West Fraser is committed to climate-smart forestry: growing forests absorb large amounts of CO2
Healthy, abundant forests sequester more carbon per unit area than almost any other type of land cover. West Fraser manages forests with the goal of ensuring these forests remain resilient and vibrant so that they will continue to provide environmental, social, and economic benefits for society and for mitigating and adapting to climate change.
A changing climate has many effects on the health and growth of forests and their capacity for storing carbon. It also affects the frequency and severity of natural disturbances, including insects, disease, droughts, floods, and wildfires. Climate change effects on tree species will be ongoing, cumulative, and interactive. Active forest management is increasingly credited for its vital role in mitigating and adapting to a changing climate.
From the Government of Canada: Sustainable forest management is managing the forest to maintain an ecologically sustainable and socially desired balance of values. Forests in Canada are managed for a variety of economic, ecological, and social benefits for both current and future generations. Canadian protected forest areas are growing. Most forest cover loss characterized as temporary due primarily to natural disturbances, such as fire and insects. Canadian reporting of forest carbon emissions separates the effect of human and natural disturbances on forests. Canada’s GHG reporting to the IPCC shows forests managed for timber production are a carbon sink. Human activities in Canada’s managed forests accounted for removals of about 8 Mt CO2e in 2018, while large-scale natural disturbances accounted for emissions of about 251 Mt CO2e, resulting in net emissions of 243 Mt CO2e.
Our goal is that all the values currently in a forest (such as recreation, biodiversity, habitat protection, and clean water) will also be there for future generations to use. Like a smart long-term investment, good forest management is about protecting the balance and withdrawing only interest. The forest is the balance, and forest growth each year is the interest. After accounting for natural disturbances (like wildfires), and conservation measures to support diverse forest values, we harvest the available annual growth.
Where we manage forestland, our operations are subject to regulation by federal, provincial, state, and local environmental authorities. These regulations include industry-specific environmental regulations relating to air emissions and pollutants, wastewater (effluent) discharges, solid waste, landfill operations, forestry practices, site remediation and the protection of endangered species and critical habitat.
Sustainable forest management addresses more than timber production. West Fraser’s forest management planning incorporates forest health, soils, wildlife, water and fish resources and the preservation of biodiversity and the protection of cultural values.
West Fraser operates under licence (tenure) agreements they have with the provincial or territorial government that has jurisdiction over the land. These forest licence agreements convey timber rights and impose strict legal requirements on companies. Before a company may start any harvesting or other operations, it must develop a forest management plan and have it approved by the government.
Government of Canada: What is required in a forest management plan?
A forest management plan, usually covering a period of several decades, must:
- Outline a strategic vision and a commitment to protect multiple forest values in the area under management
- Assess the current state of the forest in the area the plan applies to
- Detail the desired future state of forest values in the area
- Set out the management objectives
- Describe the harvesting, regeneration and other activities to be carried to achieve the stated objectives.
The forest practices the Company employs are designed to meet and surpass the requirements of the voluntary standards West Fraser is certified to as well as rigorous provincial government regulations. In Canada, detailed regulations and policies govern areas such as reforestation, environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, consultation with aboriginal peoples and the general public. West Fraser’s plans are approved by the provincial government before harvesting begins.
In 2020, more than 70% of timber supply for Canadian operations was sourced from government-issued licences on forest lands managed by West Fraser. Government objectives include achieving the fullest possible economic utilization of forest resources and employment in local communities. The majority of the remaining fibre balance is acquired from third parties operating on public lands, including independent logging contractors, Indigenous groups, communities, and woodlot owners. Less than 5% of the Company’s Canadian fibre supply is sourced from private land.
Our woods teams use best management practices across the fibre supply, both Company managed and 3rd party suppliers with the goal of continuous improvement in forest practice. Continuous improvement of our performance in forestry is supported through investments in forestry research, science, and technology ($7.5 million in 2020).
West Fraser’s forest operations are based on long-term perspectives. Forest management and stewardship plans outline five to twenty years of future activity as well as identifying how other important values (e.g. biodiversity, cultural use, recreation, etc.) and the strategies that will be deployed to manage them. In Alberta, ten-year forest management plans align with a 200-year forecast for forest change and management activity. Comprehensive forest management plans include strategies to address topics such as:
| Soil stability and productivity | Oxygen and carbon balances |
| Timber | Fish, water quality and quantity |
| Wildlife, habitats and biodiversity | Visual qualities, Recreation resources and tourism |
| Cultural heritage resources | Hunting, trapping and fishing |
| Roads and bridges | Measures to mitigate the loss of natural range barriers |
| Reduce the introduction of invasive plants | Consultation with the public and Indigenous Peoples |
West Fraser’s forestry teams conduct public consultation on forest management-related plans and activities. Our plans are made public with an open, advertised consultation period. Our consultation activities, including identifying stakeholders, meet the standards required by Canadian law and provincial regulations for the approval of harvesting and forest management planning on public lands.
