YourForest Matthew Kristoff

Wildfire has always been here, and humans have always had a relationship with it. These days, we have recognized that our relationship to fire has been less than ideal. Wildfire smoke has consumed our summers, wildfire threat has persisted in our minds, and there seems to be no end in sight. So, how do we begin to change our relationship to fire? How do we go from surviving it, to thriving with it? The knowledge exists, the solutions are there, how do we make it happen? Transformational change is hard.
Resources
Lori Daniels
Sponsors
West Fraser
GreenLink Forestry Inc.
Quotes
23.23 - 23.34: “Trees are really amazing; trees will colonize till they establish and grow and persist in any space where the seedling can arrive and be given an opportunity to survive.”
Takeaways
The more awareness, the better (4.53)
Lori highlights the importance of fire safety awareness and training, since “almost half of the fires in Canada are started by people”.
The Centre for Wildfire Coexistence (10.34)
The Centre for Wildfire Coexistence at the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia looks at the recovery of ecosystems and communities in BC.
What tree rings tell us (12.54)
Lori’s research takes place at the Tree Ring Lab at UBC, processing samples from the forest to understand how historical fire regimes functioned across a range of ecosystems.
Historical fires (15.45)
Tree rings provide some quantitative metrics that demonstrate Indigenous knowledge of the fire intervals and their impacts on the ecosystems where the fires burned.
Viewing fire as bad (20.03)
Lori points out that European settlers made it illegal for Indigenous people to practice cultural burning, creating “an abrupt change in the way that fire functioned in the ecosystem”.
The fire deficit (21.49)
Lori shares that cultural burning maintains heterogeneity and variability of forests and diversity of ecosystems essential to maintaining biodiversity in BC.
The fire suppression paradox (26.21)
Reintroducing fire as proactive mitigation is important in forests where the fire regime has been disrupted and fuel has accumulated, putting communities and other values in danger.
Wildfire behaviour (27.58)
Lori lists three critical factors that control wildfire behaviour and effects - the interactions between weather and topography, the intensity of the fires, and the fuels.
A challenging situation (38.13)
Concerns about smoke stopped prescribed burns that provided the benefits of surface fires, leading to the accumulation of fuel and high-intensity fires.
Local capacity building (54.47)
Lori’s advice is to empower BC’s 154 municipalities, and 204 Indigenous communities through funding and education to execute their wildfire resilience plans.
Mitigation is like insurance (1.03.04)
Climate change dictates more such fires in the future, predicting rising costs of firefighting and medicines for the vulnerable, and damage to homes, farmlands, water supply and habitats.
Cognitive dissonance (1.19.34)
Lori hopes that the provincial legislature will understand the importance of contributing funds in order to make changes in policies and practices that will govern forest management.
Be fire smart (1.26.21)
Investing in fire-proofing one’s home and understanding how fuel treatments and prescribed burning can help are steps to take toward changing fire behaviour to reduce wildfire risk.
Win-win situation (1.33.26)
Some First Nations use the biomass they remove from the forests around their community to create heat energy that supports their medical center and offices.

