Smaller may not be better after all, at least not in forestry. That appears to be the message the B.C. government is sending with a new plan to encourage small wood lot owners and community forests to co-operate more on a regional scale.
The B.C. government is investing $200,000 in a plan to help small tenure holders in the McBride and Barriere areas identify new business opportunities.
The funding is intended to help the small tenure holders increase the value of the timber they harvest and develop new markets.
Pat Bell, minister of jobs, tourism and skills training, said, “This program isn’t about finding more fibre – it’s about finding partnerships and strategic linkages to better utilize the fibre that’s available and allowing businesses to take advantage of opportunities to create jobs in the zones most affected by the mountain pine beetle.”
A decade ago, large forest companies in B.C. were forced to give up 20% of their Crown timber holdings, about half of which was used to create smaller tenures in the form of private woodlots and community and First Nations forestry licences.
Many smaller wood manufacturers and sawmills had complained that they could not get access to timber at prices they could afford, because the bigger forestry companies could always outbid them.
The smaller tenures were created in an attempt to create more diversity. The latest move by the province to have these smaller licence holders now work on a regional strategy suggests the creation of many smaller timber licences may have caused some fragmentation in timber supplies and markets.
