"Initially it was thought such trees had only 4-8 years before they would fall down, Bell says new technology has shifted that to 8 – 12 years"

Okay, now I know I ain't too smart, but can someone explain how "new technology" will keep the trees standing another four years?
metalman.

Makes absolutely no sense to me Metalman. Mr Bell tends to Bla Bla and what is left in the end is confusion.

Some eloboration needs to be done on this statement. The new technolgy doesnt actually keep the trees from falling down. They are finding different uses for this lower grade wood after it has been standing. Better optimization scanners in the mills along with new uses for it. They will target the 4-8 year stands first then go after the 8-12 year stands later. Bell and the media might have got their wires crossesd with this statement.

smoke and mirrors nothing is going to change untill the wolf economy changes but its good to see someone tring to do something about it

Thanks Northman, that's how I see it too.
Unfortunately, I think there will be a lot of beetle kill on the ground 8 to 12 years out, I have noticed that as they age, they tend to snap in half, or about twenty feet down from the tip, when subjected to a healthy wind. Hopefully there will still be a lot of standing trees that are not rotted internally.
Here's hoping we have markets for this wood now and in the future.
metalman.

There will be a market for wood ffor many centuries. As the world supply is reduced the remaining trees will be sought after. Thus starting on a strong silviculture system is the way to go for BC.

We have an opportunity now to set up our great great grandchildren with tremendous forestry resource wealth. We just have to take a chance and start our silviculture program now. Mother nature can do it for us also, but we usually can outproduce mother nature if we manage it properly.

This would be great if there were enough mills running to process all this stuff before it's useless...

Mr. Minister of Forests please tell us how this will help anyone of the families trying to pay the bills this year? Is it possible that we could process our own resourses here instead of exporting raw logs? Would'nt it make sense to spend a little more time on figuring out how to get all the forestry workers back to work?What good does all this talk about dead pine trees do for the people in Mackenzie and other communities that are turning into "Ghost Towns"?

Relying on the silviculture industry would also be great if there was a change in our forest tenure system - create incentives for companies to invest in future stands. Right now, all you gotta do is make it to free-growing, then it's the government's responsibility.

With companies all reporting in red ink and many shut down, who is going to pick up the costs?

The costs for new scanners and physically changing production lines to use them is expensive.

In general, silviculture budgets are tied to cutting volumes and dropping. Who is performing and paying for this mapping? Are companies going to spend a bigger share of the pie on silviculture? Will the government change its budget to increase silviculture spending?
I hope so! My darling daughters are silviculure workers.

Is bio energy trucking waste to and through Prince George to the co-generation plants? Or are we actually going to see some projects built? And again who is going to find the money and where?

Follow the money!

Frank

I've had my pine beetle infested tree stem on the shelf in my shed for two years. It is still as good as new. Nice and dry. No twists.

frankgeorgeson:

The bio-energy project is using waste wood from logging operations and the beetle kill pine. Some will be chipped in the bush and some whole logs will be chipped on site. We are in the preliminary design stage and will be moving into the detail design phase in the near future.

Money is always a tough question these days. Our project is funded because the developers have a signed EPA with BC Hydro. Hopefully this project will be the impetus for a broader bio-energy, products, and refining industry in the PG area.

Does a longer shelf life mean more employment....soon?

The employment situation at the moment is a function of demand, not supply.

no kidding gus!

"Right now we spend about 4 million dollars a year on silviculture"

??????? who is "we"?

Perhaps it means the ministry.

The whole process of gathering seeds, storing them, germinating them in nurseries, shipping them to be planted, planting them and then tending the stands, quantifying and ensuring quality control along the way is, of course, a far bigger expense than $4 million. Try a quarter billion and you might get close to it.

More crap from the Bell propaganda factory in hopes of winning the election.

I would think the re-planting of trees would be extremely difficult since the nursuries have closed down? Unless of course you plan on importing the seedlings??

If you believe that these stands of trees could possibly be standing "till 2020,2026" as stated....then I challenge you to take a drive out the Blackwater Rd and see for yourself how the beetle killed trees are standing up. Make sure you take a chain saw along because if the wind is blowing at all your going to have to cut your way out...and it's only 2009!

There are two tree nursuries here in town, J.D.Little down by Northwood Pulp and Ness Lake, they produce a large amount of tree seedlings. Most of the mills around here have to replace the trees in areas in which they harvest them.

Silviculture is more than just replanting though, and harvested land is legally required to be replanted and grown to free-growing. Planting's the easy part. Making a stand that'll still be economically viable in 80-100 years is the tricky part, especially if licensees aren't required to silviculturally manage those stands past free-growing. Take a look around PG - there are so many old cutblocks that are thick with 20-30 year old pine trees that you couldn't even walk through them. Will those stands be economically (or environmentally) viable in 40 years? Who knows.

Like frankgeorgeson said, silviculture is tied to cutting volumes - so if there's a drop in harvesting (ie: no mills to buy the timber), there's also a drop in land to replant. And it often (always) comes down to the mighty dollar... what is the minimum amount we can spend to regenerate stands to a government-set status?

I'm hoping that this "emerging" silviculture industry that the government is banking on is more than just planting. Hopefully the government has some foresight to see past that point and maybe government and industry can invest in future stands.

I see they have a remote chipping plant in the bush between the Fort and Vanderhoof recently started up... Sounds like 3-4 b-trains a shift hauling out of there to the pulp mills in town.

I think, we think, I think, we think, I don't think thinking on Bell's or the Liberals does any good at all.

For information only: The tree seedling nursery at Ness Lake is owned and operated by Industrial Forestry Service, a venerable local private firm since 1955, the one down by Northwood Pulp is owned by Canfor, Ruff's went out of business last year, what about the PRT greenhouses at Red Rock? Are they still in business? Their signs are still up......
metalman.

Mr. Bell start telling the truth. Okay! You've sold our production jobs to China. Oh yeah, we'll farm the tree's so logs can be shipped to China. Nobody's gonna get it until we look at the lumber wrap. Product of Canada MADE IN CHINA. It looks to me like the Liberals have sold OUR resource. This province has gone to hell. No production workers = No taxes !!

What kind of people are we electing to manage and look out for our forests and our resourses. It must be the same people that come up with statements like "new technology has shifted that to 8-12 years". How in the %$#@ is technology going to make a tree stand up any longer.Mr. Belly eat as many do-nuts as you want, but... please say no to drugs!

Ha Ha Ha funny...."New Technology" Is just a cover up word. In other words..we didn't know what the hell we were talking about earlier...Just a shot number in the dark. They try to snowball us into thinking something new has come about...They have made a mistake in judjment and will not..cannot admit they have made a mistake..so they just say "New technology and snow us into thinking something just popped up. Why can"t they just say oops- we made a mistake and were not as smart as we thought we were.

metalman - Red Rock is still in business, though PRT closed down their biggest nursery last year, PRT Pelton, in Maple Ridge.

Ok you log exporting conspiracy theorists. Can you tell us how many cubic meters per year are allowed out of province export per timbermark holder? And the conditions that allow exports?

Right on northman! It's all fear mongering and no substance.