbase over long time periods. Balancing these values and requirements has enabled our industry to develop significant competencies in integration – a crucial component to successful land use planning. In addition, because the forest growing cycle is between 80-120 years, forest companies hold a long-term perspective on resource management issues. These proven processes and history of success uniquely positions Alberta’s forest industry to be a key contributor to the Government of Alberta’s Land Use Framework and strategies to address cumulative impacts.

Alberta’s forest products industry believes the following elements need to be contained within the province’s Land Use Framework to be successful.

Objectives, Indicators, and Targets

Build on The Alberta Forest Legacy direction to generate sustainability indicators and targets as outcomes of the land use framework planning process. Regional objectives, indicators, and targets will be consistent with broad provincial goals or objectives. Clearly articulated objectives, indicators of those objectives and targets to measure progress are needed to address cumulative effects of human activity on our forest lands.

“The Alberta Forest Legacy calls for the Government of Alberta and all forest users, together with national and international parties as appropriate, to generate sustainability indicators and targets to evaluate the sustainability of the forest and the forest-based economies and communities of Alberta.”[v]

Reinforce the vision and values Albertans have long held for our natural capital of forests by renewing the commitment to the Green Area. To continue with our forest legacy it is necessary to “Keep the Green Area Green”. The value of this objective is also recognized within The Alberta Forest Legacy Document. 

“Alberta’s Forest Legacy maintains Alberta’s commitment to the Green Area, a planning zone which encompasses the province’s forested landbase. The area was established in 1948 and continues to provide a foundation for a multitude of economic and ecological benefits.”[vi]

Measure and Report on Established Objectives, Indicators and Targets

Provincial and regional land use objectives, indicators and targets must be measured and the results reported annually to Albertans. Paramount to maintaining and enhancing Albertans trust in Government is to be open and transparent on the yardsticks of managing growth pressures, cumulative effects and balancing environmental and economic needs. 

Assign Responsibility, Accountability and Authority for Delivering These Values, Objectives, Indicators and Targets to one Ministry

A common theme in feedback on the current land use model is the lack of clear accountability for managing overall values. Currently various ministries or agencies deliver “their” mandate, but no ministry has the mandate for managing overall values. As a result, growth is managed by sector alone, not between sectors.

For the government to be fully accountable to Albertans and those it regulates, the current structure of multiple management authorities such as the EUB (involved in surface access issues), Government Ministries, and municipalities (authority on road allowances and development permits), etc. needs to be addressed.

One ministry needs to be accountable for coordinating and managing overall government strategies and other management authorities.

Adopt Management by Objective and Adaptive Management as the Dominant Land Management Strategies

Forest lands are living, dynamic and ever changing, ecosystems. Accordingly, any land management system for these lands must also be flexible to adapt to changes. The Alberta Forest Legacy recognizes this dynamic nature and promoted adaptive management as the guiding management principle.

“The Alberta Forest Legacy calls for activities in the forest to be managed in such a way as to allow the forest landscape to continue to evolve under the influence of disturbances that are, in scale at least, similar to those disturbances that shaped them in the past. This requirement, and the principle of adaptive management, will demand flexibility in how we manage our activities, whether they be for resource extraction, resource protection or ecological conservation.”[vii]

Management by objective is the land management strategy which enables adaptive management. This non-spatial planning method provides for the flexibility to deliver the plan objectives from the entire forest landscape. Other land use planning tools such as priority land use and zonation are spatial planning systems that segregate or zone activities to deliver objectives. An inherent weakness of special zoning systems is that catastrophic natural events such as fire, insects, or climate change can wipe out the only area designated to deliver an objective. The objective can not then be delivered.  

In delivering a Land Use Framework for Alberta, Integration is superior to segregation as a management tool.

Forest Management Plans as a Model for Regional Land Use Plans

Within Alberta’s Green Area, forest management plans are currently in place to provide for long term forest health and sustainability of the landbase. Forest management plans are integrated plans which use detailed inventories, public involvement and sophisticated forecasting tools to assess and model the future forest landscape over space and time.

As land use issues become more complex; the experience, data, science and modeling capabilities of forest management planning are being recognized as necessary components to deliver well planned, healthy forest landscapes for people to work, play and live in. Building upon existing forest management plans to complete comprehensive regional land use plans takes advantage of existing data and planning processes already in place.

