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This article examines the politics of defining time and space as they relate to forest use; how industrial, First Nation, tourism, and environmental actors appropriate different scales of time and space; and what types of conflicts are caused by these differences. Using theories of access and Torsten Hägerstand's time-geography concepts as a starting point, we connect the classifications of capability, coupling, and authority constraints to an empirical analysis of forest use. The article also introduces a conceptual classification of adaptation, evasion, and modification strategies to cope with these constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Accuracy in population estimation from individual measurement has been traditionally a research focus in both theoretical and applied ecology. In forest sciences, estimation of productivity and value recovery of forest products is essential for decision-making to achieve the goal of sustainable forest management. In this paper, we review the basic structure of data in forest sciences, describe commonly used statistical procedures in obtaining population estimates, and examine the accuracy associated with the forest products value estimation using forest inventory data of Manitoba, Canada. Our results suggested that simplified statistical procedures could bring about a wide range of bias in estimating lumber value recovery at the stand level, and improved understanding of stand structure and its reconstruction through computer simulation could be essential in reducing the bias involved in the estimation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Forest management in Canada is evolving from being largely bilateral and closed to being more inclusive and open. In an effort to test new approaches to public participation, many forest products companies have established advisory committees. Since there is little empirical evidence documenting advisory committee processes, our purpose was to determine the strengths and weaknesses of such processes. This was achieved by assessing the advisory committees of three major forest products companies in Manitoba, Canada, responsible for managing over 5 million hectares of productive forest. Our approach was inductive and qualitative, involving standardized, semistructured interviews with committee members. Results coalesce around both process and outcome strengths and weaknesses, such as multiple involvement techniques, information sharing and communication, and breadth of participant learning. While the results are mixed, the study confirms that advisory committees have promise as a method of actively involving a select group of stakeholders in forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixedwood forests are an ecologically and economically important forest type in central Canada, but the ecology of these forests is not as well studied as that of single-species dominated stands in the boreal forest. Northern boreal mixedwood forests have only recently been harvested and the effects of harvesting on carbon content in these stands are unknown. We quantified the carbon content and aboveground net primary production (NPP) for four different-aged mixedwood boreal forest stands in northern Manitoba, Canada. The stands included 11-, 18-, and 30-year-old stands that originated from harvesting and a 65-year-old fire-originated stand that typifies the origin of all northern boreal mixed-wood forests that are coming under management. Trees included black spruce ( Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.), jack pine ( Pinus banksiana Lamb.), balsam poplar ( Populus balsamifera L.), and quaking aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michx.). Overstory biomass was estimated using species-specific allometric models that generally explained greater than 95% of the observed variation in biomass. Carbon content of the overstory vegetation was greatest in the 65-year-old stand and was 74% larger than the 11-year-old stand and showed a positive relationship with stand age ( F1, 2=122.62, P=0.0081 R2=0.99). The slope of mineral soil carbon did not differ significantly among stands ( F1, 2=0.39, P=0.5956, R2=0.16). Coarse woody debris carbon content followed a U-shaped pattern among stands. Aboveground NPP differed by 24% between the youngest and oldest stand. Mean annual carbon accumulation and aboveground NPP rates of the mixedwood forests were on average two times greater than nearby relatively pure stands studied during the BOREAS (BOReal Ecosystem Atmospheric Study) project. The trends in the results, along with other field studies, suggest that harvesting does not significantly affect the total soil carbon content. The results of this study suggest that scientists should be cautious about extrapolating results from BOREAS stands to a broader region until more data on other forest types and regions are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic base analysis is a limited but useful tool for measuring forest dependence. It cannot measure the full range of forest values (e.g., subsistence, amenity, bequest, and existence values). However, economic base analysis utilizes widely available census data to provide accurate measures of communities dependent on industrial forest activity. This analysis includes Indian reserves and rural census subdivisions previously excluded in studies of economic base dependence. Economic base dependence measures are further improved by including a transfer payment sector. This paper presents findings of forest industry dependence measures using 1991 census data. Results show that including Indian reserves and other rural census subdivisions in the analysis increases the number of forest industry dependent places and population in the Prairie Provinces. The addition of the transfer payment sector to the economic base provides a more comprehensive account of the sources that contribute to the economic diversity of rural locations. These geographical and sectoral refinements to economic base calculations result in a more accurate accounting of forest industry dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]