The underlying legislation for forestry management in Alberta is the 1971 Forest Act. It explicitly states that timber yield is the priority for forestry management: “[a forestry company may] enter on forest land for the purpose of establishing, growing and harvesting timber in a manner designed to provide a yield consistent with sustainable forest management principles and practices.” 

Moreover, 20-year Forest Management Agreements are made with companies for timber harvesting rights, and a company must produce a Forest Management Plan every 10 years. The Forest Management Planning Standard guides this process, and it too explicitly puts timber supply first – “FMPs shall focus on how activities (i.e., establishing, growing and harvesting timber) … will be managed in order to reduce the negative impacts on other resource users and resource values.”

Rather than asking how we can maximise benefits to other values, we instead only try and minimize the damage done. By defining ecosystem values as constraints, we fail to prioritize them – they are something to be “managed for,” rather than goals to strive for.