Parking allowed: Robert Buckingham goes where few loggers have gone before - into Canada's national parks for special projects like making fire barriers

Canadian Forest Industries, Jul/Aug 2002 by Tice, Bill

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Robert Buckingham has a reputation for logging with a light footprint. It is a reputation that helped earn him a rare contract to log in one of Canada's national parks.

Last winter, the independent contract logger from Big River, SK spent over four months creating a fireguard in Saskatchewan's Prince Albert National Park. The measure was taken to protect the tourist town of Waskesiu Lake, a popular resort area that is 80 kilometres north of Prince Albert, and within the park's boundaries. The town, which is on the eastern shore of a lake with the same name, has approximately 40 permanent residents, but swells to over 400 people in the summer.

"Creating the fire barrier was a proactive measure designed to protect the community, the residents, and the local golf course from wild fires," explains Buckingham. The area was highly susceptible to damage from natural fires due to an abundance of old growth forest."

Buckingham, who with his wife Debbie, owns and operates Larsen Logging, was hired under contract by the staff at the national park.

"Our mandate was to leave about 10 per cent of the softwoods and as much hardwood as possible in what was primarily mixed wood stands," explains Buckingham. "In some cases we left as much as 70 per cent of the standing timber, and in other cases we left down to 30 per cent. It was totally dependent on the stand types. Our main goal was to keep the aesthetic values of the forest, while decreasing the fire risk by forcing any potential out-of-control fires to the ground where they can be fought easier."

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Buckingham says they were also aiming for zero impact in terms of ground disturbance and were trying to minimize damage to the trees that were left standing.

"We processed everything at the stump and used the limbs and slash to create a brush mat for the machines to travel on," says Buckingham. "The harvester and forwarder travelled on the same trails and we only used rubbertired machines, equipped with high flotation tires."

High Priority

The 300 ha Buckingham thinned for the project included a "priority one" area that required a 30 metre wide clearcut in the middle of the fireguard. Buckingham defines the "priority one" area as an area where fire fighters would initially fight a fire from, possibly by back burning. This area also offers easy access for fire fighters because a paved road leads to the area. Approximately 200 meters on either side of the "priority one" area were selectively logged.

In all, the fireguard stretches seven kilometres, and is approximately 400 meters wide. It protects the community on three sides and the lake is on the fourth side. Wood harvested from the project amounted to 28 000 m[Symbol Not Transcribed], most of which was sent to Weyerhaeuser's plywood plant in Hudson Bay, SK and Weyerhaeuser's Carrot River Sawmill. Pulp logs were shipped to Weyerhaeuser's Prince Albert Pulp and Paper Mill.

Buckingham says Parks Canada was pleased with the work, as were most of the permanent and seasonal residents of Waskesiu Lake.

"Initially, the project was highly controversial, but once the work was done, there was very little negativity. Much of the surrounding forest had a high degree of spruce budworm infestation, which can cause an increased fire hazard. I think most people knew the work had to be done in order to minimize the risk of property damage, and they were happy with the end result."

Old Hat

Working to strict environmental codes and requirements is nothing new to Buckingham. His main client is Weyerhaeuser Saskatchewan and he must work to their stringent environmental management system. This includes participating in environmental audits twice per year. In addition to the people that work for Larsen Logging, Buckingham attributes much of the company's success to his largest client.

"I would have to say our people have really made this company what it is today, but Weyerhaeuser has always backed us and supported us 100%. They have systems in place to set standard operating procedures and to keep everyone informed and thinking about environmental measures and initiatives."

On average, Buckingham estimates that his company cuts approximately 70 000 cubic meters annually for Weyerhaeuser.

"With the exception of special projects such as the Prince Albert National Park, we are primarily working exclusively for Weyerhaeuser," says Buckingham. "They will send us specifically to sensitive sites and that fits with our goal of operating with as light of a footprint as possible. This includes areas where aesthetic values are important and where ground disturbance is a key consideration, such as riparian zones. We have also done some under storey protection for Weyerhaeuser, where we have removed the over story while leaving the under story."

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Small logs processed by Buckingham are sent to Wapawekka Lumber, a joint venture mill in which Weyerhaeuser is the majority owner with a 51% share. The average log processed at the Prince Albert area mill has a diameter of just 5.1 inches and an average log size of just.065 cubic meters. Larger saw logs are directed to Weyerhaeuser's recently re-built sawmill complex in Big River, while pulp logs go to Prince Albert Pulp and Paper.