BC Timber Supply To Drop By 20% Over Next 10-15 Years
Prince George, B.C. – According to the report of the Special committee on timber supply in the province of BC , released today, this province faces a 20% drop of supply in the next 10-15 years.
Since the mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation became an epidemic in 1999, an estimated 18.1 million hectares of forest land in British Columbia have been affected.
The latest projections indicatethat the MPB will have killed between 53 and 70 percent of merchantable pine by 2021.
The infestation has had a severe impact on the central interior of British Columbia where natural forests consist primarily of pine. Mortality levels in the central interior vary between and within timber supply areas (TSAs).
The most affected TSAs include 100 Mile House, Bulkley, Kamloops,Mackenzie, Merritt, Morice, Prince George, Robson Valley and Williams Lake, with the highest pine mortality rates (above 45 percent) in the Lakes and Quesnel TSAs and the Vanderhoof forest district.
In response to the epidemic, harvest levels have been elevated since 2001 to capture salvageopportunities, with due regard paid to meeting existing environmental objectives for the areas involved. The Province has also committed $884 million to initiatives related to curbing the effects of the mountain pine beetle — including $129 million for spread control and fertilization, and $71 million for energy development and infrastructure in beetle-affected communities.
As well, provincial, federal and local governments have funded initiatives to assist forestry-dependent communities diversify their economies. For example, since 2005 three beetle action coalitions have received $9 million from the Province to prepare communities for transition to the post-epidemic economy.
Over the next decades the timber supply in the interior will continue to decrease. When beetle-killed pine is no longer salvageable, the province’s overall supply of mature timber will be reduced, and 10 to 15 years from now it is forecast to be 20 percent below the pre-infestation levels, a reduction that may last up to 50 years.
The projected drop in timber in the allowable annual cut (AAC) for the central interior represents the timber necessary to keep approximately eight mills running. In areas with the greatest percentage of pine in the forest, shortages are already being noted and the drop in the harvest levels will likely exceed 20 percent.
The anticipated decrease in timber supply will have significant negative economic and social impacts on forestry-dependent communities and present major challenges to the industry.
Comments
Well that’s breaking news…
Good job.
So where is the additional money for replanting all these areas? From the little that I have seen, a lot of areas are being replanted in, guess what, PINE. Oh, if pine as harvested then we have to replant pine. Hmmm, what was there before a forest fire wiped it out? Mostly not pine, I’ll bet. You can see great areas where there are fir that survived a fire but the land grew back up in pine, so when that is logged, they replant pine. Makes a lot of sense.
Give more, you really should take your expertise down to Victoria and let them know what they are doing wrong. They probably don’t have any experts on staff when it comes to replanting trees.
And we have known about this how long? ….. as far as I recall about a decade. Not worth my while to recall exactly.
And what has been done about it. Ask OBAC and the Cariboo parallel organization …… ZIP, as far as I can tell.
Let us call it what it is, a depressed area of the province. And we are supposed to buy a pipeline through the province for nothing when we need some real economic uplift.
Put a meter on it and start charging a toll!!!!
“They probably don’t have any experts on staff when it comes to replanting trees.”
I think you are right, RUEZ. They have never faced this situation before. Their way is the traditional way. That may help those people 70 years down the road. Does not help anyone in the mid term period. A one size fits all approach is poor. Pulp can be manfactured from other types of more quickly growing trees such as Aspen.
Switch feedstock for pulping for a few decades to quicker growing species to leave the higher quality trees remaining for lumber.
We should just be re-planting like CRAZY! Time is kind of of the essence as it turns out it takes a few years for trees to grow… It would also employ a fresh crop of college kids who need summer jobs. :)
We are continujaly tryking to fix stuf bur there apears to be a big gap when it comes to find out what has caused the problem.
Maybe we should stop exporting raw logs and why is the Forest Sevice not pushing for funds to replant but I guess thier jobs will go on even if there are no trees to harvest.
Cheers
Don’t forget thining regn stands. Planting is not the only reforestation method.
I cut all my pine down and ended with a clear cut. It is growing very nicely and naturaly. It is actually a lot of work to keep up to all the poplar and pine weeds!
Frank
The problem with pulping lower quality fibre is that we cannot produce that product as efficiently as we need to. Our pulp only has one thing going for it and that is the strength that comes from the higher quality fibre from pine and spruce. Besides they arent pulping any trees that could be used for decent quality lumber. It wouldnt make any sense.
Hemp is an annually renewable source of cellulose fiber that is superior to wood cellulose fiber.
Put that in your pipe.
Secondly, it is the timber harvesters responsibility to replant harvested areas. Not the contractor, the holder of the wood lot license.
So in reality this report says pretty much exactly what everybody in the industry has know for the past 5 plus years.
Coulda saved them allot of money if they just asked.
stretch28
approx 200 million seedlings are planted each year.
Retired,
The vast majority of raw log exports come from either Native lands or private land.
Well, I think the government better put out another study on this. to see if it really is happening, or its just a myth.
Retired,
the exception is the North Coast which no longer has any sawmills operating and they are shipping raw logs from Coastal forests to Asia. The amount of wood I am not sure off.
Don’t buy most of this BS. There is milions of miles of timber out there! You know what else? They can replant all the Pine they want. The MPB comes thru, kills the mature trees only and keeps moving. When the new seedlings grow big enough, the beetle will be long gone. I play in the bush all the time. Tons of trees for eternity! Hell, they allow companies to ship raw logs to Asia don’t they? Why would they do that if there was any shortage. The trick here is to start a worry that we are short so they can run the stumpage prices back up. They were lowered to encourage MPB damaged trees to be used.
some report the logging continues! there must be an election coming keep logging till it all gone! 1900 endangered species in BC who care keep logging the last of the old-growth forest left who cares keep logging.Pathetic!the liberals have gutted the forest and thats their plan nothing left to fight over.
western2,
what should they replace the pine with? Spruce, remember the spruce bug and the Bowron Valley with the infamous pictures from outer space. Fir? The tree no mill wants right now?
No mill wants fir? I bet any mill would rather cut fir than beetle killed pine.
Clear cut logging was and is a disaster.
Clear cutting was a way for the forest companies to rape the forest, using less people, and cutting their costs.
Replanting clear cuts doesnt mean the tree’s grow faster. In fact I suggest that they grow slower, because they are covered with snow for a longer period of time. Just look at the hills in the spring. The clear cuts stay white for a least a month after the rest of the bush is green.
It take a minimums of 80 years to grow a tree in the interior. It takes about 40 years to grow a tree in the state of Georgia. Thats why Canfor bought three mills in South Carolina. Thats where the future of logging and lumber is. In those area’s where tree’s grow fast.
A lot of the Pine trees planted in this area in the 70’s (say 40 years ago) were attacked by the pine beetle and killed off. This is a serious problem. Do you notice that no one talks about the number of replanted tree’s that were killed??
If you have to wait 80 years for a tree to mature, then I suggest that you start looking for another line of business.
The forest industry in BC will go through a serious downsizing in the next 10 to 15 years. Get used to the idea. I suggest we go big on root vegetables, mining, and cattle, and hay. We could also get serious about tourism, and do something besides mailing out flyers, with inaccurate information.
NoWay
your out of touch.
Fir is not a desired species at this point. Most contractors leave it standing.
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