The main issue in the Discussion Paper that prompted public input was the determination of the allowable annual cut.
Allowable annual cut adjustment
In their submissions, the Community Task Force and the forest industry support maintenance of the allowable annual cut at the current level until outstanding land use issues are addressed and better inventory and other data is available. Both groups express optimism about future timber supply levels. The forest industry contends that opportunities exist to increase harvest levels by up to 500 000 cubic metres per year in the short term and up to one million cubic metres per year in the long term.
The Community Task Force says the timber harvesting land base was reduced in the Forest Service analysis in order to absorb future impacts of the Forest Practices Code, Protected Areas Strategy and a Land and Resource Management Plan. The task force says, therefore, the allowable annual cut should remain the same for the next five years, allowing time to identify real impacts.
One First Nations submission states the allowable annual cut must be further reduced to account for the Protected Areas Strategy but does not specify a level. This submission maintains that the determination of an allowable annual cut is ultimately a moral judgement call, since numbers and statistics can be juggled and slanted.
Another respondent expresses strong agreement with the concept that existing forests should not be harvested faster than second-growth forests become available for harvesting, or severe timber supply shortages will occur.
