Natural Resources

NATURAL RESOURCES IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

INTRODUCTION :

This unit deals with the study of Natural Resources, case study British Columbia in North –America. Natural resources are useful to man in very many ways after they have been exploited. The basic needs are shelter, food and clothing. The major natural resources of the world are found in their natural form, which include forests, lakes, rivers, minerals, climate, relief, and life.

This unit will help you understand the natural resources have contributes to economic development of British Columbia. You will be able to compare the extent to which natural resources in their own region have been exploited for development in relation to those found in British Columbia. In this unit you learn about how fishing and forestry have contributed to development and compare with the natural resources utilisation on East Africa.

You will also learn about various methods and strategies how these natural resources have been effectively exploited. You will be able to appreciate that some countries have succeeded/developed or failed to develop in many fundamental ways simply because they have been able or unable to process and add value to their natural resources.

Job related life skills

1. Communication: ability to read, write,listen and speak using appropriate language.
   
2. Team work: ability to cooperate and share tasks with colleagues.
   
3. Personal attributes : creativity, enthusiasm, reflective thinking, self awareness
   
4. Information skills : ability to identify information needs,observe and collect evidence and present findings appropriately
   
5. Problem solving - information seeking, Practical experiment, environmental protection & conservation, seeking for information (research),discussion making
   
   
   FISHING IN BRITISH COLOMBIA
   Fishing is the second leaching activity in British Columbia. This provides 60% of fish in Canada. This fishing industry depends on the direct exploration of natural resource hence a primary sector.
   
   British Columbia is a province with endowed areas of great concentrate of fish, these include;
6. Pelagic fish: Which live and breed close to the surface of the sea like Tuna and Mackerel.
   
   
7. Dermal Sal fish: Which line is close to the bottom of the sea such as cod, halibut and hadlock.
   
   
8. Anachroman: Which live in the ocean but breed from fresh waters like salmon.
   
   
9.  Crustaceous fish: Such as, lobsters, shrumps, crabs, oysters and prawns.

The major fishing grounds of British Columbia, along the coast where deep fishing is practical other fishing grounds include Lakes/ Rivers and man made ponds

• Fishing in British Colombia is a better alternative apart from forestry since the souls are infertile for agriculture and the climatic conditions are too harsh, limiting the population on the coastal areas.
  
• Improved technology is another factor. This is reflected in developed fish methods which include; the use of drifters, trenkers,etc and also improved preservation methods use of refrigerators and canning. In addition to the cool climate in the region offers natural preservation.
  
• Presence of skilled manpower that provide specialized work in the different areas e.g. fishing, preserving and canning.
  
• Presence of capital for the development of the sector. This is mostly needed in purchasing of up to date fishing gear.
  
• Presence of market for fish. Most of the natives depend on fish for proteins. There is ready market at home and abroad especially U.S.A and North America.
  

 Factors favouring fishing in British Columbia

• The presence of the water bodies both fresh (the lakes, rivers and ponds) and the salty ocean waters (marine fishing), this leads to a variety of fish in the area.
  
• The good climatic conditions created by the ocean currents (the warm North pacific current and the cold Alaska current). These lead to the upwelling of cold water a long the coast thus bringing plankton food for the fish to the surface thus extracting the fish in great members.
  
• Good harbors - The North American coast around the British Columbia is an identified coastline, which offers the province safe sheltered harbors for good landing grounds, for development of ports and fish landing sites.
  
• The waters are deep enough along the coast making deep-water fishing possible.
  

METHODS OF FISHING
 

Purse-seining method

It’s practiced deep waters, involves use of two boats, large and small nets supported by weights and floats. The net is connected on a small boat, which pulls it around a shoal of fish. The fish is then pulled into the big boats and transported to the shore.

Trawling method

This is mainly used in catching the demersal fish and it involves dragging a cone bag made of nets ( a trawl) over a sea bed. The trawl is attached to the boat, which drags it on the shore through the water to catch the bottom or dermesal fish.

Drifters (or Gill) net method

The holes of the net are big enough to allow the fish enter in their effort to treat, they are caught by the gill

Trapping

These are commonly used for the crustaceous fish species e.g. lobsters, crabs. A trap box is set with baits inside. It is fastened on the boat with a rope then in the sea and want for catch.

PRESERVATION METHODS

Canning mainly used for the fish, which is to be exported.



Salting is a method that dehydrates the fish hence preserving it. It also protects fish from bacterial attacks. Salted fish is usually for export.

Refrigeration and refrigerated trucks used on fish to be consumed fresh.


Smoking is another traditional method that is usually used and it is facilitated by presence of wood. It’s mainly for home market.

PROBLEMS FACING FISHING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

• Over fishing: There is a danger of wiping out some of the species due to indiscriminant fishing. This is mainly affecting the salmon fish, usually caught when migrating for breeding.
  
  
• Pollution of the coastal water from the industrial areas.
  
  
• Construction of dams across the rivers and the floating logs abstract the movement of fish when migrating to their breeding grounds.
  
  
• Limited home market due to low population.
  
  
• Shortage of labour due to the small population and the fact that most people are encouraged in the forestry industry.
  
