Provincial forest officials have started work on deciding how much wood can be cut in the Lakes Timber Supply Area (TSA), a crucial determination for local mills, other resource users and for the economic base of the Lakes District.

The last annual allowable cut (AAC) was set in 2011 at 2 million cubic metres a year but adjusted downward to approximately 1.6 million cubic metres in 2016 when the Lake Babine Nation was granted tenure and the Chinook Community Forest was created.

AACs are set approximately every 10 years but can be varied depending upon local conditions and circumstances.

Forest officials examine the total forest base, deducting areas and locations for example to safeguard wildlife populations, to account for old growth forests and to protect areas for their visual attributes.

Officials also examine natural and encouraged regeneration to estimate new growth which could then be factored into future logging amounts.

As was the case elsewhere in the interior, cuts were increased in the late 1990s because of the mountain pine beetle epidemic which, in the Lakes TSA, killed an estimated 90 per cent of the pine trees available for logging.

In 2001, for instance, the AAC was doubled to 3 million cubic metres a year and boosted again in 2004 to 3.2 million cubic metres a year to log beetle-killed pine before it decayed to the point it was no longer useful for lumber or other commercial uses.

The current AAC also limited the amount of non-pine logging with the focus then being on logging beetle-killed pine stands to recover their commercial value.

鈥淭he key issue is how to manage the mature non-pine forest while new stands of young pine grow to merchantable size,鈥� then-chief forester Jim Snetsinger said in 2011 in setting the new AAC.

The quantity of beetle-killed pine that can be logged is expected to continue to be a factor in the determination leading to a new AAC.

鈥溾��. While a significant amount of dead pine remains on the land base, the contribution of both total pine and dead pine to the total harvest is declining, which suggests that trees killed by the mountain pine beetle are nearing the end of their shelf life,鈥� reads a comprehensive report on the Lakes TSA released by the province last month.

鈥淭his is consistent with the previous estimation of shelf life for the Lakes TSA 鈥� which was 15 years,鈥� the report adds.

It鈥檚 this report which is now forming the foundation for the new AAC.

Forest officials are now preparing an analysis of the data report which is expected to be ready this December for public review and comment, indicates the provincial forests, lands, natural resources and rural development ministry.

Once released the public comment period is 60 days with open houses to be scheduled.

鈥淭he chief forester will likely have an allowable annual cut (AAC) rationale by summer 2019,鈥� the ministry stated.

The new AAC is important to Hampton Lumber鈥檚 two mills in the area, Babine and Decker Lake.

Accommodations within the timber supply made by the provincial government provided the company with the security of supply for it to rebuild the Babine mill destroyed by an explosion and fire in 2012.

鈥淭imber supply is a critical issue for all sawmills in the interior. We are still analyzing the data we recently received related to the Lakes District,鈥� said Hampton Lumber communications manager Kristin Rasmussen in a response to a query from the Lakes District 亚洲天堂.

The AAC is also important to Pinnacle Renewable Energy which has a pellet plant here, one of seven in its network (an eighth is being built in Smithers).

Although not a direct logger, it does rely on residue from mills for its plants so that how much wood those mills process important to its own operations, says company fibre vice president Jason Fisher.

鈥淚n that respect we will be following the discussions around the AAC closely,鈥� he said.

Pinnacle also takes tree tops and other portions of trees that aren鈥檛 viable for commercial sawmill use, Fisher added.

鈥淎nd that is outside of the AAC,鈥� he added.

Overall, Fisher said Pinnacle has the utmost confidence in the chief forester to set an AAC that provides a sustainable base for the forest industry, noting that his company is focused on converting what was was considered waste into a value-added commodity creating jobs and an economic base.

Just last week the company announced it had secured two long-term industrial pellet export contracts, one to a biomass power producer in South Korea and the other to a Toyota-affiliated company in Japan, also for use in a biomass power production plant.