4 - Friday, September 7, 1990 - North Shore News Under the Wildwood trees Where a forester never stops learning PROFESSIONAL foresters from MacMillan Bloedel, Fletcher Challenge, and Canfor have all told me that selective logging is not Practical, or even possible on the coast. They claim that the terrain is not suitable, or that fir trees won't grow under the canopy, or any number of quasi-techaical reasons, Yet Merv Wilkenson has made a third of his living for 45 years ona small, 136-acre plot of land near Quennell Lake, south of Nanaimo, and he still has a forest as rich and diverse as the forest he started with. } recently went to sce for myself. Driving into Merv’s Wildwood Tree Farm, one could not get a more shocking comparison of logging techniques. The road to his property passes through a clearcut fogging slash with the pungent smell from Harmac pulp mill in the air. Once inside Wildwood Tree Farm, the road winds through huge trees — fir, cedar, hemlock, and maple, old growth and second growth -~ and the air is sweet. When I stopped my truck in front of Merv’s stone and tog house, I heard the call of a thrush and the steady rap of a woodpecker. It was hard to imag- ine that this forest has been logged nine times in 45 years. The figures are impressive. When first inventoried in 1938, the plot had 1.5 million board-feet of standing timber. To date Merv has harvested 1.7 million board- feet. Since he has just completed a cut, the forest volume is slightly below its original volume, but by the time he is ready for his 10th cut, the 136-acre plot, growing at the rate of about 80,000 board- feet per year, will be weil over the original volume. This is sus- tainable selective forestry in prac- tice. Merv Wilkenson, 75, is tall and lanky, with keen eyes and a know- ing smile. He is generous with his time, and we walk through the trees as he tells me a bit of his history. He grew up in these forests where at the age of seven he played with a cougar cub under the watchful eye of his mother. “The forest is a friend,” he says. ‘It can be used, enjoyed, and maintained, and it will give forever. But once destroyed and turned into a pulp plantation, it isn’t a forest anymore.”’ We pass through a meadow where wildflowers grow. A Hut- ton’s vireo flutters from the bush and perches on an alder branch. Merv tells me about going to UBC in the °30s to study poultry and livestock husbandry. One of his agriculture professors was Dr. Rex Weyler THE GOOD EARTH Paul Boving, from Denmark, who was also a trained forester. He tutored Merv in the lessons of practical forestry. “The most important thing he taught me," Merv says, ‘tis that you don’t become a forester from books and university lessons, you become a forester by working in the forest, and the learning never stops.”” The most important element in good forestry, Merv explains, is time. “A forest works just like a garden, but the time frame is so much longer. It needs thinning, good soil, and care. The minimum rotation age for decent lumber is 75 to 150 years. Even better is 200 to 300 years. The idea of cutting a 50-year-old tree is crazy, short- term pulp mill economics, not g00d forestry."" Task Merv about the notion that fir trees won’t regenerate under the canopy, a standard reason for clearcuts. He laughs. “*Those guys! Natural seeding always takes place under a canopy. Trees that grow up ina clearcut slash are bushy and they crown off too soon. They are shorter, with heavy butts and lots of knots. This is for pulp, not lumber, “*You want the trees to reach for light but, yes, sometimes | have to thin, open the canopy a bit to give them enough light. My number one rule is this: work with nature. I've left all the best seed trees standing, and the winds scat- ter the seed about the forest floor. Seedlings will naturally find their best habitat, doing well by natural selection. The idea that regensra- tion can’t happen under a canopy is a complete myth.’’ Merv bends down and pushes some branches aside. A fir seed- ling stands about two feet tall. He points up to the canopy of the large firs and cedars. A bit of light filters through. He looks back at the fir seedlings and shrugs. **Sce for yourself.”” We walk for a while longer in _ CRIME ALERT THE FOLLOWING is a list of recent North Shore crimes: NORTH VANCOUVER CITY SOUTH Brezk and enter — 1000-bIk. Kilmer Road. Entry gained by prying padlocks. Stolen: ciga- rettes. Break and enter — 200-blk. West Ist St. Entry gained by forcing door. Stolen: video display termi- nal, keyboard, printer and sott- ware, CITY NORTH Break and enter — 100-bIk. East Keith .d. Entry eained by jiminy- ing frame and breaking deadbolt. Stolen: camera, cash, jewelry box and jewelry. Break and enter — 200-b1k. West 18th St. Entry gained by removing window from back door. Stolen: CDs valued at $2,500. Break and enter — 1000-bIk. Chesterfield Ave. Entry gained by prying door. Stolen: cigarettes and cash, Break and enter — 400-btk. East (7th St. Entry gained via open front door. Stolen: credit cards and drugs. PEMBERTON Break and «enter — [00-bik. Qurden Ave. Entry gained by breaking lock. Staten: cash, credit cards, keys, Sony Walkman, gold cross pen, rock desk, light: con- troller, mini mag lights, and PNE admission passes. Break and enter — 1000-blk. West More Crime Alert Page & the forest and I get a lesson on the symbolic relationship between healthy tree, the, will leave the fungi and tree roots, humus con- colony and come back for meal North Van. tent, and forest diversity. after meal. Centennial Theatre {also learn that a woodpecker “Smarter than some people,”’ THURS., SEPT. 13 will keep an ant colony in a rat- Merv chuckles. ting tree. Rather than eat every Adventure Tours: Presents GERMANY TRAVELOGUE FILM Narrated live in person by: FRANK NICHOLS last ant, as they would do ina 6:00 & 8:30 p.m. 9 Films — SAVE $40.50 «x ISRAEL «x ICELAND * BERMUDA * ITALY * AMERICA’S Favorite Places * PORTUGAL * CHINA * QE2 sails NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA Sea: $69.75 Stu. $49.50 SGL: $12.25 Stu. $7.95 {includes GST) (Ticket prices subject to service charge) TEP, 1304 Hornby (nto and Chargeline 280-4444 BROCHURE MAILED ON REQUEST! SUBSCRIBERS are eligible to WIN A TRIP FOR TWO to any EUROPEAN destination served by AIR CANADA! ONAGE WE. 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