Timber harvesting land base
Seventeen submissions discuss the size of the timber harvesting land base used in the Timber Supply Analysis.
Ten submissions propose the 14 Council of Haida Nations "protected areas" be removed from the timber harvesting land base.
Five submissions, including two from local forest companies, suggest the use of helicopters would allow the harvest of some marginal areas presently not included in the timber harvesting land base. One of these writers requests that Small Business Forest Enterprise program registrants be given an opportunity to "prove out" these marginal areas.
Husby Forest Products prepared seven submissions, including three major reports dealing primarily with the size of the timber harvesting land base. The company suggests the timber harvesting land base should be increased by at least 25 per cent over that used in the timber supply analysis. This increase could come from forests with low timber volumes and from forest types that are difficult to access.
One writer suggests that, since at least 40 per cent of the timber supply area is deferred from harvest and the Forest Practices Code may reduce the available timber supply still further, the projected long-term harvest level is extremely optimistic and possibly twice what will actually be available. This writer urges the chief forester to base the allowable annual cut on the most conservative estimate of the timber harvesting land base. This same writer urges the chief forester not to include marginal timber types or economically inaccessible stands as these may be the only old-growth timber in the timber supply area available for future generations.
Blowdown and dead standing timber
Considerable emphasis is given in submissions, largely from the Port Clements area, to the issue of salvage of blowdown and dead standing timber. All 12 writers who address this issue state that substantial opportunity exists for local operators to harvest these areas successfully. One writer suggests the estimates of unsalvaged losses used in the timber supply analysis are too low.
Growth rates in future forests
A letter from Timber West Forest Limited suggests that while the timber supply analysis appeared to use mean annual increments of three to four cubic metres per hectare, the company is confident its sites produce from 4 to 12 cubic metres per hectare per year. Another writer suggests that no allowance was made for the growth difference between the islands and Interior regions of the province. This results in an underestimation of the mean annual increment for the timber supply area.
Harvest age
Timber West describes the rotation length as the single biggest question in the Timber Supply Review. It suggests the analysis did not use defensible biological or economic rotations.
Two other writers propose that forests be managed for quality or value, not quantity or volume. They infer that older harvest ages and therefore longer rotations would be required.
Inventories
The Queen Charlotte City/Skidegate Landing Planning Advisory Commission and the Village of Port Clements submit that expanded and updated inventories are needed and that these should be made available to the public in an easily understood form.
