British Columbia’s Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan 2005–2010

Objective #3

Recover the greatest value from dead timber before it burns or decays, while respecting other forest values.

The epidemic has, and is killing commercial timber much more quickly than it can be harvested. The dead timber is expected to remain commercially valuable for 5-18 years depending on local conditions. This is timber that the forest industries and communities were relying upon for their longer-term future harvest, but must be recovered now.

Although it is important to recover the economic value and generate jobs by harvesting the dead timber and reforesting the sites, it is also important to recognize that damaged forests provide wildlife habitat, wilderness, and ecological benefits that must be maintained.

2005/06 Actions:

9. Work with the federal government to support research and assessments that will help determine how long dead timber will retain economic value and use the information to guide salvage priorities.

This information is important to help government and industry planners and decision makers determine how long timber will retain its commercial value under different site conditions.

10. Determine the best rate of harvest to capture the economic value from timber to be salvaged over the term of the strategy, while considering other forest values.

The Chief Forester will continue to review the timber supply in affected areas and make further adjustments to the Allowable Annual Cut (AAC) to recognize new circumstances or information. The Chief Forester’s AAC determinations and rationales are public.

11. Invite applications for licences to harvest increases in the Allowable Annual Cut.

Where the Chief Forester increases the AAC or where timber volume is made available through reallocations under the Forest Revitalization Plan, the Minister of Forests will apportion the volume to appropriate forms of licence, which may include BC Timber Sales, First Nations forest and range agreements, or other non-replaceable tenures suited to the mitigation strategy.

12. Price damaged timber in a manner that recognizes its value, and maintains revenue to the Crown and industry viability during the term of the salvage program.

The damaged timber retains most or all of its "green" value for some time before beginning to split and decay. Timber will be priced in a manner that reflects its market value, providing revenue to the province and encouraging a competitive industry.

13. Encourage full utilization of the existing timber processing capacity.

It is important that the existing timber processing industry maintain its long-term viability. It is also important that the existing capacity, to the extent it is suitable, utilizes salvaged timber. Therefore, existing industries will be encouraged to carry out salvage within the current AAC and initial uplifts.

14. Encourage emerging and alternate timber processing and value-added industries to utilize timber that is incremental to the needs of the existing industry.

In areas where the supply of salvageable timber exceeds the capacity of the existing timber processing industry the government will establish salvage zones and offer licences to encourage alternative emerging industries. Examples of alternate processing include production of oriented strand board (OSB), cogeneration of electricity, pellets for heating fuel, etc.

15. Investigate Export Opportunities

Where beetle-killed timber is surplus to domestic needs, the government will consider log exports. This is one option to capture maximum economic value for the Province before the value of the dead timber is lost.

16. Develop new and innovative timber tenures to facilitate recovery of timber and achievement of mitigation strategies.

The Province recognizes that traditional forest tenures may not be suitable for some salvage situations. New approaches such as Community Salvage licences will be encouraged to facilitate salvage in special circumstances.

17. Use small scale salvage opportunities where they are the most appropriate method to achieve mitigation strategies.

Small scale salvage opportunities are designed to recover small timber volumes that might not otherwise be economically viable. The program has limited application in a widespread salvage operation and is not suitable for most areas of the epidemic, but is expected to be appropriate in special circumstances. It is particularly prudent in areas of ‘leading edge’ harvest where control objectives for bark beetle are in place.

18. Work with the industry and other existing forest product marketing organizations to maintain and expand markets.

It will be necessary to assure the market place is fully informed and maintains confidence in the quality of forest products from beetle killed timber. Through Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd. (FII) the government will contribute to initiatives that benefit the industry as a whole.

Five-Year Actions:

• Update and improve the timber inventory and information about non-timber resources to facilitate more accurate assessments and forest management decisions in the epidemic area.

The widespread mortality of Lodgepole Pine has resulted in significant changes to the forests, both for the timber inventory and for non-timber values, requiring that the inventory be updated over an extensive area.

Contents | Previous | Next