The City of Prince George is getting out of the forest business.
City council voted on Monday night to begin the process of surrendering its forest tenure, which it first acquired in 2006 to deal with the fire hazard presented by beetle-killed wood in the city's urban forests.
"In terms of being in the logging business, it's not our core service," Mayor Shari Green said moments before council voted 7-2 in favour of the staff recommendation to work with the province to allow the city to divest itself of the license.
Community forest manager Dan Adamson told council that work has already been done in high-risk areas to bring the fire risk down to moderate and that other areas that could see future logging have recreation values, which must be taken into account. Steep terrain in other areas made forestry operations impractical, according to Adamson.
The increasing difficulty in landing grant funding to help pay for the forestry work is another reason staff cited to give up the tenure.
Coun. Dave Wilbur and Coun. Frant Everitt both voted against giving up the license.
Wilbur cited the ongoing risk to the city should a wildfire take hold close to the urban area.
"Solving the wildfire risk is priceless," he said.
Under questioning from Coun. Lyn Hall, Adamson said holding on to the license isn't particularly onerous for city administration, but they do need to respond to a handful of calls a month from user groups who want to access areas within the city's tenure.
Adamson added that it wouldn't be difficult for the city to reapply for a license if conditions change.
Everitt cited financial reasons for his objection to the plan.
"I think it would be a mistake for us to surrender our license," he said, noting timber could be worth more in a few years and wood unsuitable for lumber could be chipped and turned into energy.
