Several issues raised in the Public Discussion Paper prompted public input.
Intensive silviculture and species conversion
Submissions from the timber industry indicate intensive silviculture should offset the projected long-term timber supply reductions. Comments were also made on the need to explore the option of converting productive forest land from deciduous species to conifers to increase the long-term timber supply.
Commercial thinning
Submissions from the timber industry indicate that, in some areas of the Fraser Timber Supply Area, 60-year-old second-growth forests with very high growth rates are ideal candidates for commercial thinning. These submissions also suggest the impacts of commercial thinning on timber yield projections should be researched as an option to maintain short-term harvest. Some suggest increased yields through commercial thinning should influence both the short- and long-term timber supply.
The critique of the timber supply analysis completed for the Fraser Timber Supply Area Working Group indicates the timber supply could be increased by 8,000 cubic metres per year above the base case forecast over the first 10 years by implementing a commercial thinning program on all good and some medium growing sites in the timber supply area.
Allowable annual cut adjustment
Many suggestions were provided on whether and how the allowable annual cut should be adjusted. This input varies from a suggestion that a reduction is not needed, to support for immediate reductions, either to the long-term sustainable level or by as much as 30 per cent
to protect tourism, fish and wildlife values, and aboriginal land interests. Generally most of the input agrees that a reduction to the allowable annual cut is inevitable. Several alternative ways to implement a reduction were provided:
• one timber industry submission suggests that a reduction to 1.55 million cubic metres per year as indicated by the base case forecast is needed. A review of factors such as the size of the timber harvesting land base and practices in visually sensitive areas should follow, which is expected to indicate this to be the long-term sustainable level.
• another industry submission recommends a reduction to 1.55 million cubic metres per year by excluding the existing deciduous licence (65,000 cubic metres per year) from the allowable annual cut, followed by a four per cent reduction on January 1, 1995, and a five per cent reduction on January 1, 1997
• others recommend the allowable annual cut be reduced by three per cent per year for 10-12 years because this would be easier for the timber industry to manage
• some industry submissions suggest the reduction should be constant over the short-term at two per cent per year to match the rate of attrition from the workforce
• another alternative is an annual adjustment of two per cent per year for the first five years followed by a steady reduction over the next 14 years to allow the phase-in of the Forest Renewal Plan
The Regional District of Fraser-Cheam is "not convinced that the evidence is there" in the timber supply analysis to justify a major reduction in the allowable annual cut. They are concerned that the range of the variables and the resulting timber supply projections do not provide enough information for this decision.
