Forest Act amendments introduced today will help improve forest
stewardship and support community resiliency in mountain pine beetle impacted
areas.
The legislation proposes a new section 34.1 be added to the Forest Act
that will create the ability to convert volume-based forest licences to
area-based tree farm licences at the minister’s invitation.
Invitations will be
publicly advertised, and applicants must make their application for an
area-based licence available for public review and comment for at least 60 days
and indicate how they have incorporated public feedback before submitting to
the minister.
The B.C. government has
introduced amendments to allow the conversion of volume-based forest cutting
permits to area-based tenures, a move that some have described as a move toward
privatization of Crown forests.
Forests Minister Steve Thomson
said the government intends to proceed carefully with converting existing
cutting permits, which set a maximum amount of timber that can be removed from
a licence area each year. Consultation with communities and First Nations in
the forest areas would be extensively consulted first, Thomson said Wednesday.
