BCCFA Submission to the Special Committee on Timber Supply

The full submission can be found here

Legislative Assembly of BC Special Committee on Timber Supply is considering ways to address the pine beetle epidemic related loss of timber supply in the Central Interior. These recommendations are to be examined with due regard to maintaining high environmental standards, protection of critical habitat, key environmental values for the optimal health of communities in an orderly a transition as possible.

The Special Committee on Timber Supply has asked some fundamental questions including: “How do we support communities with a falling AAC?  How do we do more with less?  Can area based tenures help mitigate this issue?”

We believe that Community Forest Agreements are a ready mechanism that can be utilized to address these themes in a nimble and long term way.  The Special Committee on Timber Supply has an opportunity to recommend that the Province take advantage of all that the Community Forest Agreement has to offer.

On behalf of our 51 member communities, the BC Community Forest Association offers the following four recommendations:

1.    Increase the number of Community Forest Agreements, making them broadly available to communities and First Nations that are committed to meeting the objectives and requirements of the Community Forest Program.

2.    Ensure Community Forest Agreements are large enough to be efficient, economically viable and able to provide the maximum benefit to local economies.

3.     Invest in Updating Forest Inventories.

4.     Encourage innovation by investing in new value added manufacturing initiatives.