La Forêt habitée: un modèle de gestion partenariale? Analyse de la perception des participants à cinq projets au Québec

La Forêt habitée se présente comme un mode de gestion partenariale, proposé pour favoriser le développement économique local des régions du Québec. L’objectif de cette recherche est de valider le concept de Forêt habitée et d’extraire une définition commune et pratique de la perception des intervenants concernés. Une analyse perceptuelle est réalisée à l’aide de la méthode d’analyse de besoins. Les résultats nous démontrent que les perceptions des acteurs concordent avec le concept de Forêt habitée et la théorie de la gestion partenariale. Également, les perceptions concernant la situation désirable nous indiquent que les répondants adoptent une même définition décomposée à partir des éléments structurants de la Forêt habitée. Toutefois, un constat d’écart est établi entre la vision idéalisée et la réalité telle que perçue par les répondants. Dans l’ensemble, la gestion partenariale, telle que véhiculée par le concept de Forêt habitée, semble constituer une voie praticable aux yeux des intervenants.The Inhabited forest (Forêt habitée) represents a partnership management mechanism designed to enhance the economic development of rural areas in Quebec. The objective of this research project is to validate the inhabited forest concept and to delineate, from a stakeholders’ perspective, a definition that is both shared and practical. A perceptual analysis is carried out using a needs-analysis method. The results show that actors’ perceptions coincide with the idea of the inhabited forest and the theory of partnership management. Moreover, perceptions of what situation is desirable suggest that the participants adopt the same definition, provided by the elements structuring the concept of the inhabited forest. However, a noticeable deviation exists between the idealised vision and reality as perceived by the participants. On the whole, partnership management, as conveyed by the concept of the inhabited forest, seems to constitute a practicable approach, according to stakeholders

L’application de la méthode des comparables à la forêt publique québécoise

En 1986, le gouvernement du Québec a institué une nouvelle méthode d’évaluation des redevances forestières pour les terres qui relèvent de sa propriété, soit la méthode des comparables. Elle consiste à transposer la valeur des bois extraits des terres privées à celle des tiges croissant sur les terres publiques. Même si des réserves peuvent être exprimées quant au degré de concurrence sur le marché des boisés privés, ce point semble mineur en regard de l’ouverture de ce marché vers l’extérieur de la province. Des difficultés apparaissent cependant dans la transposition des valeurs du bois sur pied de la forêt privée à la forêt publique, à cause de la responsabilité partagée de la gestion de la forêt publique entre le gouvernement et l’entreprise privée qui découle du système de tenure. Cette responsabilité partagée introduit certains biais dans l’évaluation du bois debout sur les terres publiques. Ces biais réduisent les redevances forestières que le gouvernement pourrait percevoir, tout au moins à long terme. Pour résoudre certaines difficultés, le gouvernement pourrait accroître l’information disponible sur les coûts de production pour les terres publiques notamment en privatisant certaines parties du domaine public.In 1986, the government of the province of Québec introduced a new method to evaluate stumpage fees for public forests. It is called the comparable method and it ties the value of timber on public lands to its value on private lots which are mostly located in the southern part of province. Although some concerns may be expressed due to the limited nature of competition for private timber, the point appears to be minor when the open nature of the log market is taken into account. However some problems arise at the application level because of the reponsibility which the government and the private enterprises share in the administration of public forests through the tenure system. The joint responsability introduces biases in stumpages fees which tend to reduce their value, at least in the long run. To circumvent these difficulties, the government could improve the state of knowledge with respect to costs of harvesting timber on public lands by privatizing parts of the public forests

