Sustaining the Forests of the Pacific Coast: Forging Truces in the War in the Woods

265 Pages·2000·16.39 MB·English

by  Donald K. Alper

Sustaining the Forests of the
Pacific Coast
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Edited by Debra J. Salazar
and Donald K. Alper
Sustaining the Forests of the
Pacific Coast: Forging Truces in the
War in the Woods
UBCPress -Vancouver-Toronto
© UBC Press 2000
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
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or other reprographic copying, a licence from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright
Licensing Agency), 900 - 6 Adelaide Street East, Toronto, ON M5C 1H6.
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper
ISBN 0-7748-0815-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 0-7748-0816-0 (paperback)
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Sustaining the forests of the Pacific Coast
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7748-0815-2 (bound)
ISBN 0-7748-0816-0 (pbk.)
1. Forest management—Environmental Aspects—Northwest, Pacific.
2. Forest policy—British Columbia. 3. Forest policy—Northwest, Pacific.
I. Salazar, Debra J. II. Alper, Donald K.
SD144.A13S97 2000 333.75'09795 COO-910780-0
UBC Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada
through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our
publishing activities.
Canada
We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts
for our publishing program, as well as the support of the British Columbia Arts
Council.
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Contents
Preface / vii
Part 1: Introduction / 1
1 Politics, Policy, and the War in the Woods / 3
Debra J. Salazar and Donald K. Alper
Part 2: Institutions / 23
2 How the Way We Make Policy Governs the Policy We Make / 26
George Hoberg
3 International Dynamics of North American Forest Policy:
From Bilateral toGlobal Perspectives / 54
Thomas R. Waggener
4 Firms' Responses to External Pressures for Sustainable Forest
Management in British Columbia and the US Pacific Northwest / 80
Benjamin Cashore, Ilan Vertinsky, and Rachana Raizada
Part 3: Voices / 121
5 Forest People: First Nations Lead the Way toward a Sustainable
Future / 123
David R. Boyd and Jerri-Lynn Williams-Davidson
6 The Multi-Ethnic, Nontimber Forest Workforce in the Pacific Northwest:
Reconceiving the Players in Forest Management / 148
Beverly A. Brown
Part 4: Policy Innovations / 171
7 A Crossroad in the Forest: The Path to a Sustainable Forest Sector in British
Columbia/ 174
Clark S. Binkley
vi Contents
8 Wildlife Conservation on Private Lands: Habitat Planning and Regulatory
Certainty / 193
R. Neal Wilkins
9 Multistakeholder Processes: Activist Containment versus Grassroots
Mobilization / 209
Mae Burrows
Part 5: Conclusion / 229
10 Digging Out of the Trenches / 231
Debra J. Salazar and Donald K. Alper
Contributors / 244
Index / 247
Preface
In the spring of 1997 we organized a lecture series on forest politics and
policy on the Pacific coast. We had planned the series for almost a year,
attempting to provide a forum for voices that had largely been excluded
from forest policy discourse. We were particularly interested in expanding
the scope of forest policy conversation to include women, Native peoples,
labour (including the most vulnerable workers who lack protection of the
law), community activists, and smaller forestry enterprises. The lecture
series was successful in stimulating conversation on our campus and in
getting students to think beyond a unidimensional and polarized model
of forest politics. So we committed ourselves to converting the lectures
into a book in the hopes of providing a broader audience for the partici-
pants in the series.
The editors, both political scientists, come to this project from different
backgrounds as well as shared perspectives and commitments. Debra
Salazar was trained as a forest policy analyst, and though her current
research and teaching interests extend well beyond forest issues, forests
(and forestry) continue to occupy a special place for her. During the last
several years, she has devoted substantial effort to integrating considera-
tion of social justice into forest policy debate. To the extent that it focuses
attention on those who lack political economic power, this book provides
an opportunity to continue that effort. Don Alper's research interests focus
on BC politics and the relations between British Columbia and the Pacific
Northwest states. His work in Canadian studies is undergirded by a strong
commitment to comparative studies and to the conviction that both
countries can learn a great deal from each other.
A strong belief in democracy has shaped our approach to this book. Our
intent is not to advocate a particular approach to forest land use or man-
agement. Rather, our purpose is to expand the scope of the debate and
thus facilitate more democratic decision making. Forests are our common
heritage, regardless of legal ownership or political jurisdiction. Thus, we
viii Preface
wish to analyze the institutions and processes that shape forest manage-
ment so that they can be held accountable to the will of the people. The
challenges facing forest policy makers today are formidable and include
intense value conflicts, economic globalization, and increasing skepticism
of government. Sustaining the forests of the Pacific coast will require polit-
ical analysis - analysis that examines inequality and conflict while high-
lighting opportunities to reduce the former and confront the latter.
This book represents our effort to contribute to such analysis. The con-
tributing authors offer perspectives on political economic institutions,
the cultural roles of forests, the status of forest workers, the content and
distribution of property rights, and the meaning of citizenship. Taken as
a whole, we attempted to produce a book that supports the exercise of
responsible citizenship and the accountability of public institutions. To the
extent that democracy is enhanced, the prospects for sustaining the forests
are strengthened.
In the course of this project we benefited from the support of numerous
people and institutions. Financial support for the lecture series and publi-
cation was provided by grants from the Canadian Embassy - Government
of Canada/Gouvernement du Canada; the US Department of Education;
and the Center for Canadian-American Studies, the Bureau for Faculty
Research, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Environmental Center,
Huxley College of Environmental Studies, and the Department of Political
Science, all at Western Washington University. Geri Walker of the Bureau
for Faculty Research was instrumental in facilitating our access to various
funding sources. Our editors at UBC Press, Randy Schmidt and Ann
Macklem, have been patient and supportive, while providing solid counsel.
Finally we have had the support of an awesome group of people at the
Center for Canadian-American Studies at Western Washington University.
Marty Hitchcock spent numerous hours (and days) helping to organize the
lecture series, managing manuscript files, and coordinating just about
every aspect of the project. Whether the task was chasing down a chapter
author, digging up a reference, or copy editing a passage, our research
assistants, Kristen Clapper, JJ. Hewitt, and Shelby Smith, never failed us.
We are especially indebted to JJ. Hewitt, who played a particularly impor-
tant role in helping us edit chapters. J.J.'s contributions and commitment
to the project have gone far beyond what we had any right to expect of a
student assistant. We owe the Canada House crew a great deal of gratitude
for their contributions to this book and, even more than this, a special
thanks for the opportunity to work with such bright, motivated, supremely
competent, and fun people.
Part 1: Introduction