The Comox Valley Naturalists Society offers the public a unique opportunity to join members at their general meeting on May 25 to learn about Integrative Forest Rehabilitation and growing threats that our forest ecosystems face during these tumultuous times on our planet.
It is often said that “time heals all wounds”, but what if, for our second and third-growth Douglas fir forests, time alone may not be enough? What if our forests are trapped in a vicious poverty cycle and can no longer grow elders? How can we grow young forests with a potential to one day become vibrant old-growth forests?
Guest speaker Tal Engel, is a forest rehabilitation practitioner and regenerative farmer with a family farm in Merville. Engel is developing methods to help dense young forests recover from over a century of industrial forestry and makes a case for why the time for action is now. Drawing on academic research about forest ecosystems in crisis around the world, Engel sounds the alarm about a potential collapse of our increasingly vulnerable temperate rainforests, similar to the mountain pine-beetle epidemic in the interior of B.C..
The presentation introduces a forestry approach to facilitating fire-resilience, moisture retention, and ecological resilience that puts forest ecosystems back on a natural development trajectory. Integrative Forest Rehabilitation utilizes novel ecological thinning approaches, the reintroduction and establishment of keystone native biological agents, and the sequestration of large volumes of soil carbon using innovative forestry-adapted agricultural techniques.
Engel is currently conducting research for his master’s thesis in restoration ecology. On his family farm, Honey Grove, he develops forest restoration models and methodologies that his organization, WolfTree Integrative Forest Rehabilitation implements across Eastern Vancouver Island. Engel is working with prominent environmental organizations including Comox Valley Land Trust, the Galiano and Pender Conservancies, and Raincoast Conservation Foundation.
This presentation will be in the main hall of Comox United Church at 250 Beach Drive in Comox starting at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 25. To learn more about Comox Valley Nature, visit cvnature.ca.
