B.C.’s Forestry Sector: Can challenges be reversed?
Forests provide a wide range of social, economic and environmental benefits at a community or regional level. For us in British Columbia (BC), forests have always been the backbone of our economy. The sector was responsible for 32% of BC’s total exports in 2018. However, when we compare it with previous years, it has been slightly lower. In 2015, for example, forestry was responsible for 36% of BC’s exports and was the highest in the decade before. Are you wondering why such a plummet?
To understand that, let’s look at some ongoing challenges faced by BC’s forestry sector. According to the law of supply and demand, price increases when there is a decrease in supply with no change in demand. Something very similar is happening within the forestry sector. Prices of forestry products, logs in particular, continues to go up due to short supply and is causing the industry to decline as a whole. It is becoming hard for the industry to work with such high prices. If the prices are low and affordable, the quality of the products is not that great. Main factors driving the downturn are structural; sawmills are simply running short of available timber from interior forests decimated by the mountain pine beetle, the effects are expected to last into subsequent forecasts. Once infected, that batch of wood cannot be used for anything. By 2017, the total cumulative loss of pine that could have been sold was estimated at 752 million cubic metres (58% of sellable pine volume).
The trees that are not affected by mountain pine beetles are more likely to be burnt in a forest fire. That too impacts the supply of timber. For example, 2017 accounted for 12,000 sq. km and 2018 accounted for 13,500 sq. km of land in forest fires. These fires impacted many communities and wildlife all over BC. Many houses were evacuated and there were many cases where people lost their homes to the flames. To avoid such catastrophe in the future, BC’s government is working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to trim trees, remove leaves and other debris from the forest floors. All of it has the potential to be fuel for fire. The risk of wildfires continues to grow, especially with the changing climate, as we now get less snow in the winters and our summers are much drier. With the help of additional budgets provided by BC’s government, the next three years have been committed to reforestation and restoration, which can both capture carbon emissions and reduce wildfire risk.
An additional challenge in the sector is the loss of traditional jobs. 25 lumber mills in BC have stopped operating because there is not enough raw material to process. Logs that are harvested locally and should be processed locally, are being sent hundreds of kilometers away from BC for processing. Due to that many workers have lost their jobs and many mills continue to shut down. Workers who live nearby such sawmills are forced to leave when the sawmills are not operating, and the local economies are seriously disrupted due to such sudden changes in demographics. Due to a lack of jobs, people move forcing the housing prices to go down, and crippling the economic system.
With long term planning and strategic thinking, these challenges can be reversed and converted into viable opportunities. Challenges in the forestry sector are real and scary, yes, but there are opportunities that can be investigated and explored. People need to think outside the box though. These opportunities are not necessarily related timber-related products. Perhaps, the opportunities exist in the non-timber forestry products, such as traditional foods. Perhaps, opportunities are around treating forests year-round and managing the wildfire risks. One thing for sure is the fact that forestry is no longer what it once used to be. It could be the cyclical nature of the industry or the changing climate. Neither one helps the situation today! That said, with initiatives like proper land use and economic development planning, communities can take charge of their future and be key players in the transformation of the forestry sector in BC. Through collaborations between the Indigenous communities, federal and, provincial governments and the private sector, we believe that economic, social and environmental challenges seen in the forestry sector can be reversed and made into an opportunity.
Maybe, we just need to look at it from a non-traditional and outsider perspective!