The province is developing policy to help boost investment in regrowing forests for which they hope to introduce legislation in the fall of this year or the spring of 2011.
Silviculture could be a driving factor in the future of the forest industry where current spending of $400 million could double, the province's parliamentary secretary for silviculture, John Rustad, told the Western Silviculture Contractors' Association Thursday.
He said the key is to not just be planting trees and getting them growing, but to be managing forests through their entire life.
Rustad, however, was vague on what policy might provide the incentive for those changes.
The changes might involve changes to timber tenure rights, including the adoption of silviculture tenures, but may also include finding ways to utilize more fibre through fledgling sectors like bioenergy, and also through carbon credits, offered Rustad, the MLA for Nechako Lakes, a constituency west of Prince George in the heart of the beetle epidemic. "The decisions haven't been made yet," he told the conference at the Coast Inn of the North.
The three-day event concludes tomorrow with addresses by B.C. Forests Minister Pat Bell and NDP forests critic Norm McDonald.
The policy plan, however, comes as little comfort to the province's silviculture contracting sector which is looking for action from the B.C. government.
The sector has been reeling from the downturn in the forest sector: As timber harvest levels have dropped so have their contracts. The Western Silviculture Contractor's Association also believes governments -- both provincial and federal -- should be addressing the timber fallout from the mountain pine beetle epidemic more aggressively.
Chris Akenhurst, a long-time B.C. silviculture contractor, responded to Rustad's message by noting that everything seems to be a plan for the future. He said he didn't believe the province was taking forest health seriously.
In an interview, he said while the silviculture sector does not have all the answers, he believes more leadership is needed on the part of the provincial government. "This inaction is leading us to the bottom," said Akenhurst, noting his business is down 50 per cent.
John Betts, the executive director of the silviculture association, noted that their forecast shows that by 2012, about 100 million seedlings will be planted. That's down from an average of 250 million seedlings a year.
He said the silviculture sector would like to see governments move on rehabilitating and restoring the 25 to 40 per cent of the pine forest hit by the pine beetle epidemic that is not regenerating. Not only would it help rehabilitate the forest, but create jobs, noted Betts.
