The timber harvest in British Columbia, Cananda reached a record 90 million cubic metres in 2005 but fell dramatically the following four years to a 25-year low of just over 52 million cubic metres in 2009. Reduced demand for lumber in the US market, high manufacturing costs, high export tariffs to the US and deteriorating sawlog quality were the major reasons for the decline. Source: The Timber Network
This was a decline of over 40 per cent in a relatively short period of time.
Since the bottom in 2009, harvests have gone up thanks to a substantial increase in exports of logs and lumber to China, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly.
In 2011, harvested volumes reached 70 million cubic metres or close the average annual harvest before the forests in the Interior of the province were hit by the mountain pine beetle infestation.
The beetle has infected just over 18 million hectares of forests and an estimated 710 million cubic metres of pine trees (53 per cent of all pine volume in the province) are dead or dying.
Over the next 3-5 years, it is possible for harvest levels to increase in the Interior of the province because of the availability of beetle-killed trees that need to be utilized before the quality has deteriorated to the point when it can be used only for making pulp or for energy generation, including the manufacturing of wood pellets.
Long-term, harvest levels are likely to be approximately 20 percent below historical
levels.
In a recent study by the British Columbia government, it was noted that the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) in four Timber Supply Areas (TSA) in the Interior of the province could be reduced by almost 40 per cent by 2020 as compared with the pre-beetle AAC. However, the report also discusses opportunities to mitigate the sharp reduction in available supply by:
Investing in harvesting and mill equipment able to harvest small-diameter trees in stands that are currently considered uneconomical.
Intensifying silviculture management and increasing stand fertilization.
Harvesting in areas currently managed for non-timber values such as biodiversity and wildlife habitat.
The report predicts that by utilizing smaller trees, investing in intensive forest management and harvesting stands managed for non-timber values, future “mitigated- AAC” may be only 10 per cent lower than the pre-beetle AAC. This may of course never happen, since the public may see the suggested changes in forest management regime as controversial.