  
• There is competition from other fish-producing region, like Japan.
  
  
• Price fluctuation of fish.

SOLUTIONS TO FISHING PROBLEMS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Over fishing

-Establish laws against over fish

-Ban fishing in the breeding season.

Pollution

-Treatment of the waste before dumping.

Obstruction from dams

-Numbers of dams along the rivers are being reduced.

Obstruction from logs

–Some rivers not used to transport logs.

-Carry out research to acquire a wider market.

-Set up factories that use fish as a raw material.

VEGETATION (Forests)

This unit deals with vegetation (forests) as one of the main natural resources of British Columbia covering 56% of its total area.

A natural resource is a feature or condition that is provided by nature, which can be utilized to satisfy human needs.

A resource is anything that enables us to produce and obtain our needs. The basic needs are food, shelter and clothing.

The major resources of the world are found in their natural form, they include forests, lakes, rivers, minerals, climate, relief, and life etc. Resources can be renewable/non-exhaustible such as minerals.

The economy of British Columbia: Resources from Natural Vegetation

The economy of British Columbia is based on the province’s great natural resources, primarily its vast forests, which cover 56 percent of its total area; conifers from these forests are converted into timber, newsprint, plywood, pulp and paper products. These make lumbering an important activity followed by tourism, fishing, mining and power generation. Other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing are of secondary importance

The most popular tree species include

• The Douglas fir
• The Balsam fir
• The red cedar
• The spruce
• The western Hemlock oak.

British Columbia’s vegetation is dominated by forests, which are mainly of coniferous type. These are well adapted to their climatic conditions for example;

• They grow in pure stand since few species can survive the harsh climatic conditions.
• Their leaves are thin and needle shaped with hard skin so that they drop off the snow easily in winters.
• The branches are downward facing making the tree cone-shaped all for quick snow slide off.
• The fruit peel is very hard to protect the seed from freezing before maturity.
• The trees grow up very fast a factor facilitating easy forestations and re-forestation.
• They have softwood tree species.

Their timber however, is less durable compared to that of deciduous and tropical forests (durability) decreases with increasing hatituclinal extent, thus less expensive.

Lumbering is a very important economic activity in British Columbia, with very many wood products. It has led to many related sub-sectors for example industries like the paper, timber, pulp, wood; plywood etc. about 40% of Canada’s exports consists of wood products. The main wood product-manufacturing centre is part Alberni on Vancouver Island.

Factors favouring the development of forestry in British Columbia

• There are many good commercial types of trees, which grow in pure stands.
• There is heavy rainfall all year round allowing the forests to grow.
• The barren rocky Mountains do not favour other types of land use.
• The climate of warm summers and mild winters is favorable for the growth of coniferous forests.
• The steep mountain slopes have thin soils which can best be used for forestry.
• The fiords make transpiration of logs easy.
• The government policy, carefully conserves the forests.
• Sawmills or factories are available at the coast to process out the wood or timber etc.

The process of lumbering

Lumbering is done in stages. Namely;

Felling: It is the cutting down of trees done by men called fallers. They work in pairs and wear brightly coloured helmets to help them check each others position before a tree is cut down.

Bucking: It is the cutting of logs into shorter pieces that are 12-15 meters long. This is because the trees are usually very tall.

Yarding/Dragging: A machine known as mobile steel spur with long cables is used by the choker men to drag the logs into a safer place and load them on trucks.

Loading: This is the process whereby the logs are loaded on to trucks.

Barging: This is the process by which logs from far away are brought to the booming ground (central place where logs are collected) by boats called self dumping barges. These are flat bottom boats pulled by a tug (small boats)

To unload the logs, the valves are open on one side of the barge, water rusles up the tanks on the side then the boat tilts over and spills the logs into the water. After the water is drained the barges rises itself again.

A Booming ground: It is a central place where the logs are sorted out according to size, quality and species. Port Alberni has a large booming ground. The Douglas fur logs go to the plywood factory, western Hemlock and Balsam fur to the sawmills.

Problems facing lumbering in British Columbia and their solutions

Winter freezing: Rivers are frozen from December to February making the saw mills produce at an under capacity because the logs cannot be moved to the mills fro processing. This is further worsened by the long distances from the forests to the sawmills, which are mainly at the coast.

To over come this, lumbering is practiced in phases. The system of log high and low  was started. The areas of high altitude are logged in summer (log high) when there is no snow while those at low altitude can be logged in winter where the roads are opened by snow ploughs.

Summer fires: These are mainly caused by the holiday makers who go camping in the interior of the forests.

To over come this, fire guards from established control towers serve the purpose. Air patrols by helicopters is also another solution. Water stations are also distributed in the forests such that the patrolling crews get access to water when putting out fire.

Deforestation: This has reduced the tree species some of them are now disappearing away (becoming extinct).

The solutions to this includes re-forestation and afforestation. The harsh climatic conditions,threaten these activities since the replanted trees have to take long periods to mature because of the dormancy in growth during the winter season.

Topography: This makes transportation of logs difficult especially in the interior of the forest where the roads are sometimes slippery.

High gear vehicles are used.

