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PRINCE GEORGE – The Province released its first report on the state of B.C.’s forests today, providing readers with objective condition and management information and assessments of implications for sustainability.
“The State of British Columbia’s Forests – 2004” provides statistical information on six indicators of sustainability: ecosystem diversity, protected forests, timber harvest, First Nations involvement, law and certification. Two future editions of the report are planned to address another 18 indicators, including species diversity, greenhouse gases, ownership and management, and jobs and communities.
The report’s structure and content are based on international and national frameworks of indicators for assessing sustainable forest management, and emphasize issues of particular importance to British Columbia.
Among the findings:
· The area of protected forests over 140 years old has doubled since 1991 to 3.6 million hectares. This includes 1.5 million hectares of forest over 250 years old.
· During the 1990s, timber harvests in forest management units with government-regulated harvest levels provided 88 per cent of the provincial harvest and averaged nine per cent below the sustainable level represented by the units’ allowable annual cuts.
· The timber harvest volume under tenures held by First Nations increased from negligible to three per cent of the provincial allowable annual cut over the past two decades.
· Forest certification, based on independent, third-party verification that forest products come from well-managed forests, began in 1999 and increased to 38 per cent of the provincial timber harvest by mid-2004.
Publication
of the report delivers on a Ministry of Forests service plan commitment. The
report is available in electronic format only at the Ministry of Forests
website at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/sof/
online.
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contact: |
Chief Forester 250 387-1296 |
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Visit the Province's website at www.gov.bc.ca for online information and services. |
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