Two province-wide surveys of residents in Alberta and British Columbia were conducted to assess the acceptability of a range of reforestation strategies -many of which revolve around biotechnology -that could be used to aid western Canada's forests in adapting to future climate change. The opinions of leaders of forest-dependent communities were also sought to evaluate how well they align with those of the public at large. Results show that the views of the general public and community leaders correspond. There is a low acceptance for a "do-nothing" strategy that allows climate change to run its course without any human intervention; high acceptance of replanting with local seeds; a decreasing acceptance of strategies that involve more manipulation such as breeding, using nonlocal seeds, and moving seeds outside of a species' natural range; and a low acceptance of genetically engineered solutions. However, a high proportion of respondents changed their answers when told that a particular strategy would lead to either favourable or unfavourable outcomes related to socioeconomics of forest-dependent communities, forest aesthetics, and pest, disease, and fire outbreaks. We conclude that a meaningful and participatory dialogue on forest adaptation strategies in the face of climate change can only emerge if residents and other interested stakeholders have an adequate understanding of current forest management practices, proposed reforestation strategies, the role of technological interventions, and the values and services for which western Canada's forests are to be managed.Résumé : Deux sondages, de portée provinciale, ont été menés auprès des résidants de l'Alberta et de la Colombie-Britannique au sujet de l'acceptabilité sociale d'un ensemble de stratégies de reboisement, dont plusieurs ont recours à la biotechnologie. Ces stratégies pourraient être employées pour favoriser l'adaptation des forêts de l'Ouest canadien aux changements climatiques anticipés. L'opinion des leaders dans des communautés dépendantes de la forêt a aussi été recueillie. Il s'agissait d'établir la concordance de leurs perceptions et celles du public en général. Les résultats indiquent que les points de vue du grand public concordent avec ceux des leaders d'opinion dans les communautés. La stratégie du laisser-faire, permettant aux changements climatiques de suivre leur cours sans que des interventions humaines soient envisagées, recueille un faible taux d'acceptabilité. L'utilisation de semences aux provenances locales suscite une forte acceptabilité. L'acceptabilité des stratégies proposées décroît avec l'augmentation des manipulations requises par des interventions comme l'hybridation, l'utilisation de semences non locales et le déplacement de semences à l'extérieur de l'aire de variabilité naturelle d'une espèce. Les solutions impliquant le génie génétique obtiennent une faible acceptabilité. Cependant, une proportion élevée de répondants modifient leurs réponses lorsqu'on mentionne qu'une stratégie particulière déboucherait sur des situa...
Many rural communities in British Columbia (western Canada) are increasingly at risk from wildfire as temperatures rise and droughts become more frequent. In addition, these communities are also faced with rising fuel costs, and a growing demand for heat as their populations increase. The fact these communities are surrounded by forests presents an opportunity to combine community wildfire risk abatement with bioenergy development. Here we show how the ecological model FORECAST was linked with GIS and economic models to create a freely available on-line tool (FIRST Heat) to help other communities make their own screening-level ecological assessments of combining wildfire risk control with district heating systems. The tool incorporates an ecological sustainability index based on the relative change in soil organic matter (SOM) after 50 years of management compared to initial levels. Two thresholds were defined: 10% SOM lost as "warning" level, and 20% SOM lost as "critical" level. The tool was able to adequately capture the influences of ecological zone, stand age, site quality, and intensity of forest management on SOM losses. Stands in the sub-boreal and arid interior were significantly more exposed to SOM losses than in other ecological zones, as well as soils in old-growth forests. Stands in poor sites were significantly more sensitive to forest management than young and fertile sites. All things considered, our results show the suitability of incorporating ecological models and SOM thresholds in user-friendly decision-support tools to successfully transfer scientific knowledge on forest soils to local stakeholders and decision makers.
Many rural communities in British Columbia (western Canada) are at risk from wildfire. This risk will increase over time as a result of climate change because of higher average temperatures, longer growing seasons, and more intense droughts. On the other hand, these communities are also faced with rising fuel costs and a growing demand for heat as suburban population increases. The fact these communities are surrounded by forests presents an opportunity to combine community wildfire risk abatement with bioenergy development. Additional co-benefits include: 1) reduced community energy expenditures; 2) the creation of local jobs; 3) climate change mitigation; and 3) increased community energy security. Here, we present results from three pilot rural communities (Burns Lake, Invermere, and Sicamous, British Columbia) designed to evaluate the feasibility of wildfire risk abatement in conjunction with bioenergy production. Maps were created showing each community's forest-urban interface area with quantified estimates of its sustainable woody biomass resource potential under different management scenarios while monitoring ecosystem and soil health. The results and experience gained through this work has been synthesized in a calculator tool to help other communities make their own screening-level assessments. This calculator is a freely available on-line tool: FIRST Heat.
Forest management is presently undergoing major changes to adapt to climate change. This research examines the variation in perceived acceptability of potential forest management interventions that can mitigate the risks of climate change among rural forest-based communities in British Columbia and Alberta. In each of the four study communities, three focus groups composed of foresters, environmentalists, and local citizens were consulted. A Q-sort exercise was utilized to measure the perceived acceptance of a set of nine forest adaptation management scenarios that represented a spectrum of human interventions in forested ecosystems. The theory of Cultural Cognition of Risk was applied as a theoretical framework to analyze the way in which participants perceived adaptation strategies. Results indicate that foresters perceived the strategies based on assisted migration as being relatively less acceptable compared with the other social groups, while environmentalists prioritized adaptation strategies that featured mixed species, and local citizens perceived all of the adaptation strategies more neutrally. Cultural Cognition of Risk theory was determined to play a role in shaping perceptions of the adaptation strategies in that individualists tended to accept the local-based strategies while opposing the assisted migration based strategies. Conversely, hierarchists perceived assisted migration based strategies more favourably than the other cultural groups.
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