February 10, 2006
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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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www.albertaforestproducts.ca
Alberta Forest Products Association
Alberta Forest Products Association
Suite 500
10709 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 3N3
