Tom Croswell

Planning Forester - Boreal West
Tembec Forest Resource Management

As a Planning Forester for Tembec, Tom Croswell is in charge of developing Forest Management Plans for one of the company's largest management units—2 million hectares of Crown land near Kapaskusing, known as the Gordon Cosens Forest.

In Ontario, most Crown lands are divided into management units (or Sustainable Forest Licenses), each of which must have an approved Forest Management Plan before any forestry activities can take place. A legal requirement of the Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA), each plan takes upwards of 2 ? years to prepare and covers a 20-year period, with operations for the first five years described in detail. At the end of five years, a new approved plan must be put in place.

Forest Management Plans establish the long-term strategic direction for managing the forest in a way that is both sustainable and agreed upon by the various stakeholders. Under the CFSA, each plan must contain objectives and strategies related to forest diversity, social and economic matters, provision of forest cover for other values, and silviculture.

To accomplish this, Tom leads a team that includes, in addition to other Tembec staff, a forester, fish and wildlife biologist, area supervisor and analyst from the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), and the Chair of the Local Citizens' Committee. As the plan's author, Tom works closely with government and members of the community, as well as environmental organizations, First Nations, remote tourism operators, trappers and others.

Now highly respected in his field, Tom graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from the University of Toronto in 1984. His first job was with MNR in Temagami, where he spent four years supervising forestry operations (such as planting, tending, and site preparation), collecting data and generally gaining what he calls "valuable field experience."

Although he says an interest in the outdoors attracted him to forestry, Tom now spends most of his time traveling, going to meetings and working in an office. But he's far from disappointed. "I've had a very diverse career that's more than exceeded my expectations," he says. "I love the challenge of developing and implementing new company/industry/government policies, dealing with emerging issues and working on special projects like forest certification. I also very much enjoy working with people whose interests, philosophies and backgrounds are different than my own, such as First Nations."

While still at MNR, Tom became involved in forest management planning, developing expertise in (among other things) land use planning, information management, wood supply analysis, habitat supply analysis, native land claim negotiations and silviculture. He joined Spruce Falls Inc. as Planning Forester in 1996, the same position he now holds for its parent company, Tembec, in the boreal west region.

Forest Management Plans are complex and multi-dimensional documents, and Tom is responsible for meeting a wide range of objectives—everything from maintaining wildlife habitat … to arranging harvest patterns in such a way that they mimic the pattern of natural fires … to submitting annual reports to MNR describing how the various objectives have been met. It is also his job to ensure a continuous and predictable supply of wood—a task that requires sophisticated computer modeling.

"One of the pleasures of this position is having the opportunity to test and implement leading edge science and technology," says Tom. "I think people would be surprised at how much goes into planning our activities so they meet the local industry's need for wood, while also maintaining biodiversity and minimizing the impact of forest operations on non-timber values."

The Gordon Cosens Forest is made up of approximately 75% softwood (predominantly black spruce with some white spruce, balsam fir and jack pine) and 25% hardwood (mainly aspen). The annual allowable harvest is approximately 1.2 million cubic metres and 400,000 cubic metres respectively. Forest Management Plans cover the full cycle of a stand, from harvest and site preparation, through to successful forest renewal.