In the past decade, there has been much debate over the environmental impact of forestry. People are justifiably concerned about what is happening to the local and global forest environments, but they are also confused by the polarized rhetoric that has characterized both sides of the debate. In Balancing Act, Hamish Kimmins calls for a balanced, more objective approach to forestry issues in order to bridge the gap between the most extreme opponents in the debate. He suggests that we need to begin with a common understanding of what forestry is about and how forest ecosystems work. He outlines the scientific and ecological aspects of the major environmental issues facing British Columbia and the world today, arguing that we need to disentangle the scientific from the value-based social aspects of these questions. He also contends that much of the current debate about forests and their management ignores the time dimension of ecosystems, and he calls for a more dynamic view of current environmental issues in forestry -- one that accounts for change. The first few chapters provide an outline of the basic principles of forestry and ecology, and subsequent chapters discuss the major environmental issues facing forestry in the 1990s. These include clearcutting, slashburning, management chemicals, old growth, biological diversity, 'new forestry, ' climate change, acid rain, the comparison between temperate and tropical forestry, and long-term decisions in forestry. Balancing Act is essential reading for those who are searching for an objective, accurate, and readable evaluation of the issues at the heart of the forestry/environment debate. By emphasizing that forests are not static but change over time, Kimmins adds an important, often ignored, dimension to the discussion. Only by understanding all the intricacies of the ecosystems can we learn to manage our forests in a sustainable fashion.

JIMD Reports publishes case and short research reports in the area of inherited metabolic disorders. Case reports highlight some unusual or previously unrecorded feature relevant to the disorder, or serve as an important reminder of clinical or biochemical features of a Mendelian disorder.

The CCPA would like to thank the following organizations for their financial contributions to this work: The BC Federation of Labour, The BC Government and Service Employees' Union, The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, The Endswell Foundation, The Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and The United Steelworkers of America District 3. Cover beetle image courtesy of The Canadian Fores [...] While a significant portion of the trees attacked will be profitably logged, an even greater portion will not, leading to a looming gap in available timber that will result in the loss of one quarter of existing income in many Interior communities.1 Given the severity of the outbreak and its implications for the wellbeing of forests and communities, the BC government's action plan speaks comparati [...] The area includes 30-plus communities ranging from 100 Mile House in the southern portion of the Cariboo Forest Region through Prince George and west to Smithers in the Prince Rupert Forest Region.20 The full extent of the beetle What the authors of that report could not have known was that in the attack remains poorly ensuing three years the very definition of "susceptible" has changed along quan [...] Two central questions before British Columbians are whether the province is responding adequately to the challenges posed by the beetles, in particular in the area of reforestation, and whether we are getting a fair return from logging companies in the midst of an unprecedented, government-mandated, logging increase in response to the beetles. [...] It also heavily influenced the thinking of government-appointed bodies such as the Forest Resources Commission, By the Ministry of Forests which made many recommendations to the province in 1991 on the need own estimate, we are on the for permanent and secured investment pools for reforestation efforts.