British Columbia’s Forest Practices Board has been asked by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to review t…
British Columbia’s Forest Practices Board has been asked by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to review the amount of wood waste left behind by logging companies.
The research institute documented annual waste volumes in each of B.C.’s 29 forest districts, and found that more than 17.5 million cubic metres of usable wood was left behind at logging sites over a five year period. That equates to 4.5% of all timber harvested in the province. CCPA’s resource researcher, Ben Parfitt, based his numbers on ministry of forest statistics, which are drawn from reports provided by logging companies.
B.C. Forests Minister Pat Bell responded to the report, saying he is also concerned about wood waste.
Bell is quoted in the Vancouver Sun saying: “I certainly agree with the principle that he is articulating. It’s not acceptable to me. I already identified the problem nine months ago when I took over the [forestry] portfolio and I am absolutely committed to fixing it.”
Bell said the province has already started re-selling some of the abandoned timber as biomass.
CCPA has filed a complaint with the Forest Practices Board, asking the agency to review the accuracy of the waste wood numbers, and questioning why there appears to be no correlation between changes in logging rates and waste wood levels.
According to the Vancouver Sun, Rick Jeffery, president of the Coast Forest Products Association, says the volume of wood waste is not out of line.
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