By Cheryl Jahn

BC timber sales under the microscope

Apr 21, 2025 | 2:36 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – It was spoken about repeatedly at the recent Council of Forest Industries convention: the amount of forest that the Chief Forester has allowed, which is 45 million cubic metres, versus what is being harvested, which is 30 million cubic metres. It was a bit of a sore spot for those attending the COFI convention. It’s partly the reason the Province pulled together a trio of individuals to review the process.

“BCTS has not been meeting its goals. That’s a problem we have to address,” says Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “BCTS was created as a tool to allow for a market pricing system to address the challenges we’ve had with the folks down south for some time. And it has been successful and creating a market pricing system that wins successive battles at the World Trade Organization. But we need to know that it can be flexible. It’s too rigid right now.”

One of the trio is Lennard Joe, CEO of the BC First Nations Forestry Council. He says the landscape has changed considerably since the BC Timber Sales was created two decades ago.

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“B.C. is not what it was in 2002. You know, that was the start of the mountain pine beetle. We’re in a mid-term timber supply. We’re also in a very different environment now. Just environmentally, right. With climate and increased wildfires, but also where we are also addressing multiple values.”

BC, along with a number of provinces, has been embroiled in a softwood lumber dispute for years, with the United States alleging unfair trading practices when it comes to the sale of Crown-owned timber. It alleges BC subsidies the sale of its timber, giving Canadian producers an edge. That’s why the organization was created in 2003.

“BC Timber Sales was designed to meet the market price system. It was designed to create an opportunity for others other than just the major licensees to have access to fibre, but also was designed to also balance the fibre flow to the mills and local communities,” explains Joe.

He says the job of revamping the organization has huge implications for the future of forestry. “How B.C. timber sales work, and the strength or weakness of that mechanism is whether weather is what will attract or deter investment. British Columbia does need investment. British Columbia needs to have an economy. British Columbia needs to have a place for people to go to work every day.”

It’s expected the trio will have results back to the government sometime this summer.