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Dynamics in the landscape ecology of institutions: lags, legacies, and feedbacks drive path-dependency of forest landscapes in British Columbia, Canada 1858–2020

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Abstract

Context

Many landscapes are constrained into pathways featuring deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and rising mega-disturbances due to legacies and feedbacks preserved in ecosystems and institutions. Institutions are the norms and rules that emerge locally or are set by prevailing powers, and that mediate coupled social-ecological dynamics.

Objectives

We analyzed coupled landscape-institutional dynamics contributing to path-dependent mega-disturbances and the depletion of old-growth forests in temperate forests of British Columbia, Canada (1858–2020).

Methods

We used qualitative historical review to contextualize dynamics in a hierarchy of institutional structures (i.e., power dynamics), functions (i.e., policy interventions), and processes (i.e., land management activities) and quantitative data to reconstruct their landscape outcomes. We examined connections between institutions and landscapes with a focus on temporal lags, legacies, and feedbacks.

Results

Institutional structure persisted as an overarching colonial legacy (since 1858) whereas institutional functions (e.g., policy interventions) were added more frequently (every 10–30 years) but tended to layer onto existing functions rather than replace them. Institutional processes dynamically reshaped forests through regimes of harvesting, tree planting, and fire suppression, while a fourth process of landscape monitoring acted as a feedback to enable institutional adaptation depending on what was monitored and by who.

Conclusions

We describe lags, legacies, and feedbacks as causal forces of change in landscape-institutional co-evolution, and contribute to emerging theory on the landscape ecology of institutions. To foster social-ecological resilience we recommend to (1) manage forests more locally; (2) restore complex landscapes; and (3) use reflective processes to help transform institutions to meet emerging landscape challenges.

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Fig. 1

Adapted from BC Ministry of Forests Natural Disturbance Type map (source: https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/natural-disturbance-type-map)

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Acknowledgements

We thank the guest editor of this special issue, Anita Morzillo, for extensive constructive feedback; Bruce Larson for support during initiation; and the Forest History Association of British Columbia for hosting two discussions during development of this research. IS was funded by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and a University of British Columbia 4-Year Fellowship. We also thank the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and Syilx peoples on whose unceded, ancestral territories our educational institutions are situated.

Funding

The primary funding sources are scholarships provided to Ira Sutherland, including a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and a University of British Columbia 4-Year Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Ira J. Sutherland, Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz & Jeanine M. Rhemtulla

  2. Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographic Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada

    Lael Parrott

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  1. Ira J. Sutherland
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Contributions

IJS led all aspects of the manuscript including proposing the initial work, doing the historical review, conceptualizing the evolving theory and methods, writing the manuscript, creating the artwork, and leading the process. KCG, LP and JMR contributed significantly to the conceptual development and final theoretical framing, writing, and design of art work. JMR supervises IJS as a PhD Candidate and LP is on the supervisory committee.

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Correspondence to Ira J. Sutherland.

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Sutherland, I.J., Copes-Gerbitz, K., Parrott, L. et al. Dynamics in the landscape ecology of institutions: lags, legacies, and feedbacks drive path-dependency of forest landscapes in British Columbia, Canada 1858–2020. Landsc Ecol 38, 4325–4341 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01721-y

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