Industry Weighs in on Area Based Tenure Conversions

Timber access overhaul raises industry concerns

By Gordon Hamilton: Tree farm plan aimed at fibre supply squeeze in wake of pine beetle infestation

Business in Vancouver

A plan by the province to give logging companies more secure access to timber is running into opposition from within the forest industry as well as from advocate groups upset over what they see as an erosion of public rights. The government is proposing changes that would enable forest companies in the Interior to convert their volume-based forest licences to area-based tree farm licences. It’s a move that the province says is limited in scope to help address the issue of declining timber supplies in the wake of the mountain pine beetle infestation. But at least one industry leader believes the move is ill advised.

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