Talking with Dave Belyea about FPInnovations’ commercial thinning workshops

The workshops focused on alternative logging systems such as commercial thinning in second-growth stands and partial cutting in older stands that have operating constraints

FPInnovations Blog February 27, 2019

During the past year, FPInnovations presented commercial thinning workshops in British Columbia—in Prince George, Quesnel, Smithers, and Vernon. We met with Dave Belyea, FPInnovations’ Industry Advisor for the Northern Interior, to learn more about his experience and understand the challenges faced by the forests in the B.C. Interior. When asked how these workshops helped address challenges in BC’s Interior forests, Dave replied, “The wood supply is by far the biggest challenge. The allowable annual cut is expected to decrease by 5 to 10 million cubic metres per year for the next 25 to 30 years. The workshops focused on alternative logging systems such as commercial thinning in second-growth stands and partial cutting in older stands that have operating constraints. These strategies, once fully implemented, will help provide another source of fibre and mitigate the effects of mid-term fibre availability challenges such as shift reductions and mill closures.”

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