Nature knows best…right? So, our forest management strategies should try to emulate nature? That’s what we used to think. Unfortunately, our ideas on how to emulate natural disturbance rarely result in something that acts like a natural disturbance. Bottom line, we are not fire, and we want different things from fire, so we need to not act like fire. We have had some good ideas, and our minds were in the right place, but it is now time to shake things up. Let’s put that big head of ours to use and come up with something that would make mother nature proud.
Resources
Ellen Macdonald
Sponsors
West Fraser
GreenLink Forestry Inc.
Quotes
43.23 - 43.32: “The more complex and variable and flexible you make regulations, the more difficult it is to go and see if people are following them or not.”
Takeaways
Sustainable forest management (10.46)
Ellen concurs with the widely held definition of sustainable forest management as “managing our forests in a way that sustains the full diversity of values they have”. This differs from the old definition of sustained yield forestry which focused on sustaining timber production.
Emulation of natural disturbances (15.31)
Ellen talks about the origin of sustainable forest management in the 1980s-90s motivated by a desire to sustain a full range of values and inspired by natural disturbance patterns. Ellen believes the emulation of natural disturbances is one tool to achieve ecosystem management goals.
Nature knows best (19.23)
Ellen points out that using natural forest ecology to inform forest management goes back to the 1920s-30s when nature was used as an inspiration to understand how forests functioned and regenerated after disturbances depending on the species there to inform silviculture practices.
Identifying the real objective (28.12)
The important differentiator of natural disturbance, whether fire, insects or major disturbances is that “they don’t kill everything”. They create opportunities for trees to regenerate and create structural diversity in the forest. The focus should be on forest management plans purposefully emulating the effects of natural disturbance instead of the patterns of natural disturbance.
Challenges in sustainable forest management (43.00)
Ellen finds that the complexity of implementing regulations related to sustainable forest management is a challenge. There are also worries that some may take advantage of the flexibilities in the regulation or make mistakes in interpreting how natural disturbance effects should be emulated since it is not a well-tested hypothesis. Additionally, forests take a long time to grow, so it will be a slow process.
The old and the new (51.17)
Ellen uses the example of deadwood to explain how the understanding of different components of a forest evolves over time. Different technologies today can help us monitor, document and inventory forest biodiversity which allows for more opportunities to manage forests better.
Always learning (1.07.08)
Ellen advises learning from Indigenous peoples’ history with landscape management and the tools they use. She hopes “forest management can be viewed like science - as a never-ending set of questions rather than a series of disconnected truths”.
If you liked this podcast, please rate and review it, share it on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, tag a friend, and send your feedback and comments to yourforestpodcast@gmail.com.

Image curtesy of National Geographic and Eye of Science through Sue Grayston

In forest management, we spend a lot of time on the things we can see; charismatic megafauna, trees, pests and plants. But what about the things we can’t see? What if I told you there was an entirely unexplored ecosystem below our feet? One that has more biodiversity than we can imagine. This community is responsible for half of the carbon sequestration of the forest, and the maintenance of ecosystem function for above ground species. This life beneath our feet is as much responsible for the forests we love as the biggest trees and the cutest caribou. Let’s show it some love. 
Resources
Continuous root forestry—Living roots sustain the belowground ecosystem and soil carbon in managed forests
Sponsors
West Fraser
GreenLink Forestry Inc.
Takeaways
New frontiers (10.17)
Cindy highlights that they found archaea populations in forest soil, a different type of organism which can also carry out nitrification of the soil.
Unseen but important (14.41)
Cindy shares that it is difficult to advocate for the importance and inclusion in forest management of organisms that can’t be seen.
A whole world in a spoon of soil (19.52)
Next-generation sequencing techniques help us understand the workings of organisms in the soil.
Microbial processes (24.51)
Sue describes the labelling techniques through which they label trees with heavy isotopes of carbon sources similar to the carbon from trees, allowing them to identify groups of organisms that are important in using that carbon.
Saving the world (30.20)
Sue spotlights the fact that many organisms spend all or some of their lives in the soil creating a link between organisms above and below. Forest soil microbes remove methane and nitrous oxide from the atmosphere and clean water waste.
Knowledge is power (34.41)
Cindy believes that understanding the workings of soil organisms is better than using chemicals for biological controls. Microbes process organic matter and help lock it into the soil.
How forest harvest affects microbial communities (48.40)
Sue found that dispersed retention in clear cuts has a better function in retaining microbial diversity and its functioning across the cut block. Cindy adds that mycorrhizal fungi communities depend on the dynamic flux created by trees.
Below-ground diversity leads to a resilient ecosystem (56.32)
Every plant species has its temperature range of comfort which is being affected due to climate change. Recent wildfires have also been devastating for the soil biome.
Inoculant seed zones (1.06.59)
Sue and Cindy talk about how unaffected forests can act as seed zones after a wildfire. Nitrogen fixers prevent the soil from declining if there is a wildfire again.
What’s below is as important as what’s above ground (1.22.33)
Cindy offers a different way of thinking about forest management - that sites can not only be saved but also improved using the understanding of below-ground ecosystems. She laments the lack of care with which soil is currently viewed.
Stand and landscape level diversity (1.36.21)
When there is a diversity of tree and plant species, there will also be below-ground diversity. Built into that maintenance of stand productivity is using improved genetic stocks that are programmed to grow faster as well as silviculture techniques.
Ongoing monitoring (1.41.45)
Cindy talks about the need to monitor soil biodiversity and measure key processes and the amount of soil organic matter, especially mineral-associated organic matter. She reinforces the need to develop resilient forests, and the first step would be to update forestry policies.

