Prince George, B.C.-  The  Special Committee which has been  examining  issues of timber supply  in B.C., has released its unanimous report which makes 22 recommendations to increase the supply and value of mid-term timber and to strengthen future forest management in the B.C. Central Interior. This region of the province has been hit hard by the current mountain pine beetle epidemic that has killed 53 per cent of the total pine volume on the timber harvesting land base.

The report looked at 6 different themes, and here are the recommendations:

Preserving the Integrity of British Columbia’s Sustainable Forest Management System

Recommendation 1.1

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Province:

a) Ensure it meets its legal consultation duty and any required accommodations when planning or implementing changes to the forest management regime in a specific area.

b) Consider the expansion of First Nation tenures when contemplating material changes to the tenure system.

Recommendation 1.2

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Assess the feasibility of re-establishing the monitoring committees for land and resource management plans (LRMPs) and, if feasible, task them with conducting a time-limited review of the LRMPs and their relevance, in light of changes to the forested landscape. The appropriate role of local First Nations needs to be reviewed with them.

b) Use the best available science to establish key priorities for monitoring committees to review in each management unit under LRMPs and local area plans. The purpose of the reviews is to ensure that the plans are meeting their original intent, given the changes in the forest that have occurred as a result of the mountain pine beetle epidemic.

Recommendation 1.3

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Undertake a critical assessment of the risks to certification and BC’s sustainable forest management (SFM) image prior to making any changes in response to this report.

b) Ensure that proper notification and communication plans are developed where sensitive changes are considered as an appropriate response, given the wide-ranging impacts of the mountain pine beetle.

Recommendation 1.4

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry respect the important work that has been undertaken by the beetle action coalitions (BACs) and continue to support their goals and objectives by reviewing policies and programs as appropriate.

2. Land Base Issues

Recommendation 2.1

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Review marginally economic forest types within each timber supply area (TSA) and quantify the types and areas of forest that might be justifiably included in a partition within the timber harvesting land base (THLB).

b) Give consideration to revising the Minister’s letter that expresses the social and economic objectives of the Province by requesting that the Chief Forester thoroughly examine thepotential of marginally economic forest types to address the harvest opportunities these stands offer.

c) Review relevant policies to ensure that they encourage innovations that promote and support the utilization of marginally economic forest types.

d) Consider the competing demands for any additional fibre in each unit and ensure that apportionment and allocation decisions weigh and consider those demands, including considering the opportunity that issuing new licences could represent.

Recommendation 2.2

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Design a science-based review process for local use by monitoring committees, as referenced in Recommendation 1.2 above, in the assessment of existing sensitive-area designations to ascertain if they are still defensible or whether they need to be modified; and give due consideration to any changes in technology that might help to achieve the objectives for these areas.

b) Only consider harvesting sensitive areas within the timber harvesting land base (THLB) if the decision is based on the science-based review process referenced in Recommendation 2.2a above.

c) Ensure that the review process is cost effective and justifiable, and that no changes are implemented in the management of sensitive areas in any area where there is a lack of general consensus.

d) Conduct this review process with a view to improving overall forest management in the beetle impacted timber supply areas. While potential changes may augment the timber supply, this is not a predictable outcome.

Recommendation 2.3

Based on the analysis and information available on this topic, the Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Province not consider the amalgamation of timber supply areas.

Recommendation 2.4

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Province review the feasibility,through business case analysis, of developing road and power-line infrastructure into currently under developed management units affected by the mountain pine beetle as a potential mid-term timber supply mitigation action.

 

3. Forest Practices Considerations

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Province determine the level of investment in intensive silviculture, such as fertilization, that it will sustain.

Recommendation 3.1

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Work with industry to establish silviculture-related forest practice requirements that ensure the

objectives of growing more fibre and generating more value are achieved.

b) Maintain or enhance the current level of funding for the tree improvement program.

c) Ensure that, with respect to partial-cutting systems, the appropriate selective-harvesting training materials are in place; survey and stocking standards are adequate; electronic data- capture systems are able to transfer efficiently the disturbance history into the forest inventory; and the growth-and-yield models used to predict timber supply from partially harvested stands are current

Recommendations 3.2

The Committee further recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Place priority on completion of type 4 silvicultural strategies to guide investments in intensive silviculture in accordance with established criteria.

b) Develop a strategy and objectives for re-engaging the federal government to acquire funding that will be used to help respond to the mountain pine beetle crisis. The funding would support the planning and implementation of joint federal, provincial and industry programs and partnerships in response to forest management and community challenges associated with the epidemic.

c) Establish criteria for the allocation of funding for intensive silviculture on area-based tenures in order to leverage private sector investment.

Recommendation 3.3

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Continue to fund strategies and activities for the reduction of fuel in the wildland-urban interface. Where these investments reduce overall fire suppression risks and costs, then the Ministry might best fund these expenditures from the fire suppression budget, thereby reducing overall cost to the Province.

b) Ensure that tenure holders help to manage fuels across the broader forest landscape in addition to the urban interface.

c) Work closely with tenure holders by linking its fuel management programs to type 4 silvicultural strategies.

Recommendation 3.4

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Determine the most cost-effective means of assessing and classifying the stands that are impacted by mountain pine beetle and then implement a program for their assessment and classification.

b) Develop technical and financial criteria for stratifying NSR areas that considers among other things:

• i. The areas that are likely to be harvested and reforested;
• ii. The areas that are candidates for rehabilitation through various types of treatment to ensure their timely reforestation; and
• iii. The areas that should be left to recover on their own, with projected timelines for when they will become sufficiently restocked.

c) Ensure that the Ministry’s plans are clear, transparent and publically communicated, and that the plans are monitored and adjusted as necessary, and changes publicly reported.

