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Dear
Alberta Forest Usage Survey Participant:
On behalf of the
Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA)
member companies, I thank you for investing your
time to tell us your views about Alberta's
forest lands through the Alberta Forest Usage
Survey.
In the two months
the survey was on the Internet, 5599 people
visited the site, and 2881 completed the survey.
You were one of more than 1600 people who
provided contact information and asked to be
informed of the results, and what the Alberta
forest industry will be doing with the answers
you provided. To follow up on a message sent
December 22, 2005 by survey managers Cambridge
Strategies Inc., I'm emailing today to tell you
what has been done so far, and what is planned
for the coming months.
After the survey
closed, Cambridge amassed all the survey data
and began analysis. The AFPA was given a
top-line, first-cut overview of key findings
just before Christmas.
We expect a final
report, with recommendations for action, to be
delivered to the AFPA by late February. We will
then meet with our member companies, to give
them an understanding of the survey process and
the many and diverse responses. As we complete
these meetings, we will provide all of you, via
email, the survey results and our industry's
initial actions in response. We expect this will
occur by the end of March.
In the meantime, I
can let you know some of the preliminary survey
results. By a large margin, three priorities
came to the top, indicating that when it comes
to forest-use issues, Albertans place the
highest value on:
• Extensive replanting;
• Protection and conservation of wildlife and
their habitat; and
• Selective harvesting methods.
Next, most of you
agreed with the idea of an integrated land
management approach for land use.
Balance
and
coordination
were words seen often in
your comments. Others talked about
stewardship,
sustainability,
integration,
tradeoffs
and
care for the
environment.
Finally, one thing
has been made crystal clear in your responses:
the forest industry needs to improve the way it
communicates - how it talks and how it listens
to Albertans. We've received that message loud
and clear, and the AFPA will be forthright with
you - and with all Albertans - about what the
industry is doing, and where we are heading.
The AFPA is an
association of forest products companies
operating in the province. We represent their
goals, objectives and values to Albertans, and
in turn provide our membership with information
on what Albertans say they want, and how the
work we do can be better aligned with their
multiple needs. As President of the AFPA, I
commit that we will continue to share the
results of this survey with you, and to
communicate on issues as they arise. I ask for
your continued participation in a dialogue about
the future of our forest lands.
Rob Layton
President
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