What stands in the way of the future of sustainable forest management? There are many answers to this question, but the deepest answer may be colonialism. The very structure of our governing bodies and institutions have made it very difficult to try new things. It is possible that our colonial system of organization and decision making now stands in the way of progress. Organizations have to fight against the system to make new decisions, and move in new directions. The first thing we have to do is recognize the problem.
Resources
Ira Sutherland
Dynamics in the landscape ecology of institutions
Sponsors
West Fraser
GreenLink Forestry Inc.
Quotes
1.27.55 - 1.28.02: “Can we really transform these systems into something generally sustainable if we cannot transform ourselves first?”
Takeaways
Sustainability (10.00)
Ira defines sustainability as a dynamic process of constant learning. Institutions are meant to be constantly monitoring changes in the environment and adapting and evolving in response.
Institutions (18.51)
Institutional processes are the activities conducted on the land base which provide feedback for monitoring to the institutions.
Power (21.55)
The arrival of the provincial colonial government became the main decision-making authority for all lands in BC. From the 1970s to the 1990s, environmental NGOs began having some say with international boycotts against BC timber products. Since the 1970s, First Nations ancestral rights have also been recognized through case law in BC.
Wise use (24.10)
In BC, many areas were protected as forests and wasteful early timber harvesting practices were modified to prevent wildfires and ensure more resources for future generations.
Sustained yield (28.17)
Sustained yield forest management in 1948 formalized the goals BC had for its forests, and it sought to have a continuous or even perpetually increasing supply of timber.
Intention vs. outcome (30.15)
Ira highlights that early institutional functions in BC did not consider Indigenous land rights and the needs of the Indigenous people and it led to the 1990s pine needle epidemic and fires since.
The forest practices code (34.25)
The forest practices code was introduced in 1995. 11 different values have to be managed alongside timber, such as biodiversity.
Timber bias (36.56)
Ira laments that even though new policies have been created, they are layered on top of the old ones, but it doesn’t remove the emphasis on sustained yield in forest management in BC.
Change (44.50)
BC has restricted converting forest to regulated stands to 15% of the land, elevated First Nations decision-makers in the area and created new types of conservation zones.
Social values (59.40)
Ira’s research paper measures biophysical structures within the forest and uses that as a proxy to estimate the capacity of a given forest and provide multiple ecosystem services.
Multi-dimensional approach (1.03.15)
Ira opines that better data on multiple ecosystem services and a structured decision-making process need to inform forest management practices.
Polycentric forest governance (1.11.11)
Managing the forest locally is the top recommendation in Ira’s paper to effectively monitor changes, understand local values and make management decisions that reflect those.
Forest management recommendations (1.14.30)
The second recommendation in Ira’s paper is to maintain and restore complex landscapes, with heterogeneity at the stand and landscape scale for ecologically resilient landscapes. The third recommendation is to help institutions adapt through reflective processes.

