Tag Archives: Fourth Growth

Conclusion of interview with Bruce Ellingsen: Vancouver Island’s diminishing Tree Harvests

In the second of two broadcasts about more sustainable forestry practices, one of the founders of the Cortes Community Fortes Co-operative talks about the industry’s diminishing harvests in terms that every gardener understands.  (Click here to access part 1)

“Back in the 1970s the justification for logging all the old growth was that the Province was going to be tree farming, to give the public the idea that you’re actually going to be sustainably growing crops off of that landscape each year,” said Ellingsen. 

Every farmer knows that they need to replace the nutrients that they are taking out of the soil, or “pretty soon it will not grow a crop successfully any longer.” 

Continue reading Conclusion of interview with Bruce Ellingsen: Vancouver Island’s diminishing Tree Harvests

Forest Or Tree Farm?

10 years ago, I began writing a personal blog, titled Out on a Limb: my life with trees. I have fallen out of a few, climbed many, cut them down as a summer Junior Forest Ranger, burned lots in the wood stove to keep the home warm. The Natural History Interpreter, side of me has catalogued thousands of photos which fit into the large file of Forest Ecosystems: lakes and streams, large and small animals, trees and plants. The Cultural Interpreter side of me, has a small library of logging histories, edible and medicinal plants, political books dealing with Wars in the Woods, corporations bribing government officials, environmentalist perspectives on Forests.

Continue reading Forest Or Tree Farm?