Effective August 29, 2016, the allowable annual cut for Western Forest Products’ Tree Farm Licence 39 is 1,416,300 cubic metres chief forester Diane Nicholls announced today.
“After a careful review of the facts, I am satisfied that the new allowable annual cut for Tree Farm Licence 39 is sustainable, respects First Nations’ interests and takes into account biodiversity, wildlife and socio-economic concerns.”
Tree Farm Licence 39 covers 360,487 hectares, with 148,879 hectares available for timber harvesting, and is made up of four distinct supply blocks. Block 1 is located on the Sunshine Coast near Powell River, Block 2 is near Sayward along the northeast side of Vancouver Island, Block 3 is on North Broughton Island and Block 5 is located along the Phillips River in the South Central Coast.
The new allowable annual cut also includes a partition so that only 41,300 cubic metres per year can be harvested from Blocks 3 and 5 – the areas under the 2016 Great Bear Rainforest Order – and no more than 1,375,000 cubic metres from Blocks 1 and 2.
The harvest from Blocks 1 and 2 is also partitioned so that no more than 1,203,000 cubic metres can be harvested from areas classified as conventional harvest areas.
The cut level is a reduction from the previous allowable annual cut of 1,680,083 cubic metres set in April 2016, when the tree farm licence area was reduced by an area transfer from Block 1 to the Tla’amin First Nation.
From 2001 to 2015 the allowable annual cut level fluctuated from 3,740,000 cubic metres to 1,683,980 cubic metres due to land transfers and land removals – including the transfer of Block 6 (Haida Gwaii) to TFL 60 in 2010 and the transfer of Block 4, located on northern Vancouver Island to TFL 6 in 2015.
The dominant tree species are western hemlock, balsam, Douglas-fir, yellow cedar and western red cedar.