District of Clearwater council has made three recommendations to the timber supply analysis for the Kamloops Timber Supply Area (TSA).
The recommendations came after a review of a discussion paper on the analysis by councillor Barry Banford. Now retired, Banford was formerly an operations manager with Clearwater Forest District.
The first recommendation is that the greatest consideration be given to protecting the midterm timber supply by using 2.3 million cubic meters as the annual allowable cut (AAC) for the Kamloops TSA, rather than 2.5 million as in the discussion paper.
This would help prevent a predicted fall-down predicted to happen in about 30 years time, plus give greater stability in the 30 – 80 year timeframe, Banford explained.
Recommendation number two is that every opportunity be undertaken to increase the timber harvesting land base. At a minimum, the current level should be maintained.
This would include a careful review of the parks and miscellaneous reserves, old growth management areas and mountain caribou habitat.
“Maybe there are reserves that aren't needed anymore,” Banford said.
Taking or adding land from the timber harvesting land base has the biggest impact on decreasing or increasing the harvest levels, he explained.
The third recommendation is that, prior to the next timber supply review, actual field information be obtained to identify the site productivity projections.
How much timber a particular site can produce also has a big impact on harvest levels, Banford explained.
While some site field data has been collected, it was not enough and so computer modelling was used to fill in the gaps.
Having better data would mean better predictions in the next timber supply analysis, he said.
According to the discussion paper, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations regularly reviews the timber supply for all timber supply areas and tree farm licenses in B.C.
The Kamloops TSA review examines the impacts of current legal requirements and forest management practices on the timber supply, economy, environment, and social conditions of the local area and province.
B.C.'s chief forester will determine a new AAC for the Kamloops TSA based on the review.