Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
VICTORIA – The province has created a new type of forest licence that allows emerging, innovative forestry companies to more effectively respond to fluctuations in the supply of wood fibre, Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson announced on Monday.
“The supplemental forest licence is an innovative approach that will help small forestry companies be more responsive to the day-to-day demands of the industry,” Thomson said. “It’s part of our ongoing strategy to be more flexible as we help B.C.’s Interior weather the impacts of the mountain pine beetle infestation.”
The new supplemental forest licence allows companies to harvest wood only when traditional, business-to-business fibre supplies are reduced. This helps ensure that licence holders – bioenergy companies, pellet producers and secondary manufacturers – have ongoing access to the fibre supply they need to operate.
“The new licence gives companies in B.C. a flexible option that allows them to address temporary supply shortages,” said Gordon Murray, executive director, Wood Pellet Association of Canada. “This is critical for an industry like ours, which has to respond to an ever-growing global market quickly, effectively and reliably. Greater certainty gives us more confidence as we move forward and promote the role of wood pellets in the Canadian and global markets.”
The new licence also allows the province to include conditions in licences that encourage the harvesting of less marketable and harder to access wood, helping to make greater use of the existing allowable annual cut.
The legislation follows up on a recommendation made by the Special Committee on Timber Supply in its 2012 report, and is consistent with strategies identified in the Province’s 2012 Mid-Term Timber Supply Action Plan.
The new licence is not available to sawmills, which traditionally have more stable supplies of wood.