As modern culture expands, wilderness dwindles in its wake. It has become more challenging to create empathy for land through real experience. Luckily, there are people like Jim Lane. Jim teaches an Ecology and Conservation course for High School students. His approach gets students out in the bush to experience nature first hand. They learn about scientific observation, interconnectedness, ecology, history and colonialism all through observing nature. All this without leaving school property.
Resources
Jim Lane
Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic
Sponsors
West Fraser
GreenLink Forestry Inc.
Quotes
15.29 - 15.37: “A land ethic changes the role of a human from a conqueror to just a plain ordinary citizen of the biotic community.”
Takeaways
Authentic learning (04.54)
Jim always wanted to be a high school science teacher, influenced by his teachers. As a child, he loved being outside and has turned his passion for the outdoors into a profession.
Field ecology and conservation (12.40)
Jim’s students are tasked with designing a way to measure the forest. The empathy for the forest is developed as a product of that process. He teaches Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic to help students see themselves as part of the natural world. A ‘sit spot’ exercise involves authentic journaling of natural observations.
Sit Spot (20.19)
In interviewing former students, Jim learned that the ‘sit spot’ exercises had helped students overcome stress and gave them a space to process their feelings and find themselves, alongside discovering the dynamics of the natural world.
Building empathy (30.14)
Jim reflects that hope and trust are important for students to feel engaged in a course such as this. He introduces them to different birds and their lifestyles, makes them taste the bark of aspen, or challenges them to write down observations of the forest from memory. “Those experiences where you are pushed beyond that comfort zone is where you start to build… empathy”, he notes.
“Knowing that there’re things you don’t know” (43.35)
Jim observes that land and most of the natural world don’t move in a timeframe that humans understand. He shows his students how the knowledge of just one tree can “not only unlock the history of the land that it grew on but also that history of the people on the land”.
Respecting the forest (1.05.27)
Jim believes that seeing the forest over a long period helps develop respect and appreciation for it, knowing it takes very long to replant it.
Forests and fires (1.08.15)
Jim’s advice to other teachers who are looking to encourage authentic learning is to allow students to have authentic experiences with the forest. He laments how fires have made it dangerous and difficult to be outdoors. He narrates how a researcher interviewed Indigenous Elders on managing a forest using good fire, but that advice has not been followed. The destruction from wildfires has also damaged the cultural activities of the Indigenous.
If you liked this podcast, please rate and review it, share it on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, tag a friend, and send your feedback and comments to yourforestpodcast@gmail.com.

Why is tree equity important? They are just trees, right? So what? They don’t impact health, wealth, quality of life? They just look good!
Well, in fact trees do ALL of these things. They drastically reduce deadly heatwaves, reduce breathing problems, shelter your home from the elements, reduce drainage costs, increase your mood, and save you money in all kinds of other ways. Now a new tool shows us which communities are receiving these benefits and which are not. Urban communities in particular are dangerously low on tree cover. We can help deliver basic human rights to those that need it just by planting trees.
Resources
American Forests
Sponsors
West Fraser
GreenLink Forestry Inc.
Quotes
10.45 - 10.54: “Trees are important for people and… they are [an] essential part of our climate justice conversations and our health justice conversations.”
Takeaways
Data can be democratized (03.47)
Benita explains that American Forests is focusing on ensuring tree equity in urban areas. so that all communities can benefit from greenery. 
Tree equity (07.19)
Julia points out that the Tree Equity Score tool makes it visually apparent using maps that the lack of greenery in poorer communities is a national issue.
Social and climate injustices (11.50)
Neighbourhoods with the fewest residents of colour tend to have 3 times more tree canopy per person and are 3 degrees cooler. Areas with the lowest poverty rates have double the tree canopy per person and are 6 degrees cooler than areas with the highest poverty rates.
Trees are the jack of all trades (14.29)
Julia highlights that trees provide many different benefits to communities, including heat regulation, absorption of pollution and mental health.
Baseline tree cover (22.18)
Benita celebrates the 1.5 billion dollars of funding American Forests has unlocked in partnership with US Forests towards protection and maintenance of trees in urban communities to ensure tree equity.
Broadening horizons (28.29)
Benita talks about how a big part of their work is to involve local communities in the conversation on their local cultural context and needs. Planting and maintaining trees also creates employment in the communities.
A human-centered approach to filling gaps in the urban forest (32.58)
Julia explains that the Tree Equity Score is a free tool American Forests created as a prioritization system, which provides a score from 1 to 100 based on a combined measure of tree canopy and social and climate health. 
Breaking down the Tree Equity Score (35.15)
Julia delineates the different parts of the Tree Equity Score - the tree canopy goal and the priority measure.
Data is powerful to help change minds (40.58)
Benita recalls that developing a rigorous tool was critical to move the cause of tree equity forward at a local governance level, just as it was to make the tool free and open.
A holistic solution (47.31)
The user guide accompanying the Tree Equity Score tool describes how to calculate the benefits of reaching different equity score targets.
Coming together for tree equity (54.30)
American Forests recently launched the Tree Equity Alliance to bring other national organizations together on the issues of urban greening and environmental justice.
A sense of urgency (1.00.14)
Benita expresses a sense of urgency to advance tree equity with local leaders and decision makers since “some communities are much more likely to be sick or die than other communities”.