A company authorized to cut timber in the Meager Creek area northwest of Pemberton will receive an exemption to export up to 80,000 cubic metres of logs over a five-year period.

There are about 600,000 cubic metres of Crown timber in the Meager Creek drainage area.

The Province has approved the exemption that will apply to forest company Squamish Mills since a major landslide cut off access to the company’s licensed cutting operations and a large wildfire severely damaged forests in the area.

The Capricorn landslide — the second-largest landslide in recorded Canadian history — occurred in the Sea to Sky Natural Resource District on Aug. 6, 2010. The slide washed out a bridge and blocked the access route to the Meager Creek drainage area, leaving 10 kilometres of forest service roads and about $1.1 million worth of bridge infrastructure stranded and inaccessible.

In the summer of 2015, a major wildfire in the Boulder Creek portion of the Upper Lillooet River Valley burned 6,735 hectares of land. The fire destroyed or caused significant damage to tree plantations and mature standing timber that Squamish Mills and other logging companies had planned to harvest.

This unique combination of natural disasters prompted Squamish Mills to apply for a timber export exemption, since re-establishing access to its operating areas would require the construction of 4.7 kilometres of new roads and repairs to another 2.0 kilometres of existing roads — at an estimated total cost of $2.25 million. Squamish Mills already has spent about $750,000 on the rebuilding project.

The Meager Creek Timber Exemption Order will allow the company to seek international buyers for logs and fund the road construction project, while also providing jobs for loggers and truckers in the area.

Once the road access has been restored, other forest licensees that are authorized to harvest timber in the Meager Creek drainage area will have access for future logging operations.

Quick Facts:

• The Meager Creek Timber Exemption Order does not apply to the harvest of western redcedar or cypress.
• The Forest Act has always included provisions to allow the export of logs.
• Over 90% of the timber harvested in British Columbia is sold to domestic manufacturers.

Learn More:

Provincial log export policy: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/forestry/competitive-forest-industry/log-exports