Effective immediately, the allowable annual cut for Canfor’s Tree Farm Licence 48 near Chetwynd will be set at 1,550,000 cubic metres for five years, and then 871,000 cubic metres for the following five years, chief forester Diane Nicholls announced today.
The new cut level is 72 per cent higher than the previous allowable annual cut that was set at 900,000 cubic metres in 2007. The increase is necessary to salvage dead trees affected by mountain pine beetle before the stands deteriorate and are no longer suitable for sawlogs, said Nicholls.
“The increased harvest level for the next five years will allow for the harvest of mountain pine beetle-impacted trees without unduly compromising the mid- and long-term harvest levels while meeting government’s objectives for all forest resources for Tree Farm Licence 48,” Nicholls said in a press release.
The new allowable annual cut includes a partition of 100,000 cubic metres for deciduous tree-leading stands to support the demand for deciduous wood fibre in the area.
Tree Farm Licence 48 covers 643,239 hectares, with 566,394 hectares available for timber harvesting, and is made up of five distinct supply blocks in the southwest portion of the Peace Natural Resource District.
The majority of the tree farm licence borders the Dawson Creek Timber Supply Area in the Northeast, but it also shares boundaries with the Mackenzie, Fort St. John and Prince George timber supply areas.
The dominant tree species are white spruce, lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, trembling aspen and cottonwood. Less commercially valuable larch, white birch and black spruce are present in this tree farm licence.
Communities in the area include Chetwynd, where Canfor operates a sawmill, in addition to Tumbler Ridge, Hudson’s Hope, West Moberly Lake and Saulteau.
“The increased harvest level for the next five years will allow for the harvest of mountain pine beetle-impacted trees without unduly compromising the mid- and long-term harvest levels while meeting government’s objectives for all forest resources for Tree Farm Licence 48.”