A special legislative committee has been formed to examine and make recommendations about the province's timber supply, as a result of the mountain pine beetle infestation.
Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad was named convenor of the seven-MLA committee made up of four Liberals and three New Democrats.
The committee, announced Wednesday, will be conducting public consultations and has been asked to deliver a report by Aug. 15. It will be supported by a technical advisory committee that will include former provincial chief foresters Larry Pedersen and Jim Snetsinger.
The committee's terms of reference are to consider ways to increase timber supply, including direction on the potential scope of changes to land-use objectives, rate of harvest and conversion of volume-based tenures to area-based tenures.
The committee will also consider whether any changes to legislation are required.
"The issue of mid-term timber supply is of vital importance to not only the communities in the mountain pine beetle infested area, but to the province as a whole, given the importance of forestry as a key economic driver," said Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thompson.
The other committee members are Donna Barnett (Liberal, Cariboo-Chilcotin); Eric Foster (LIberal, Vernon-Monashee); Ben Stewart (Liberal, Westside-Kelowna); Harry Bains (NDP, Surrey-Newton); Norm Macdonald (NDP - Columbia River-Revelstoke); and Bill Routley (NDP- Cowichan Valley).
Since the current infestation began, the mountain pine beetle has killed an estimated 710 million cubic metres of timber according to the provincial government.
The latest computer-modelling projections indicate about 58 per cent of the pine volume in the province may be killed by 2021, significantly less than the 80 per cent pine-kill that was projected six years ago.
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