Amendments to forestry legislation introduced today will enhance the effectiveness of BC Timber Sales and allow the transfer of pulpwood agreements to increase fibre supply to pulp mills.

Acting on recommendations from the BC Timber Sales effectiveness review, the amendments will encourage more accurate timber pricing, help BC Timber Sales generate more revenue, and improve overall business practices. Collectively, the changes could increase BC Timber Sales annual net revenue by as much as $4 million.

Specific changes will:

• Increase competitiveness in the forest industry and support the accurate pricing of Crown timber by allowing non-BC Timber Sales licensees to provide timber to BC Timber Sales for auction.
• Improve the marketability of lower-quality beetle-killed timber by equalizing the financial risk associated with cruise-based and scale-based timber sale licences.
• Generate revenue by allowing BC Timber Sales to recover unamortized value of Crown assets and provide forest management services to licensees and government organizations.
• Support sustainable forest management and market access by empowering BC Timber Sales to enforce its environmental management system.

BC Timber Sales was founded in 2003 with a mandate to provide the cost and price benchmarks for the market pricing system for timber harvested from public land in British Columbia. BC Timber Sales auctions timber, and issues hundreds of contracts to deliver services such as road construction, forest development, seedling production and tree planting.

As well, proposed amendments to the Forest Act will enable holders of pulpwood agreements to sell or transfer their agreements. Pulpwood agreements are non-replaceable volume-based timber tenures that provide a secure fibre supply to larger-scale pulp mills. The agreements provide pulp mills and particle board plants with access to a secondary source of lower-quality fibre when sufficient suitable, reasonably priced wood chips, sawdust or logs is not readily available.  

The proposed changes are part of the Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Statutes Amendment Act, which Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson introduced in the legislature today. 

Quote:

Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson -

“These changes will implement some of the recommendations from the BC Timber Sales Role and Effectiveness Review and ensure that BC Timber Sales continues to play an important role in supporting economic prosperity in rural communities through safe and sustainable forest management.”

Quick Facts:

• Over the past 11 years, BC Timber Sales has sold more than 128 million cubic metres of timber and generated $437 million in net revenue to the Province. 
• BC Timber Sales manages 20% of the provincial Crown allowable annual cut.
• There are 11 pulpwood agreements around the province, with the last one set to expire in 2024. Of these, six are currently active and collectively represent a potential allowable annual cut of 2,344,000 cubic metres.

Learn More:

To view a copy of the bill, visit: http://www.leg.bc.ca/40th4th/1st_read/gov25-1.htm

For more information about BC Timber Sales, visit: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/bcts/

Media Contacts:

Greig Bethel
Media Relations
Ministry of Forests, Lands and
Natural Resource Operations
250 356-5261