SPORTS: FUTURE RODEO STARS GO TO SCHOOL /PAGE 9
B.C. MINISTER SAYS NO TO PHOTO RADAR /PAGE 8 merrittherald.com
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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
The Timber Supply Review in a nutshell
ALLOWABLE CUT REDUCED
- British Columbia’s chief forester’s determination of the allowable annual cut (AAC) is based on information ranging from technical forestry reports, First Nations and public input to the government’s social and economic goals. - Started in 1992 to update the understanding of timber supply in each of the province’s 38 timber supply areas (TSAs). - The AAC is the maximum amount of timber that the chief forester determines is reasonable to harvest from the TSA.
The Tolko mill yard in Merritt Ian Webster/Herald
Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
B.C.’s chief forester has decreased the allowable annual cut (AAC) in the Merritt timber supply area (TSA), dropping it from 2.4 million cubic metres to 1.5 million. By March 24, 2021 it will decrease to 1.2 million cubic metres. So far, the full impact of this immediate 37 per cent reduction is yet to be determined. Don Brown — owner of ML Brown Logging in Merritt — has had a
contract with the local Tolko mill for half a century. He said that for now business is going strong, but that could change. “It might mean we shut it down. We’ll have to wait and see what happens,” he said of the reduced allowable annual cut. Brown said he still needs to have his yearly meeting with the mill. With the new limit set, the Minister of Forests Lands and Natural Resources, Steve Thomson, says he will
determine how to disperse that amount throughout the TSA over the next couple of months. “We’ll be working with the communities, and the industry and First Nations and making those decisions,” Thomson said. “It’s not going to be an easy process, but we need to make sure that for the area we have an ongoing sustainable level of harvest,” the minister said. Murray Wilson, Tolko manager of stewardship and tenures for B.C.
and Manitoba told the Herald the company doesn’t expect their apportionment of the Merritt TSA to change from its current level. He said he expects the minister will complete his decisions on apportionment by June. “At that time, then we’ll know how much our individual license is impacted,” said Wilson. Wilson said the new allowable annual cut matched Tolko’s expectations. The new limit is
- The chief forester’s job is to determine the AAC for each TSA every ten years, or, as in the case of the Merritt TSA, whenever it is deemed necessary.
- The last TSA done in comparable to what it was Merritt was in December before the mountain pine of 2010. The chief forester at that time said beetle epidemic began. that as the mountain pine “Now that we have nearly completed salvage beetle was wrapping up its attack on the district, he harvesting of mountain pine beetle-affected stands wanted to get back sooner than the typical 10 year in the Merritt timber period. supply area, my new determination signals a return to more sustainable - Forest composition and management, and harvesting practices that objectives for that land will support and ensure base, the region, and the the long-term timber supply,” said chief forester province are some of Diane Nicholls in a press the factors considered by the chief forester when release. determining the annual See ‘No further’ Page 3 allowable cut.
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