The B.C. Ministry of Forests is taking a closer look at timber supply in Fort St. John and Fort Nelson as changes to the region’s forests continue to affect available harvesting volumes.
The ministry is undertaking two separate allowable annual cut, or AAC, determinations — an expedited review for the Fort Nelson Timber Supply Area and a separate review for the Fort St. John Timber Supply Area.
A letter from the ministry was presented to the Peace River Regional District board at its Sept. 10 meeting.
The AAC is the maximum volume of timber that can be harvested each year from a specified area of land, generally measured in cubic metres.
The current AAC for the Fort St. John TSA is 2.115 million cubic metres and has been in place since 2018.
Fort Nelson’s current AAC is 2.58 million cubic metres and was established in 2019.
The ministry said both areas have experienced significant changes since those determinations, including large wildfires and changes to land-use designations.
In Fort Nelson, the accelerated review will focus on factors including wildfire impacts, changes in forest operability and measures related to caribou recovery.
The ministry said the current AAC no longer reflects conditions on the ground, prompting the need for an interim determination while a full timber supply review is expected in the coming years.
Fort St. John’s timber supply has also been affected by wildfires and land-use designations under the Forest Act.
The ministry said a temporary reduction to the AAC may be required because of several designated areas, including Blueberry River First Nations designated Area No. 1, Northeast First Nations designated Area No. 1 and K’ih tsaa? dze designated Area No. 1.
Before a new AAC is determined for Fort St. John, the ministry will also review historic volume accumulations and determine whether those volumes should be retired or carried forward for future tenure opportunities.
Technical information and analysis will be prepared as part of the process and shared with tenure holders and other stakeholders for review and comment.
Any changes to the AAC could also result in adjustments to timber volumes held under existing licences.
The ministry said stakeholders will have opportunities to review information about potential AAC changes and associated licence reductions before the process moves forward.
The review raised concerns from PRRD Electoral Area E Director Dan Rose, who suggested bringing a Ministry of Forests representative before the regional board to provide more information.
“I’m concerned,” he said.
“It seems that they’ve already decided that they should reduce it more because of wildfires and other things.”
The board approved Rose’s recommendation and will invite Yvonne Parkinson, director of stewardship and planning for the ministry’s Northeast Region, to attend a future meeting.
The ministry’s North Area Tenure staff are currently preparing information on volume retirement, while Forest Analysis and Inventory branch staff are working on preliminary AAC analysis and a technical report.
