Appendix 2: Special Accounts–Statutory

Statutory authorities are in place for several Special Accounts in which the Ministry of Forests has significant involvement, through funding and/or providing services, personnel or materials.

Forest Stand Management Fund

This account was originally established as a fund by the Forest Stand Management Fund Act, 1986, and was changed to a Special Account under the Special Accounts Appropriation and Control Act. Revenue is provided by contributions from municipalities, the forest industry, forest-sector unions, and others.

Expenditures provide for enhanced management of British Columbia’s forest and range lands, and for related projects. No financing transactions are provided for under this account, and no reports are included.

Small Business Forest Enterprise Program (SBFEP)

This account was established in 1988 to identify all revenues incidental to the operation of the SBFEP and to provide an ongoing source of funds to defray the costs of the program.

Revenue is derived from upset and bonus stumpage, annual rents, trespass charges, scaling and registration fees, and sales of logs. Revenue in excess of current expenditures and future basic silviculture requirements is returned to the province’s general revenue fund. In 1998/99, $61.2 million was returned. This is a substantial decrease from the previous years, and reflects the challenges faced by the forest sector as the price of lumber in the U.S. market and Asian demand remain weak. Expenditures are made for administration, logging road and bridge construction and maintenance, the costs of selling timber and logs, and basic silviculture to restock logged lands.

Qualified individuals and firms register in this program to purchase Crown timber from the province. Market loggers make up the majority of registrants.

The main objectives of the SBFEP are to:

• provide opportunities for existing and new businesses in the forest industry,
• promote diversification and jobs,
• support competition and profit, and
• encourage sound, integrated forest management throughout the province.

The SBFEP also provides opportunities for a considerable number of private-sector contractors to construct roads, reforest land, measure and protect the timber resource, and assist in planning forest management activities.

Accomplishments under the program during 1998/99 are reported in the "Operational Results" section of this ministry annual report.

South Moresby Implementation

The British Columbia and Canadian governments agreed in 1988 to create the Gwaii Haanas/South Moresby National Park Reserve in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). The South Moresby Forest Replacement Account was created to help offset the reduction in timber supply and the associated loss of forestry jobs that resulted from the creation of the park reserve. To establish the fund, the governments each contributed $12 million. The interest-bearing account is jointly administered by a management committee made up of representatives of both governments. Queen Charlotte Forest District staff administers activities. Forest Services Division Branch provides additional support.

The term of the South Moresby Forest Replacement Account, which was to end on March 31, 2000, has been extended to 2007.

Categories of projects funded by the account include Operational Forestry Enhancement, Research and Demonstration, Inventory, Community Involvement in Strategic Land-Use Planning, and Communications.

The South Moresby Forest Replacement Account Annual Report 1998/99 provides detailed information about activities and accomplishments. Copies are available from the Queen Charlotte Islands Forest District office at (250) 559-6200.

Forest Renewal BC

Forest Renewal BC, a provincial Crown corporation, is an investment agency with the mandate to plan and implement a program of investments to renew the forest economy of British Columbia. It does this by enhancing the forests’ environment and productive capacity, creating jobs, providing training for forest workers, and strengthening local communities that depend on the forest industry. Forest Renewal BC promotes regional equity and participation, wide representation for stakeholder groups, and sensitivity to the needs of the environment.

Forest Renewal BC continued its organizational transition in 1998/99 to a smaller, more focused investment agency. In response, the Ministry of Forests (in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks) undertook resource management planning to identify forest resource management needs and priorities across the provincial land base. The goal was to link resource management objectives with Forest Renewal BC’s investment decision-making and project selection.

1998/99 Accomplishments

Under a services agreement with Forest Renewal BC, the Ministry of Forests was reimbursed for its costs associated with the stewardship and statutory functions associated with Forest Renewal BC projects under the Land-Based Programs and Innovative Forest Practices Agreements (IFPAs) and Enhanced Forest Management Pilot Projects (EFMPPs).

The corporation’s activities are reported in detail in the Forest Renewal BC 1998/99 Business Plan and the Forest Renewal BC 1998/99 Annual Report. For more information, refer to www.forestrenewal.bc.ca

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