 

4. Other AAC‐related Issues

Recommendations 4.1

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Prepare a position paper that:

·        States the purposes, uses and objectives of the forest inventories and the many important decisions that it supports; and

·        Assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the inventories in meeting their objectives, including their current utility in supporting management priorities and strategic forest-level management decisions that need to be taken in response to the beetle epidemic.

b) Review and establish forest inventory priorities for the areas affected by the mountain pine beetle and develop realistic, cost-effective budget projections required to meet them.

The Committee further recommends that based on the Ministry’s review, the Province ensure that sufficient funding is provided to support the preparation of a five-year provincial inventory action plan that details how the program will meet provincial priorities, including consideration of the urgent issues emerging in the mountain pine beetle areas.

Recommendation 4.2

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry ask the Chief Forester to review how unsalvaged losses are projected in allowable annual cuts (AACs). If the Chief Forester determines that it is reasonable to establish partitions to promote the utilization of fibre that would otherwise not be recovered, and thereby reduce the level of unsalvaged losses, then tenure policy experts should work with the forest sector to determine if a workable and effective policy could be developed that would:

i. Promote the utilization of fibre associated with unsalvaged loss projections by using a partition to reflect the amount that could potentially be salvaged.

ii. Determine whether it is reasonable and practical to develop and administer a salvage program to promote the recovery and utilization of this timber.

Recommendation 4.3

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry continually review the timber supply in each management unit and advise the Chief Forester on priorities for when the next AAC allocation is required. In management units where the AAC has been previously increased to facilitate harvesting, and where lower levels of mountain pine beetle have been experienced than originally expected, the Chief Forester decide on a new AAC determination as soon as practicable.

Recommendation 4.4

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry ask the Chief Forester to review how unsalvaged losses are projected in allowable annual cuts (AACs). If the Chief Forester determines that it is reasonable to establish partitions to promote the utilization of fibre that would  otherwise not be recovered, and thereby reduce the level of unsalvaged losses, then tenure policy experts should work with the forest sector to determine if a workable and effective policy could be developed that would:

i.                  Promote the utilization of fibre associated with unsalvaged loss projections by using a partition to reflect the amount that could potentially be salvaged.

ii.                Determine whether it is reasonable and practical to develop and administer a salvage program to promote the recovery and utilization of this timber.

5. Forest Tenure Issues and Interests

Recommendation 5.1

Given the history of area-based tenure management in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada, the Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Gradually increase the diversity of area-based tenures, using established criteria for conversion and a walk-before-you-run approach.

b) If conversion to more area-based tenures is desirable, give consideration to incorporating a takeback-volume provision, or some equivalent public benefit, on conversion to area-based rights and reallocating that volume to First Nation and/or community area-based tenures.

c) Before considering a conversion of a licensee’s renewable volume-based tenures in whole, or in part, rigorously evaluate: the licensee’s past performance; their commitment to sustainable forest management; their commitment to investment in forest management including, but not limited to, silvicultural investments; and community and First Nations support for conversion through a process of public consultation.

Recommendation 5.2

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Continue to pursue the development and implementation of the Receiving Licence and Supplemental Forest Licence as additional vehicles to improve utilization and maximize jobs per cubic metre of fibre.

b) Examine the potential for a fibre-based AAC pilot, while ensuring the necessary and complementary environmental standards (i.e. coarse woody debris), cut control and waste measurement requirements are implemented concurrently and as part of the pilot.

c) Review the legislation, policies and licence administrative framework to ensure optimum utilization of the forest resource while maintaining environmental standards.

Recommendation 5.3

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry review current procedures to ensure that potential timber exports of fibre from Crown lands are identified to assist in mitigating mid-term timber supply in the central interior of the province.

6. Burns Lake

Recommendation 6.1

The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the Ministry:

a) Direct that a reconvened local planning table, with appropriate membership, evaluate, consider the appropriateness, and make recommendations on non-spatial management of old growth in the TSA, in a manner consistent with Recommendation 2.2 above.

b) Direct that alterations to the management of visual quality objectives and other sensitive areas in the Lakes TSA are not recommended for review at this time, unless there is absolute agreement by the reconvened planning table to do so. This holds true for any other elements of the Lakes TSA land and resource management plan.

c) Confirm a funding allocation which is intended to be ongoing, to support a targeted fertilization program in the Lakes TSA.

d) Complete a type 4 silviculture analysis for the Lakes TSA to guide the fertilization program and also to set other important silvicultural goals as well as to support setting goals for the management of wildfire risks in the TSA.

e) Consider revising the Minister’s letter that expresses the social and economic objectives of the Province to emphasize the importance of maximizing volume flows in the Lakes TSA to assist with economic recovery in the area. Emphasis should be placed on the development potential of the marginally economic forest types with full consideration of their availability, given the manyimportant non-timber objectives in the TSA.

f) Update the Lakes TSA inventory in a timely and cost-effective manner, in order to support the earliest possible reconsideration of the AAC for the area.

g) Expedite negotiations with Burns Lake First Nations to determine the feasibility of awarding them a licence for harvesting in the marginally economic forest types.

h) Clarify whether the non-replaceable forest licence allocation will be removed from the apportionment when the licences expire.

i) Retain the replaceable forest licence harvest rights of existing licensees in the TSA.

j) Respond, in a manner consistent with Recommendation 5.1, to Hampton’s request for a tree farm licence when sufficient information on AAC and apportionment considerations is available.

The committee held public hearings in 15 Interior communities and Vancouver, and received input from First Nations, local government, key stakeholders and the public. During its six-week consultation period, the committee received 650 submissions.