Effective immediately, the allowable annual cut for the Quesnel Timber Supply Area will be four million cubic metres, chief forester Jim Snetsinger announced Thursday.
In 2001, during the initial outbreak of the mountain pine beetle epidemic, the allowable annual cut for the Quesnel TSA was increased from 2.3 million cubic metres to 3.2 million cubic metres. The cut level was further increased to about 5.3 million cubic metres in 2004 to provide even more opportunity to recover economic value from beetle-attacked stands.
The latest allowable annual cut of four million cubic metres is in line with actual harvest levels in the Quesnel TSA. Forest licensees harvested about 3.4 million cubic metres in 2009.
“Although the allowable annual cut is being reduced, my determination still allows plenty of opportunity to continue recovering value from beetle-attacked pine,” Snetsinger said.
“We need to keep our focus on harvesting the dead pine for as long as possible.”
“The future timber supply for the Quesnel Timber Supply Area is very dependent on how much non-pine, such as spruce, is harvested today and how much we conserve for later.”
Of the total allowable annual cut, the chief forester has limited the harvest of non-pine species to 650,000 cubic metres per year. This partition is consistent with recent harvest levels. Between 2005 and 2009, the actual harvest of non-pine species averaged about 680,000 cubic metres per year.
The Quesnel TSA is located between the Coast Mountains on the west and the Cariboo Mountains on the east. To the west, the TSA includes the Itcha-Ilgachuz mountain ranges and the intervening gently rolling terrain encompassing the Blackwater and Nazko river systems.
To the east lie the Quesnel highlands, Barkerville and the Cariboo River. The total area of the Quesnel TSA is about 1.6 million hectares, of which about 966,000 hectares are available for timber harvesting.
The chief forester’s determination is an independent professional judgment based on information ranging from technical forestry reports, First Nations and public input to the government’s social and economic goals.
Under the timber supply review, the chief forester or deputy chief forester must determine how much wood can be harvested in each of the province’s 37 timber supply areas and 34 tree farm licences at least once every 10 years.
A new allowable annual cut may be determined earlier in response to abnormal situations, or postponed for up to five years if an allowable annual cut level is not expected to change significantly.
Copies of the allowable annual cut determination are available at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hts/.
