Annual cut in B.C’s Mid Coast timber area reduced by 23%

Effective immediately, the new allowable annual cut for the Mid Coast timber supply area in British Columbia will be decreased by 23% to 767,000 cubic metres.

“This new cut level reflects the creation of new conservancies and the adoption of ecosystem-based management objectives as a result of the Coast Land Use Decision,” said Jim Snetsinger, Chief Forester of British Columbia. “As well, 691,000 cubic metres of the harvest is to be outside the Owikeno Lake basin to ensure sustainability across the whole timber supply area.”

The Mid Coast timber supply area, part of the Great Bear Rainforest, covers 2.7 million hectares on B.C.’s central coast. Approximately, 495,000 hectares of the Mid Coast timber supply area is in protected areas and 123,162 hectares, about 4.6 per cent of the timber supply area, is available and suitable for timber harvesting.

In fall 2009, BC Timber Sales, Interfor, and Western Forest Products received Forest Stewardship Council certification for their forestry operations in the Mid Coast timber supply area.

The chief forester’s determination is an independent professional judgment based on information ranging from technical forestry reports, First Nations and public input to the government’s social and economic goals.

Under the timber supply review, the chief forester or deputy chief forester must determine how much wood can be harvested in each of the province’s 37 timber supply areas and 34 tree farm licences at least once every 10 years.

A new allowable annual cut may be determined earlier in response to abnormal situations, or postponed for up to five years if an allowable annual cut level is not expected to change significantly.

Copies of the chief forester’s allowable annual cut determination are available on the Ministry of Forests, Mines and Lands website at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hts/ or from the North Island-Central Coast natural resource district offices in Port McNeill and Bella Coola.