CIF responds to Boreal Forest report

Canadian interdisciplinary forestry – which includes
excluding operations from areas of high conservation and cultural value – ensures
that biodiversity, wildlife habitat, water quality and cultural values are well
integrated and effectively managed in policy and practice. Many species benefit
from efforts to emulate the natural disturbances, which boreal forest
ecosystems are based on.

"Forest management and the sustainable harvesting of wood
should not be implied to be a negative extraction activity," said Michel
Vallée, president of the CIF/IFC. "We are concerned that this report is
misleading the public in terms of the very high standards that Canadian
forestry achieves."

Forest practitioners and professionals are highly trained
and live and work in the boreal forest of Canada or regularly visit it to
conduct forest management activity, to perform audits, to do research, or for a
variety of other reasons.

They are also involved in working with local residents and
citizens from across their provinces to ensure Canadians have opportunities
influence forestry operations.   These
individuals are responsible for ensuring publically owned forests are managed
sustainably as is required under provincial legislation, and a wide variety of
science-based publicly reviewed forest management guides and manuals that
follow from this legislation.

"Our members, many of whom are registered professional
foresters and forest technologists across Canada work well within the complex,
comprehensive forest management planning, implementation, and auditing
processes, in full support of sustainable forest management," said John Pineau,
CEO of the CIF/IFC.

Provincial and federal governments in co-operation with the forest
industry also maintain a number of research programs to test the effectiveness
and efficiency of forest management direction as applied through audited forest
management plans that are approved for implementation on public land. An
increasing number of First Nations communities and aboriginal Canadians are
becoming directly involved in both forest management planning, and in managing
operational forest businesses.

"All the forest management plans, the guides used to develop
them, and information on how forest management planning, implementation,
monitoring, and auditing are undertaken can be found on-line in the public
domain," said Matt Meade, executive director of the CIF/IFC. "Input is on these
plans are vigorously solicited, and it is an open and transparent process."

The CIF/IFC contends that the balance of available
scientific information suggests that Canadian forest management is conserving
the biological diversity of boreal forest ecosystems. There are many other
sources of information, including research papers published by independent
scientists that support this conclusion. The Institute believes that the
message in the report, though well intentioned, misleads the public with
respect to Canada's rigorous and interdisciplinary science-based forestry
practices.

The Canadian Institute of Forestry has more than
2300 members and is the national voice of forest practitioners, promoting public
awareness and a better understanding of good forest stewardship.