B.C.’s Minister of Forests Doug Donaldson  following Federal-Provincial  meeting

Prince George, B.C. –  Minister of Forests for B.C. ,  Doug Donaldson says  work has already started to assist  sawmills  recover from the devastating  wildfires.

Of critical issue is supply.  “We know that 53 million cubic meters of wood has burned” says Donaldson.

He made the comments following a meeting of Federal and Provincial  Ministers and First Nations  to discuss the  wildfire disaster in B.C.

He says  the first step is to work with  those who have harvest licences, to access merchantable timber that  may still be standing “Secondly, we are looking at   salvage license,  that means  issuing license through our offices  to access wood that wasn’t already under license  and that’s  happening right now,  that wood  is being accessed right now by  mills.  And thirdly, and this is a bit long term, is the replanting portion.  We know that there’s going to be   a high need for reforestation and that is being planned right now through my Ministry to ensure we  do have a timber supply in the future.”

Forestry companies are already facing reduced annual allowable cuts   in the wake of the aggressive harvest of  mountain pine beetle killed  trees.  Donaldson says  with another 53 million cubic meters burned, there is no question,  the forestry industry  will feel the impact  of “that much timber being burned in the province.”