Forests for the future

British Columbia is a world leader in sustainable forest practices. Our goal is to ensure that British Columbians can look forward to healthy forests and a strong forest economy now and in the future.

Our approach:

Conserve vast areas of forest

• B.C. has protected 13.81% of its landbase in parks and protected areas. This means B.C. has one of the largest percentages of protected areas of any jurisdiction in the world, and higher than the United Nations goal of protecting 12% of the land base.
• Four million hectares of old growth forest is off-limits to development.
• In addition to the 13.81% of the province in parks and protected areas, another 14% of the province has been designated as special management zones, where conservation of wildlife, recreation or other values takes precedence over resource development.

Balance environmental, economic and social values

• We have stringent laws to protect ecological values, including fish and wildlife habitat, biodiversity, soil and water.
• We harvest only a tiny fraction of our forests each year - less than one percent. This harvest supports the jobs of over 150,000 British Columbians and helps pay for services like health care and education.
• The law requires all logged areas to be reforested. The seedlings we use are native species and none of them are genetically modified. These young forests are natural forests, not plantations.

Involve British Columbians in decision-making

• About 95% of B.C.'s land is in public ownership. The provincial government is responsible for managing the land in the public interest.
• B.C. takes a co-operative approach to land use planning. For more than a decade, the public has decided which areas should be protected and which areas should be used for other purposes.
• The public has the right to review and comment on forestry plans before a single tree is cut.

Strive for continual improvement in forest management

• We conduct evaluations to see that objectives for conservation are being met.
• We rely on professional foresters, biologists, agrologists and engineers to make decisions about forest practices.
• We conduct pilot projects to test new approaches to forest management, like ecosystem based management.

Welcome independent observation

• B.C. is a leader in certification. Nearly every major forest company in B.C. has chosen to pursue forest certification to demonstrate their commitment to sustainable forestry.
• Already, 70% of our annual harvest comes from operations that are certified for sustainability or meet internationally-recognized criteria for environmental management systems.
• The Forest Practices Board is an independent public watchdog that reports to the public about forest practices in B.C. The board conducts audits on the forest practices of government and licence holders on public lands.

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To learn more about B.C.'s forest practices, visit
bcforestinformation.com

To learn more about the products that are made out
of B.C.'s timber, visit bcforestproducts.com

 

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Forestry Facts — Did You Know?

• B.C. is the world’s largest exporter of softwood lumber.
• Less than one percent of forest land is harvested each year.
• B.C. is Canada’s most ecologically diverse province, with temperate rainforests, dry pine forests, alpine meadows and more.
• B.C. has more than 40 different species of native trees.
• Dead trees, called snags, are often preserved as wildlife habitats.
• B.C. plants 200 million trees every year. That’s six trees every second!
• There are more forests in North America today than at the first Earth Day in 1973.