Over exploitation of the accessible areas: Systematic and selective felling of trees is carried out.

Diseases and fungal: Infection attacks the trees because of the acidic rain and extreme coldness. Spraying is done using helicopters.

Labour shortage is a common problem since the permanent workers in the forests are few. The wages for these workers are often revised to attract them.

Accidents: Snakebites and other harmful jungle animals sometimes do harm the workers.

Use of chemicals to chase them, heavy equipment like burgers, gumboots and helmets as well as working in pairs are among the solutions.

Thickness of the forest: This makes penetration into the interior where good quality trees may be found difficult.

The solution to this is to encourage spacing during afforestation and re-afforestation. There is also need to construct more roads and railway lines from the booming grounds to the central collecting points are also from the latter to the interior of the forest.

Long jams: which occur in the rivers when the logs get stuck during floatation. These are sorted out using a boom scouter. Etc

STUDENT’S EXERCISE

1. Where is British Columbia located?

2.Compare the size of British Columbia and that of East Africa

3.What do you understand by the term “Natural Resource.”

4. (a) Mention five Natural Resources that are found in both British Columbia
         and  East Africa.

    (b) Draw a sketch map of British Columbia showing the distribution of forests.

5. Give three major natural resources of British Columbia.

6. Name the type of forest found in British Columbia.

7. Describe the characteristics of the forests named in (6) above

8. (a) Give the major tree species found in the temperate forests?

   (b) What are tropical forests?

   (c) How do tropical forests differ from those found in British Columbia?

9. Give five factors, which have favoured the growth of forests in British Columbia.

10. Mention five benefits of the forestry industry to the people of British Columbia

11.What are the problems facing the forestry industry in British Columbia?

12.How has the government of British Columbia solved the problems mentioned above?

Learners’ activities

Activity one

1. Provide learners with seeds to be planted and guide them how to do it.
   
2. Divides the class into groups of ten depending on the size of the class.
   
3. Ask each group to open up a nursery bed and do the following;
   

• Plant the seeds
  
• Water and weed the seedlings
  
• Transplant the seedlings to the main field.
  

4. Sell the excess seedlings to the community around the school.
   
5. Learners should find out how the seedlings were planted and how the trees have benefited the school and the community.
   
6. Explain why tree planting should be taken as a paramount activity by the government in your country.
   

Activity two

Photograh interpretation.

1. Name the type of photograph above.
   
2. State the type of forest in the photograph.
   
3. Of what importance is the type of forest identified in (ii) above?
   
4. If you were a district forest officer, how would you conserve or protect the forest cover in your area?
   
5. Outline the direct benefits people get from forests around them.
   
6. Explain reasons why forest cover is reducing in Uganda.
   
7. Visit a forest in your neighborhood and write a short story about the problems facing the people in charge.
   
8. Suggest any ONE area in East Africa where this photograph would have been taken.
   

 Activity three

1. What is fishing?
   
2. Name the fishing grounds in your area.
   
3. Name the major types of fish caught in your area.
   
4. Name the methods used to catch fish in your area.
   
5. Identify the preservation methods used in your area.
   
6. What are the problems faced when carrying out fishing in your area?
   
7. If you a fisheries officer at the district, how would you improve on fishing in your area.
   

Activity four

Use a photograph showing fishing at the landing site                              

Study the photograph above and answer the questions that follow:

1. Name the;
   
2. activity taking place in the photograph,
   
3. Vegetation types shown in the back ground of the photograph.
   
4. Describe the;
   
5. factors  which have favoured the activity named in (a) (i) above,
   
6. method  being used to carry out the activity shown in the photograph.
   

  (c) Outline the advantages of using the method described in (b) (i) above.

  (d)  Of what economic value is fishing to the people living in this area?

Activity five

Field study at the landing site

Students are provided with questionnaires with sample questions such as:-

1. What is the location of the landing site? ( in terms of the villages, parish, sub-county). Draw a sketch map of the area.
   
2.  Find out the historical background e.g. the owner of the land, people who started fishing in the area, further development which took place before the government took over.
   
3. Factors that have led to the establishment of the landing site.(physical and human)
   
4. Identify the different species of fish at the landing site.
   
5. What methods of fishing are being used in this area?
   
6. Find out other activities carried out at the landing site.
   
7. Of what influence is fishing to the surrounding area and the country?
   
8. Mention the problems facing the landing site.
   
9. Suggest solutions to the problems mentioned in (viii) above.
   
10. What are the future prospects of fishing in this area?

Activity six

Field work

1. Visit a nearby market and make use of the following field work techniques to collect geographical information:-
   
2. Observation
   
3. Recording
   
4. Interviewing
   
5. Sampling
   
6. Measurement (pacing)
   
7. Questionnaire
   
8. Sketching
   
9. Map orientation
   

Explain how the skill of map orientation benefited you when locating the area of study.

As a young geographer, what did you find out as the most important factors that affect the growth and development of the market?

Given a chance to own business in the studied market, how would you help in over coming problems which affect the development of markets?

Reporting field work information is very important to researchers, with the help of illustrations, show how reporting geographical information can be done