Category Archives: 2013-2020 Articles and Resources

Update-2017 Political Party forestry commitments comparison

An update comparison of the current (April 24th) BC Liberals, BC NDP and BC Greens election platform commitments regarding forestry are presented in Political forestry commitments-2017 election-update.  Overall, the commitments are a major disappointment but the BC NDP and BC Greens have a few interesting suggestions.  The BC Liberals have adopted a status quo approach.  In summary:

The BC Liberals, BC NDP and BC Greens have identified:

  • Market access as one of their priorities
  • A desire to increase the Secondary (value-added) Wood Manufacturing Sector which would add to the economic diversity of communities

The long-term forest stewardship commitments vary between the Parties:

  • The BC Liberals have made short-term commitments to long-term forest stewardship as reflected in initiatives introduced in the latter part of 2016 and early in 2017 prior to the election call plus a new commitment to addressing the bark beetle issue in the northern interior
  • The BC NDP has only one specific commitment to long-term forest stewardship and that is reflected in expanding investments in reforestation
  • The BC Greens have focused on changes to forest management infrastructure as part of generating sustainable long-term forest management but have not identified specific forest management actions.

Forest management certification in BC

Communities have asked for influence on the strategic management of local forests.  A description of the background and methodology to capitalize on opportunities exists in Community influence-local forest decision-making info. Forest management certification is one of the tools that communities can use to influence the forest practices in their local forests.  Much of BC has been certified by one or more of three certification systems. Communities are encouraged to learn about forest management certification and become involved in the process, which is briefly outlined in Forest management certification in BC.

Western Canada Sustainable Forestry Committee (SFI) was a contributing supporter to the forest management certification in BC graphics.

2017 Political Party forestry commitments comparison

A comparison of the current (April 17th) political party election platform commitments regarding forestry are presented in Political forestry commitments-2017 election.  Overall, the commitments of both the BC Liberals and the BC NDP are a major disappointment.  They are too general, lack meaningful actions and overall do not reflect the recommendations from BC concerned citizens. They are grossly deficient in dealing with the major issues such as forest sector infrastructure, forest management practices, community involvement in strategic decision-making regarding their local forests and adequate forest management compliance and enforcement.  Comments and a recommendation regarding refining their election platforms are provided.

Building the value-added sector

BC is facing a declining timber supply, closure of more primary wood product mills, economic impacts to rural communities and forest sector job losses.  Growing the Secondary Wood Manufacturing Sector provides an opportunity to more fully utilize the available fibre and reduce or eliminate these impacts.

Building through clusters  describes an opportunity to increase community diversification, move toward full utilization of wood fibre, create jobs, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and increase provincial and local government revenues.  We know how to do this and don’t need studies, just action.  Is the Government and the Forest Sector up to the challenge of working for an integrated, viable and sustainable BC primary and secondary wood sector?

Long-term forest stewardship-leadership

There is an opportunity to build on the positive results of the TLA communities survey   (http://www.tla.ca/furtherperspectives) while generating the leadership needed to implement the HFHC dialogue community recommendations.  Building on the TLA Communities Survey Report outlines how this could be accomplished if the TLA or someone else adopts the leadership role.

NDP forestry election plan

The NDP forestry plan was just announced.  It includes an emphasis on increasing value-added manufacturing which is consistent with the recommendation in the HFHC Update report.  However, the Plan is short on details and has the potential to be superficial just like the BC Liberals actions since 2013 on this topic.  The NDP needs to be pushed for details related to implementing the Plan.  BC Liberal response has been “we are already doing this” but as per the HFHC analysis there has not been any substantial actions to address the issue.  Political parties need to provide details to get support comfort in expecting significant advancement on community diversification and economic development.

Banning log exports not a top priority

Bill Bourgeois Banning log exports opinion

The topic of banning log exports is increasing in popularity again.  Even if more logs were available to the secondary wood manufactures (value-added producers) it would not necessarily result in an increase in their products.  Not all remanufacturers are limited by timber/fibre supply.  However, those who are need a long-term fibre supply at a competitive cost.  There are barriers are certainty of timber/fibre supply and a desirable investment climate.

Forests critical to BC economy

The forest sector is critical to the BC economy as outlined by Forest Innovation Investments http://www.bcfii.ca/bc-forests-and-markets/bc-forest-sector-overview. The sector provides 36% of provincial exports, is the primary BC employer, supports 7,000 BC businesses and contributes $2.5B to governments.

How can we maintain these contributions over the long-term without a vision, goals and action plan to maintain the forest asset to provide the necessary timber?

Political priority issues and actions

As a Provincial election is upcoming, it is important to identify to politicians the priority forest management issues and actions needed to move toward long-term forest stewardship and its contribution to community resiliency.  Five (5) recommended priority issues and associated actions are presented in Political priority issues based on input from several recent initiatives.