All eyes in B.C's multibillion-dollar forestry industry this summer are focused on the province's own group of seven, which has been given the task of redefining the value of beautiful B.C.'s landscape.
But unlike the famous painters who redefined the Canadian art scene nearly a century ago, this seven-member party of MLAs is knee-deep in annual allowable cut regulations, old-growth management areas and a host of other bark-and-branch terms that amount to one question:
How can the government alter B.C.'s timber harvesting regulations to keep Interior mills running in the aftermath of the mountain pine beetle infestation?
During the past 13 years, the beetle has killed more than half of the province's harvestable pine trees, resulting in mill closures that have thrown thousands out of work.
In response to the problem, the province ramped up harvest levels to eat through the beetle kill before it became too rotten to harvest.
What's left in B.C.'s Interior forests is quickly losing its value. According to one report, the annual allowable harvest is consequently set to plunge more than 30% to 40 million cubic metres per year.
That means more mill closures and job losses.
But this isn't news in the north or to anyone even remotely tied to the industry.
Foresters have closed mills and recapitalized others throughout the province in anticipation of leaner times and quietly acquired tenure in areas where the forest remains vast and healthy.
Industry is quick to point out that if anyone has arrived late to the party, it's the government.
The committee was struck this spring after a number of bad news headlines about the province's response to the timber supply problem made the papers.
Much of the story centred on the explosion at the Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake, which is located at ground zero of the pine beetle epidemic.
That region's harvestable timber is expected to drop 75% to 500,000 cubic metres in the coming years.
That means the only hope of rebuilding a mill in Burns Lake rests with changes to the way timber is harvested in the Interior.
A draft government report "leaked" to media earlier this year suggested the government might change logging rules in parks and old growth and wildlife habitat management areas.
But even if those changes increased the timber supply to mills, the industry wants no part of logging in parks.
Forestry companies have worked hard the last two decades to establish a global reputation for sustainable harvesting practices.
Those practices have earned certifications that have increased market share abroad and helped generate profits.
The committee has also suggested increasing the harvest of marginally economic timber.
The challenge with that, said one industry expert, is that most companies have already passed over those stands, which will remain financially unviable to harvest as long as market prices for lumber remain low.
But the industry's biggest concern is the domino effect of changing regulations in one forest district and not others.
If handled incorrectly, a change to the tenure system could have a devastating effect that would cascade through the industry for years.
The province has already said publicly it will ensure no company is left worse off than it was before.
How it plans to do that while finding enough timber to keep the industry afloat after the beetle, maintain environmental standards and support a new mill in Burns Lake is one of the most perplexing problems in B.C. business today.
The group of seven is due to deliver its report to government by August 15.