Forest planning consultations include formal and informal processes to provide the public and designated groups with meaningful opportunities to review plans. The groups can ask questions of the planning staff and provide input on the Company’s harvesting, forestry operations, silviculture, and road plans. West Fraser’s forest management plans are made public to support consultation objectives and incorporate feedback from communities and stakeholders during the consultation process in the finalized plans.
West Fraser respects Indigenous Peoples’ property, tenure and use rights. Within our forest planning, engagement and consultation processes as well as separate outreach, we work with more than 100 Indigenous communities and organizations in Canada. Forestry teams engage with Indigenous communities to understand potential impacts to treaty and Aboriginal rights, and traditional uses, that may arise from our planned forest management operations in Alberta and British Columbia. As part of this practice, we align our engagement efforts with community relationship building processes, including working with communities to conduct traditional cultural site visits and understand their community perspectives.
Our harvesting practices are designed to harvest timber safely and efficiently while managing site-specific wildlife habitat attributes, conserving ecological features, minimizing environmental impacts, and avoiding deforestation or land conversion. Disturbances from wildfire, pests, and disease are crucial to the natural renewal cycle for boreal forests. As a result, trees in western boreal forests typically live less than 100 years. Canada’s National Forestry database shows wildfires and insects are responsible for the largest disruptions to boreal forests. West Fraser manages forest so that it retains its main natural characteristics and is regenerated. The forests should also still have the capacity to supply multiple vital values, products, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.
Harvesting approximates a portion of forests disturbed by natural causes in a natural disturbance regime. Cutblocks attempt to create openings that are consistent with the effects of these natural events. Openings create the best conditions for regeneration for most of the tree species we manage and will vary in size and shape. Within these openings, certain amounts of trees are left standing either in patches or as individual trees. We also retain forested buffers around recreation, cultural features and key ecosystems such as wetlands, riparian areas, and conservation zones.
Climate effects on forest health and harvesting
The mountain pine beetle is a naturally occurring insect of the Rocky Mountain ecosystem. In the late 1990s, after several relatively warm winters, a massive outbreak resulted in the loss of millions of hectares of pine forest in British Columbia over the next 15 years. Alberta is actively fighting the spread of pine beetle. Both the B.C. and Alberta governments have increased harvesting allowances for dead, susceptible, and beetle-infested trees to remove killed trees, to reduce fire risk and plant young, healthy trees in place of damaged tree stands. By the end of 2020, the government indicates the infestation will have killed an estimated 55 percent of B.C.'s mature merchantable pine.
- Read an example about how we approached renewing a B.C. community forest affected by the mountain pine beetle.
- West Fraser is working with the government near Banff-Jasper National Park to address the spread of the beetle near our Hinton operations.
Our forest operations methods are designed to maintain the soil’s carbon storage and its quality. Carbon in soils represents the largest portion of boreal forest carbon (estimates vary but indicate that about half of the carbon stored by boreal forests is underground). Winter forest operations on snowpack and when soils are frozen, for example, can reduce impacts from machinery on the ground and protect seasonal habitat and feeding areas for animals. Large woody debris retained in harvested areas offers additional structure and habitat for small rodents and other species. As this woody debris decomposes over time, it will recycle nutrients back into the soil. These activities further provide suitable conditions for the regrowth of healthy trees. Collectively, these techniques create similar conditions that occur after a forest fire or an insect infestation.
100% of harvest sites are regenerated for new forest cover
We average 1,400 seedlings per hectare, and another 2,500 trees will grow alongside in the first 10-15 years after harvest
On an annual basis, 98% of reforested areas will not have any chemical application, and herbicide use has been reduced by 35% since 2008
West Fraser anticipates planting its two billionth tree in the summer of 2021
We plan for success, aiming to regrow forest cover that supplies natural forest habitats in amounts and patterns similar to what would result from the natural disturbances on the landscape, such as forest fires. Professional foresters examine sites before they are harvested to develop a plan to determine the most ecologically appropriate method of harvesting the trees and reforesting the site.
