NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release 2008FOR0133-001520 Oct. 4, 2008	Ministry of Forests and Range
PROVINCE CREATES MORE FORESTRY OPPORTUNITIES

KAMLOOPS – The Province will expand the number of woodlots, creating more opportunities for individuals, small business, and First Nations to benefit from forestry for decades to come, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced this afternoon, in advance of speaking at the Federation of BC Woodlot Associations Annual General Meeting tonight.

 

“Woodlot operators have a long-term relationship with the forest they manage, which can often lead to innovations in silviculture and help us maximize the growth potential of our forests,” said Bell. "If we want to become world leaders in growing trees, we can learn from successful woodlot operations, and at next year’s annual general meeting, an inaugural Forests Minister’s Award for Excellence in Woodlot Management will be presented.”

 

The Province will offer 60 to 75 new woodlots over the next three years, which will result in a total of about 900 woodlots operating in British Columbia by 2011. The new licences are being offered throughout the province and all woodlot opportunities will be advertised on BC Bid at www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca . Bids have been received on three advertised tenures, one north of Campbell River, one north of Fort St. James and the third, southwest of Dawson Creek.

“Expansion of the woodlot licence program is good news,” said Federation of B.C. Woodlot Associations’ General Manager Brian McNaughton. “It’s gratifying that the Province realizes how important it is to create opportunities for continued local investment in new, community-based, forestry businesses. Many of the Federation’s members plan on leaving their woodlot to their children and they manage it accordingly, using light-touch forestry techniques to the benefit of their families and the forest’s future.”

Woodlot licences are small, area-based tenures that combine private land with up to 800 hectares of Crown land on the Coast and 1,200 hectares of Crown land in the Interior, and are managed by individuals, groups, First Nations or public institutions. They are replaceable tenures, awarded for 20 years.

There are currently 828 active woodlots that include about 546,000 hectares in British Columbia. In 2005, woodlot licensees generated an estimated $183 million in economic activity in B.C. and harvested just over three million cubic metres of timber. Each woodlot generates jobs in planning, harvesting, road construction and maintenance, reforestation, silviculture and small-scale timber processing.

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Media contact:	Sophia Proctor Public Affairs Officer Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-4592	Brian McNaughton General Manager Federation of BC Woodlot Associations 866 345-8733 www.woodlot.bc.ca
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