Changes to BC forest legislation benefit biomass

Apr. 1, 2010, Victoria – Amendments to British Columbia’s forestry legislation
encourage better use of low-quality timber for bioenergy purposes and improve
wildfire protection. Changes to the scaling provisions of the Forest Act
encourage use of low-grade timber and wood waste for bioenergy purposes.
Previously, only timber could be scaled, but under the changes, bioenergy
products such as wood chips also can be scaled by either volume or weight. The amendment
also allows for scaling to take place at harvesting or production sites, in
addition to scaling stations. Providing flexibility in scaling requirements
allows harvested fibre to travel more directly from the harvest site to the
market place.

Other amendments to the Forest Act:

• Extend the
  timelines for innovative forestry practices agreements, allowing
  government and licensees to further explore these agreements’ potential
  for increasing timber supply.
• Clarify rules for
  redetermining stumpage rates, ensuring these rules operate as intended.
• Clarify the
  mechanism to be used for partitioning allowable annual cuts.

Amendments to the Wildfire Act improve wildfire protection by:

• Extending the
  period for prosecution for human-caused fires from two to three years to
  allow for complex investigations to be thorough and complete.
• Clarifying that
  both people who start or risk starting wildfires can be prosecuted.
• Improving the
  process by which forest companies can recover costs when they support
  provincial wildfire suppression efforts.

Consequential
amendments are also made to the Forest and Range Practices Act and Greenhouse
Gas Reduction (Emissions Standards) Statutes Amendment Act, 2008.

A copy of the bill can be found at www.leg.bc.ca/39th2nd/1st_read/index.htm.