Biocentric Forest Management

Aldo Leopold’s biocentric view of forest conservation shows that the land ethics is “an evolutionary possibility and ecological necessity.” (Aldo Leopold 1949) In Leopold’s words and our current social status, land is considered as property, but not a part of biotic community. In this case, the forestry management in British Columbia is deemed to compete with community, which needs to change into cooperation with community. The process and purpose of conservation education in our provincial institutions; for forests resources have been the main source of income and economic developments for over a century in British Columbia, the government has involved in forestry and land management for years; the conservation system is totally based on economic motivations, people decide whether the species are worth economic value or not. These three existing problems in British Columbia are contrary to the growth rhythm of biotic community and the land ethic.

Forestry education is always one of the biggest industrial chains in British Columbia. But in our forest education system, we are partial to how to increase the volume of our education, but not the content of our education and the true learners that our system should teach with. As Leopold says, “we have more education but less soil, fewer healthy woods and as many floods as in 1937.” (Leopold A., A Sand County almanac, and sketches here and there, 1949) The education we are having right now is based on self-interest, and there is “no mention of obligations to land.” (Leopold A., A Sand County almanac, and sketches here and there, 1949) Marc J. Dourojeanni, a visiting professor in Faculty of Forestry of the University of Toronto says, “The main issues in forestry education should be thos...

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...and there. New York: Oxford University Press.

Dourojeanni, M. J. (n.d.). How good is forestry education today?. Unasylva. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from http://www.fao.org/docrep/50630e/50630e04.htm

Kessler, W., & Booth, A. (n.d.). Professor Leopold, What Is Education for?. JSTOR. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3783540

Pierce, J. C. (2000). Political culture and public policy in Canada and the United States: only a border apart?. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.

Marshall, F. (n.d.). The Importance of a Land Ethic in the Management of Private and Tenured Forestlands in British Columbia. Quarterly Digital Publication for Silviculture Practitioners in Canada and Abroad. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from http://www.silviculturemagazine.com/articles/fall-2013/importance-land-ethic-management-private-and-tenured-forestlands-british-columbia