Comparing the social values of forest-dependent, provincial and national publics for socially sustainable forest management

Abstract

A mail survey was conducted of local residents of a forest-dependent region (Fraser Fort George Regional District, n=974), provincial (British Columbia, n=1208) and Canadian (n=1672) publics to compare their values for forests and preferences for forest management (overall response rate=45.2%). While the local public tended to place a significantly higher (p<0.05) emphasis on economic values and clearcutting practices relative to provincial and national publics, all publics held quite similar views on forest management overall. All publics support a multi-valuelecosystem management over a single-valueltimber management approach to forest management, do not support maximisation of economic returns from timber regardless of the impacts and agree forest managers should be more responsive to local resident values than the values of more distant groups. Responses also reflected a lack of public confidence in government natural resource agencies. Results suggest residents from forest and non forest-dependent communities share similar forest values, that current forest management practices such as clearcutting do not reflect the values of local, provincial or national publics, and that forest managers should be especially responsive to the values of the local public when making forest management decisions.Key words: social values, forest policy, public participation, socially sustainable forest management I Un sondage postal a kt6 effectue auprks des residents locaux d'une region dependante t b la for& (District Fraser Fort George, n=974), des habitants d'une province (Colombie-Britannique, n=1208) et des Canadiens (n=lti72) afin de comparer leurs valeurs attribuees aux for& et leurs preferences en matikre d'amenagement forestier (taux de reponses global=45,2 %). M&me si les residents locaux avaient tendance h mettre une emphase significativement plus importante (p<0,05) sur les valeurs Cconomiques et les pratiques de coupe ? I blanc par rapport aux residents provinciaux et les Canadiens, tous ont un point de vue presque similaire sur l'amenagement forestier dans son ensemble. 11s appuient tous un amenagement Ccosysttmique base sur plusieurs valeurs par rapport B une approche d'arnenagement reposant sur une seule valeur comme le bois, ils n'appuient pas la maximisation des retombees Cconomiques en provenance du bois sans regards pour les impacts et ils sont d'accord que les gestionnaires forestiers devraient 2tre plus en mesure de repondre aux valeurs des residents locaux qu'aux valeurs des groupes plus tloignes. Les reponses ont galement demontre une absence de confiance du public envers les agences gouvemementales responsables des ressources naturelles. Les rksultats laissent entendre que les residents des collectivitts qui dependent et qui ne dCpendent pas des for6ts partagent des valeurs forestikres semblables, que les pratiques d'amenagement forestier comme la coupe B blanc ne reflktent pas les valeurs des residents locaux, provinciaux ou du Canada, et que les gestionnaires forestiers devraient 6tre principalemen...

Understanding the social bases of satisfaction with public participation in forest management decision-making in British Columbia

“…When the three communities are considered in a combined sample, the degree of satisfaction is higher for local forest management outcomes than for provincial scale outcomes; this finding is consistent with research conducted in nine timber-dependent BC communities (Harshaw 2008), and lends support to the argument that natural resource agencies at the scale where timber harvesting takes place (i.e., the ones responsible for local forest management outcomes) are seen as being more credible than agencies further removed from the direct impacts of forestry operations (Robson et al 2000). Despite some variation on some of the satisfaction measures between the communities, respondents from all communities reported relatively low degrees of satisfaction for all public participation measures, supporting the assertion that the values of urban and rural residents may not be as divergent as may be expected (Robson et al 2000). On the other hand, in multivariate models there was a community effect (for Vancouver).…”

Evaluating the effectiveness of stakeholder advisory committee participation in forest management planning in Ontario, Canada

“…Trust in institutions acknowledges the importance of trust in resolving environmental problems and the potential of public involvement to rebuild Canadians' traditional lack of trust in governmental resource agencies (CCME 1991, Robson et al 2000. Trust in institutions, though not explicitly reported, is inferred from the frequency with which proponents bypassed the issue resolution process.…”

Meeting visual quality objectives with operational radial-strip partial cutting in coastal British Columbia: A post-harvest assessment

“…In the context of the logging industry's heavy reliance on the practice of clearcutting despite a public dislike for this practice (Pâquet and Bélanger 1997, Robson et al 2000, Picard 2002 and references therein), British Columbia currently implements restrictive visual quality requirements in areas of high visual concern (BC Ministry of Forests 2001). The ultimate result of such regulations under traditional clearcutting methods is large reductions in timber extraction in visually sensitive areas (Sheppard 2001).…”