The Mayor of Quesnel says he was surprised by the timing of the Allowable Annual Cut and also the final number that was released by the Chief Forester.
Bob Simpson says he, along with many in the industry, were expecting it to be announced after the new Provincial Government was in place and the new Minister was briefed.
And he also feels that the 2.6 million cubic metres that was announced is confusing to the public…
“Rather than getting a green cut that says this is the really commercial available wood that you can get at economically in the Quesnel Timber Supply Area because that number is 1.25 million which is a significant drop from the 2.1 million before the beetle.”
Simpson says it is also well down from the 4 million that we are currently at.
He says the Chief Forester instead rolled in what they call available dead stands of mountain pine beetle attacked wood…
“West Fraser has pulled out of those stands already. Tolko continues to struggle to make those stands economic and they are getting further an further away and getting closer and closer to just falling down.”
Simpson says telling the public that the cut is just 1.25 million cubic metres also helps the City to validate why they are tax shifting away from major industry and why they are looking for operational savings such as going to bi-weekly garbage pick-up.