The Forest Act requires the chief forester to reassess the allowable annual cut for each timber supply area and tree farm licence area at least every five years after this review is completed to incorporate new information, new practices and government policies. Implementation of major government initiatives such as the Forest Practices Code, Protected Areas Strategy and Land and Resource Management Plans may have significant impacts on the timber supply in specific timber supply areas and tree farm licences. In these cases, the chief forester may decide to determine the allowable annual cuts more frequently than every five years.
The Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act became law on June 15, 1995 and is now being implemented. The Code requires better forest practices throughout the province, with heavy penalties for violators. As the Code is implemented, forest management practices will be changed to meet its requirements. These new practices may influence both short- and long-term timber supply.
Since the information was prepared for the Timber Supply Review, some practices have been implemented in the Lillooet Timber Supply Area to meet the requirements of the Code. Information about these practices will be provided to the chief forester for consideration in this allowable annual cut determination. It is expected that further implementation and experience with the Code will be required before all of the timber supply effects of the Code can be properly assessed. Therefore, the timber supply impacts of some of the new practices will be incorporated in future allowable annual cut determinations.
