Timber Tenures Overview

British Columbia has one of the largest publicly owned forests on earth, about 95% of the entire area of the province. This public ownership allows the BC government to manage forests according to the environmental, social and economic interests of all British Columbians. The government transfers specific rights to use forests to private companies, community groups and individuals through the Tenure System. A Timber Tenure can be an agreement, a license or a permit. All of these are legally binding contracts with specific rights and obligations. Obligations include payment of stumpage fess and/or royalties, requirements to grow new trees on areas cut, carrying out environmental assessments and preparing long term management plans for integrating different uses of the forest. The administration of different agreements is carried out by Timber Tenures staff.

The largest users of forest products are the industrial users - forest companies such as Tembec, Canfor, and Galloway. These companies typically have long term rights to harvest timber as they usually have to provide a secure supply of wood for company owned sawmills. These timber rights are held either through a Forest License or Tree Farm License. A Tree Farm License is based on a specific land area where a company can have exclusive rights to harvest timber whereas a Forest License allows a company to harvest a specific volume of timber from a much larger geographic area, in conjunction with other companies that may hold forest licenses.

The Ministry of Forests and Range also offers up temporary Forest Licenses from time to time, usually for a 5 year term, and for specific purposes. Some examples of specific purposes are fire salvage, mountain pine beetle infested timber and timber that is required to be removed to enable Ecosystem Restoration.

Timber Sale Licenses are another form of timber rights which are advertised and auctioned to the highest bidder by the BC Timber Sales Program (BCTS). The licenses are usually short term for a specific area and a specific amount of timber.

The Woodlot License is another form of long term tenure on smaller specific land areas. These are advertised and awarded competitively to individuals who want to manage forests on a smaller scale and usually they contribute private land as well.

A Forestry License to Cut is a tenure used for small volumes of timber. This is usually for timber that is damaged by insects, fire or wind but can also be used for special purposes such as commercial firewood, fence rails, or teepee poles.

A Christmas Tree Permit authorises the growing and/or harvesting of Christmas trees for commercial purposes. These are for specific land areas that are managed over a long term.

Forest tenures include some type of obligation to pay stumpage fees or royalties to the BC government. For timber that is large enough to cut lumber, the stumpage is determined by appraising the value of the timber. Tree species, size and quality information is collected by a timber cruise, which samples a proportion of the trees on an area to be harvested. This inventory, along with estimates of logging, road building and sawmilling costs are then calculated against the estimated selling price of lumber to come up with a stumpage rate. Stumpage rates can range from a minimum of $.25 to as high as $60.00 per cubic meter of wood. For smaller volumes of timber, where it is not economical to cruise the timber, an average stumpage rate is used. Current average rates for the Rocky Mountain Forest District range from $2-$17 per cubic meter, based on tree species. For forest products that are too small to make lumber, fixed stumpage rates are charged based on the type of product.

For individuals who wish to cut firewood or Christmas trees for personal use, a Free Use Permit may be issued. This type of permit has no fees or royalties payable. Respect for other forest users can be demonstrated by avoiding cutting firewood from standing trees or from logging areas. Christmas trees should not be cut from areas marked as commercial Christmas tree permits or logged over areas, as these are trees that another licensee is required to grow.

Before removing any forest products, please check with the local district office to see if any authorisation is required.