Managing timber and non-timber forest product resources in Canada's forests: Needs for integration and research

Abstract

Non-timber forest products (NTFP) are emerging globally as a tool for the establishment of sustainable forest communities. They provide employment to various sectors of society, draw on local expertise and culture, and increase the outputs of forests. In recent years, NTFP have received accrued interest by the general public, governments and the private sectors of Canada. However, for the NTFP industry to enter mainstream Canadian industrial culture it is now critical to attempt the integration of the timber industry with the NTFP industry to benefit both sectors. NTFP can be harvested from four types of environment: wild stocks from timber-productive forests, wild stocks from non-timber-productive forests or lands, managed stocks from intensively managed forests, and domesticated stocks from agricultural systems. A large body of evidence suggests that NTFP management and harvest can serve the forest industry in many ways. There are four possible types of interaction between the NTFP and timber industries: independent resource use, competition for resources, complementary resource use and symbiotic resource use. Integration of both industries in a sustainable manner will need to be supported with research that address economic, social, policy and ecological questions. Key words: NTFP, sustainability, biodiversity, community forestry