L’application de la méthode des comparables à la forêt publique québécoise

In 1986, the government of the province of Québec introduced a new method to evaluate stumpage fees for public forests. It is called the comparable method and it ties the value of timber on public lands to its value on private lots which are mostly located in the southern part of province. Although some concerns may be expressed due to the limited nature of competition for private timber, the point appears to be minor when the open nature of the log market is taken into account. However some problems arise at the application level because of the reponsibility which the government and the private enterprises share in the administration of public forests through the tenure system. The joint responsability introduces biases in stumpages fees which tend to reduce their value, at least in the long run. To circumvent these difficulties, the government could improve the state of knowledge with respect to costs of harvesting timber on public lands by privatizing parts of the public forests. En 1986, le gouvernement du Québec a institué une nouvelle méthode d’évaluation des redevances forestières pour les terres qui relèvent de sa propriété, soit la méthode des comparables. Elle consiste à transposer la valeur des bois extraits des terres privées à celle des tiges croissant sur les terres publiques. Même si des réserves peuvent être exprimées quant au degré de concurrence sur le marché des boisés privés, ce point semble mineur en regard de l’ouverture de ce marché vers l’extérieur de la province. Des difficultés apparaissent cependant dans la transposition des valeurs du bois sur pied de la forêt privée à la forêt publique, à cause de la responsabilité partagée de la gestion de la forêt publique entre le gouvernement et l’entreprise privée qui découle du système de tenure. Cette responsabilité partagée introduit certains biais dans l’évaluation du bois debout sur les terres publiques. Ces biais réduisent les redevances forestières que le gouvernement pourrait percevoir, tout au moins à long terme. Pour résoudre certaines difficultés, le gouvernement pourrait accroître l’information disponible sur les coûts de production pour les terres publiques notamment en privatisant certaines parties du domaine public.

Comparing polycentric configuration for adaptive governance within community forests: Case studies in Eastern North America

Looking at two cases of community forests (CF) in Eastern North America, this article examines their institutional features in order to assess whether they are conducive to adaptive governance. To do so, this article presents CFs as manifestations of polycentric governance, which allow identifying the complex networks of relations existing between different actors involved in governance at many scales. Polycentric governance is assumed to have a higher adaptability to changing factors. To better capture the variables conducive to adaptive governance in CFs, we draw on the socio-ecological system (SES) framework. The study shows that variables from the SES framework are useful in identifying features of polycentricity in CFs. Moreover, these variables highlight mechanisms of adaptability in CF governance, namely: interaction between organizations and actors, multiplicity of complementary rules from different organizations and structures of governance. Moreover, ongoing communication with the forest users and learning among actors appear key for CF governance’s adaptability

Vascular smooth muscle contractility assays for inflammatory and immunological mediators

The blood vessels are one of the important target tissues for the mediators of inflammation and allergy; further cytokines affect them in a number of ways. We review the use of the isolated blood vessel mounted in organ baths as an important source of pharmacological information. While its use in the bioassay of vasoactive substances tends to be replaced with modern analytical techniques, contractility assays are effective to evaluate novel synthetic drugs, generating robust potency and selectivity data about agonists, partial agonists and competitive or insurmountable antagonists. For instance, the human umbilical vein has been used extensively to characterize ligands of the bradykinin B2 receptors. Isolated vascular segments are live tissues that are intensely reactive, notably with the regulated expression of gene products relevant for inflammation (e.g., the kinin B1 receptor and inducible nitric oxide synthase). Further, isolated vessels can be adapted as assays of unconventional proteins (cytokines such as interleukin-1, proteases of physiopathological importance, complement-derived anaphylatoxins and recombinant hemoglobin) and to the gene knockout technology. The well known cross-talks between different cell types, e.g., endothelium-muscle and nerve terminal-muscle, can be extended (smooth muscle cell interaction with resident or infiltrating leukocytes and tumor cells). Drug metabolism and distribution problems can be modeled in a useful manner using the organ bath technology, which, for all these reasons, opens a window on an intermediate level of complexity relative to cellular and molecular pharmacology on one hand, and in vivo studies on the other

Consequences of various landscape-scale ecosystem management strategies and fire cycles on age-class structure and harvest in boreal forests

At the landscape scale, one of the key indicators of sustainable forest management is the age-class distribution of stands, since it provides a coarse synopsis of habitat potential, structural complexity, and stand volume, and it is directly modified by timber extraction and wildfire. To explore the consequences of several landscape-scale boreal forest management strategies on age-class structure in the Mauricie region of Quebec, we used spatially explicit simulation modelling. Our study investigated three different harvesting strategies (the one currently practiced and two different strategies to maintain late seral stands) and interactions between fire and harvesting on stand age-class distribution. We found that the legacy of initial forested age structure and its spatial configuration can pose short- (<50 years) to medium-term (150-300 years) challenges to balancing wood supply and ecological objectives. Also, ongoing disturbance by fire, even at relatively long cycles in relation to historic levels, can further constrain the achievement of both timber and biodiversity goals. For example, when fire was combined with management, harvest shortfalls occurred in all scenarios with a fire cycle of 100 years and most scenarios with a fire cycle of 150 years. Even a fire cycle of 500 years led to a reduction in older forest when its maintenance was not a primary constraint. Our results highlight the need to consider the broad-scale effects of natural disturbance when developing ecosystem management policies and the importance of prioritizing objectives when planning for multiple resource use