Key strengths of forest management plans include:

• Comprehensive data sets;
• Requirement for public and stakeholder involvement in the development of objectives and targets for the landbase;
• Utilization of complex forecasting tools that model forest growth and change over time and space; and use of tools that can model impacts of industrial development.
• Use of performance targets that are monitored, reported, and through adaptive management, improved over time;
• Regular updates to the plan as conditions change.

Roadmap to Deliver The Framework
The present land management structure is unable to effectively integrate the broad and varied uses of our forest lands. This is understandable given the size of our province and wide variety of ecosystems; from alpine meadows to boreal wetlands, to native prairie. Regional planning bodies are necessary to guide human activities and address their cumulative impacts in areas of similar landscapes with similar issues. Modeling these regional bodies upon the successful structure used in the Water for Life strategy and learnings of the Northeast Slopes Strategy will provide the best opportunity for success.

Establish Regional Land Councils and Regional Advisory Commissions

Regional Land Councils would be tasked with developing and delivering the regional land use plan and would be comprised of agencies having a right or allocation upon the land. This would include representation from the Government of Alberta (Sustainable Resource Development; Environment; Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture; Energy; Agriculture and Food), industry (energy, forestry, mining), First Nations and other stakeholders. Each Regional Land Council would be established by and accountable to the Minister and would be responsible for establishing a Regional Advisory Commission and retaining third-party expertise to manage and analyze data.

Regional Advisory Commissions would be responsible for establishing the values and objectives for the region. These commissions include those agencies with rights or allocations, and organizations or public with an interest or value in the region. The Advisory Commission would define the values and objectives for the regional plan while incorporating overall provincial values and objectives.

These multi-stakeholder bodies would have responsibility for establishing regional values, objectives, indicators, and targets; and delivering a regional land use plan consistent with provincial objectives. 

Characteristics of these regional bodies would include:

• The bodies would be primarily geo-administratively based, but with sufficient flexibility to expand or contract through time or as issues dictate.
• Co-operative, collaborative approach involving government departments, industrial partnerships and key regional stakeholders
• Defining and developing regional values, objectives, indicators, and targets, consistent with provincial scale values and objectives. 
• Recognition of, and accountability to, existing rights and obligations granted by higher orders of government.
• Implementation of adaptive management and management by objective as the dominant land management strategies. 
• Systems to access, monitor and report on activities relative to plan targets and limits associated with regional goals.
• Predictable and consistent planning approach for all users utilizing sound data and analysis techniques
• Leveraging of the work already done in existing forest management plans. Considerable amounts of effort and consultation have already gone into these plans and use of them can be maximized to deliver greatest efficiency to the planning process.
• Regional land use plans will NOT deliver specific detail such as access templates, but will have objectives and targets enabling specific products. 

Figure 1: Regional Planning Schematic

(need to add this picture)

Summary of Recommendations
Alberta Forest Products Association members have a long history of working in Alberta’s forests and dealing with the diversity of challenges inherent in managing for multiple values on a landbase over long time periods. These proven processes and history of success uniquely positions Alberta’s forest industry to be a key contributor to the Government of Alberta’s Land Use Framework and strategies to address cumulative impacts.

Among the backdrop of shared interests and a desire for long-term operational certainty, the Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA), in consultation with its membership, prepared this white paper to detail its thoughts related to key concepts within the land use framework deliberations.

Alberta’s forest products industry believes the following elements need to be contained within the province’s Land Use Framework to be successful.

• Clearly articulated, provincial objectives, indicators and targets to measure progress are needed to address cumulative effects of human activity on our forest lands. Regional objectives, indicators, and targets will be developed for each land use region, and will be consistent with broad provincial goals and objectives.
• Provincial and regional land use objectives, indicators and targets must be measured and the results reported annually to Albertans. 
• One ministry needs to be accountable for coordinating and managing overall government strategies and other management authorities.
• In delivering a Land Use Framework for Alberta, Integration is superior to segregation as a management tool. As such, the AFPA recommends the government adopt Management by Objective and Adaptive Management as their dominant land management strategies.
• Existing Forest Management Plans be used as a model for regional land use plans. Building upon existing forest management plans to complete comprehensive regional land use plans takes advantage of existing data and planning processes already in place.
• Regional planning bodies are necessary to guide human activities and address their cumulative impacts in areas of similar landscapes with similar issues. Modeling these regional bodies upon the successful structure used in the Water for Life strategy and learnings of the Northeast Slopes Strategy will provide the best opportunity for success. These Regional Land Councils should be established by an accountable to the Minister.

Alberta’s forest industry believes that the implementation of these recommendations will help to create a practical, regional-sensitive land use framework for the province.