Minister Speaks at ABCFP Conference

Closing the three-day conference of the BC Association of Forest Professionals in Victoria, Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, provided an overview of his government’s forest policy directions. This includes increasing jobs per m³harvested, expanding BC’s innovating wood-products sector, and improving wildlife management and land use planning. Although future actions related to how the province addresses wildfires will await the Chapman/Abbott review in April, the Minister expressed thanks and gratitude to all who helped ensure the 2017 wildfire season came and went without any loss of life.

In response to wildfires and the mountain pine beetle epidemic, Donaldson announced the formation of a five-member panel to review the province’s forest inventory program. The panel includes: former UBC Forestry Dean Clarke Binkley; RPFs Bill Bourgeois, Valerie LeMay and Ian Moss; and Nick Reynolds of Sangan Environmental Services. The objective is to ensure the program accurately reflects the changed nature of BC’s forests.