No deforestation: West Fraser does not convert natural forest to non-native plantations. We manage all of our harvest sites, so they return to natural forest cover. Since 1955, West Fraser has planted more than 1.8 billion trees to ensure the forests where we operate are resilient, biodiverse and renewed for the future.
To us, successful reforestation means both planting native trees and managing for the natural seeding trees retained in the harvesting area. In Western Canada, forests are conifer-dominant. The Montane Cordillera ecozone is 89% coniferous species, 7.5% broadleaf and mixed wood, and the Boreal Plains ecozone is 55% coniferous, 39% broadleaf and mixed wood. Certain species (such as aspen) vigorously regenerate on a site naturally without being planted. What we harvest and reforest reflects the profile of the tree species where we operate. We plant about ten different native tree species, roughly 50% pines, 45% spruces, and 5% other species, such as Douglas-fir, subalpine-fir, larch and cedar seedlings.
Climate change predictions influence the selection of the seedlings mix for a site. Our silviculture foresters consider how tree biodiversity can better support the resiliency for a forest’s anticipated climate future, adhering to provincial seed transfer guidelines, which now consider species migrations due to climate change. Normally, many more trees are planted than were cut from the site because trees naturally thin out as they grow older and compete for nutrients and resources, like sun and water. The goal is to grow a new forest that replicates the one that was harvested.
West Fraser does not use genetically-modified tree seed for reforestation. We practice tree improvement, selecting the best trees to be parents in our tree orchards to produce seed for the growth of new trees with desirable traits, which can include growth or pest resistance attributes that support forest resilience. .
West Fraser is a 60% partner in the Vernon Seed Orchard Company (VSOC), where their soil and climate is beneficial for seed crops from White Spruce, Douglas Fir and Lodgepole Pine seeds. VSOC has an orchard in Quesnel, where the northern climate is more favourable for pine seed production. Since VSOC’s inception in 1989, it has produced seed for more than one billion seedlings for the crown land reforestation in the Province of British Columbia. West Fraser has planted close to 30% of VSOC’s one billion seeds.
About 1,400 trees are planted per hectare, the vast majority within two years of harvest. The sites are surveyed 10 to 15 years post-harvest and show that, on average, another 2,500 trees naturally regenerate in a planted harvest area.
We use several different site preparation methods to ensure harvest areas return to healthy productive forest. There are several ways we can manage vegetation to regenerate forest cover, and we leverage multiple approaches. We are exploring ways to reduce the use of herbicides. We manage reforesting sites for up to 20 years, and on a yearly basis, 98% of this area will have no chemical treatment to control vegetation. Read more about the methods we use to address vegetation competing with young forests. Restricted pesticides classified by the WHO as WHO 1A or 1B pesticides are not used in the Company’s managed forest areas.
We are responsible for managing reforested areas for as long as two decades to ensure that regenerated forests are healthy, productive and comprise the prescribed forest cover. Forests in more than 99% of harvested areas are successfully re-established within the regulated timeframes. Once a new forest is established, it’s monitored through surveys and assessed to determine how healthy and big the seedling trees have grown. Reforestation is rigorously regulated by the provincial governments of B.C. and Alberta. All harvesting and reforestation activities are monitored and reported regularly to government and are captured in internal reporting.
Explore more about our reforestation activities
Climate-Smart Forestry aims to increase the climate benefits from forests and the forest sector. West Fraser has a landscape-level, ecosystem-based approach to forest management that balances for multiple forest values, long-term sustainability, and climate resilience.
Healthy trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow; sick, or dying trees (due to fires or pest infestations) put carbon back into the atmosphere. Accounting for how much carbon trees in natural forests store or emit is complex and is affected by many factors. These include differences in the age, size, and species of tree; annual growth variation due to seasonal weather, climate shifts and natural disturbance impacts (like fire and pests); and effects from forest management practices.
The majority of Canadian timber comes from crown land. West Fraser relies on government research data for forest carbon accounting. Canada reports annually to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Canada significantly changed its standards for forest carbon monitoring, accounting and reporting in 2017, separating the GHG emissions from natural and human-caused disturbances in the forest.
In its national carbon reporting under UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Canada separates human-caused vs. naturally-caused GHG emissions from forests. Separating these emissions makes it possible to detect trends in emissions attributable to forest management as opposed to natural disturbance events (such as wildfire). Large-scale natural disturbances (such as wildfire and pest infestations) in Canada’s forests generated more GHG emissions (237Mt) than forest managed for timber production, which removed 20 Mt CO2e from the atmosphere in 2017 (latest available data year).
Read: Canada’s 2019 National inventory Report to the UN Climate Change Secretariat