To ensure that their forest management planning incorporates and considers climate change, Mosaic has implemented several initiatives. For instance, they developed a Climate Solutions Strategy to help guide their forest management activities, which included aspects of Climate Smart Forestry from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Forest Management Standard. This standard promotes sustainable forestry through 13 principles, 17 objectives, 41 performance measures, and 114 indicators all dedicated to protecting water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, threatened and endangered species, and forests with exceptional conservation value.
In addition, results of the climate modeling were used to guide strategic and operational planning. For instance, staff reviewed road crossing infrastructure (e.g., bridges and culverts) to ensure it remains adequate for unexpected extreme weather conditions. This information helped their forest planners and managers adjust or make upgrades to the built infrastructure that supports their operations so that it can handle expected extreme weather events. For example, projected increases in periods of heavy rainfall leading to flooding led them to make critical changes in culvert sizing. As another example, Mosaic also constructed retention ponds around Vancouver Island, to address potential water shortages because of projected increases in drought. The decision to build these ponds is grounded in the conclusions drawn from the climate projections, providing the company with a sense of certainty and confidence in its actions.
Other actions include their implementation of B.C’s Ministry of Forests’ Climate Based Seed Transfer guidelines across their private and public forest lands, recognizing it as an important climate change adaptation strategy that matches seedlings and seedlots to the best biogeoclimatic zones.
In the realm of their silviculture planning, Mosaic has embraced a proactive approach by leveraging the climate projections developed to anticipate future ecosystem shifts. Notably, the company has adjusted its planting schedules, ensuring optimal weather conditions for seedling survival. They have also adjusted the range of parent trees in their western redcedar orchard to produce seedlings more closely adapted to future summer drought conditions. Furthermore, Mosaic has adapted its forest management techniques to include harvester thinning, which will help manage expected increases in drought on the East Coast of Vancouver Island. Thinning is the selective removal of trees and is considered an important forest management practice known to reduce the impact of drought and the risk and severity of fire when harvest slash is burned or removed.
Mosaic has also translated the localized climate projections into plain language memos for staff and its contractors to consider how climate change might manifest itself in the areas they work. For instance, memos for the Spring season have noted that under a changing climate, Vancouver Island is likely to experience more unpredictable weather conditions, including sudden temperature changes and fluctuating precipitation levels. The memos include key messages for contractors about preparing for rapidly changing weather conditions. In the future, the company plans to provide detailed best practices with respect to the integration of climate projections into operational practices. This has been well received with staff and contractors who consider access to climate projections for their site locations to be critical in their efforts to prepare for future climate risks.
Lastly, the company participates in cooperative research with university and government agencies on innovative projects such as selection and breeding for drought tolerance and pest resistance, and landscape level forest genetic diversity.
Going forward, Mosaic aims to closely monitor its forests, emphasizing the importance of early detection of any potential forest health concerns.