Maure J FEMC2007

Getting Beyond the Numbers - A Look at Wood Supply in Canada

Joe Maure, Ministry of Natural Resources, 70 Foster Drive, Suite 400, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, P6A 6V5, Canada, joe.maure@mnr.gov.on.ca
Dirk Kloss, Ministry of Natural Resources, 70 Foster Drive, Suite 400, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, P6A 6V5, Canada, Dirk.Kloss@ontario.ca

The Canadian Council of Forest Ministers’ National Forestry Database Program (NFDP) has a mandate to report on a range of statistics and information relating to forestry activities in Canada, including a national assessment of wood supply. The presentation will provide an overview, by jurisdiction, of the wood supply situation in Canada. It will include the history of wood supply estimation and regulation, the current inventory situation, analysis methods, and issues that influence wood supply determinations. Across the country there is a high degree of consistency in policies, administrative procedures, and technical approaches in the regulation of harvest levels and forecasting of wood supply on provincial lands. However, there is considerable variability in the details of the ways these policies are applied. We will attempt to present a comprehensive overview of the policies, approaches and applications used for AAC determination or calculation across Canada. Some of the findings are:
·AAC regulation (both area-based and volume-based tenures) is governed by provincial legislation,
·AAC levels are reviewed periodically and revised to reflect changes in information and/or practices.
·Major unforeseen changes can trigger more frequent revision.
·AAC levels are enforced with the aid of periodic comparisons of AAC and harvest levels.
·Most provinces establish AAC levels based on a policy of non-declining future wood supply.(exceptions are BC and Ontario)
·Future wood supply is usually evaluated over at least two rotations to capture any impacts associated with the transition to future forest conditions.
·All jurisdictions are moving to more comprehensive public consultation, on both the establishment of AAC levels and the attendant management planning processes.
·All jurisdictions employ accepted wood supply forecasting methodologies that capture key aspects of both stand and forest dynamics and management practices. Stand growth and yield forecasts are based largely on empirically derived volume by age relationships, specific to the landbases in question. Definitions of current forest conditions are derived from provincial inventory sources, which in all cases are updated regularly to reflect disturbance changes arising from harvest or natural disturbances, as well as the natural aging of unharvested stands.

Wood supply forecasts and AAC determinations reflect consideration of landbase withdrawals for non-timber values, as well as impacts that multiple-value management strategies may have on harvesting practices within the net harvestable landbase.

Wood supply and AAC determinations are net of the non-harvest depletions associated with both endemic and catastrophic events. In the latter case, disturbed areas are assessed to determine their contribution to future wood supply.

Wood supply and AAC determinations are based on operational practices that can be currently implemented. The impact of potential new practices is only considered when these practices can be shown to be operationally feasible and their stand-level responses can be reliably predicted.