Further to Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald’s rant about the auditor general’s report on the Forest Industry in B.C. and why Macdonald did not want to give any quotes from the report.

It was because it shows very clearly that B.C, which has approximately, 90 million hectares in total area, of that 90 million, nearly 1/3, mind you 30%, of the province is taken up with parks and protected areas. It shows that in fact, only 22 million hectares are productive land for forestry, that the rest is protected housing, farmland, and parks and parks and protected property including mountains too high to climb let alone walk on.
I imbedded the recommendation of the Auditor General in this letter to the editor at the end for those interested.
As a graduate forester and as a person who has worked in the forest industry for over 35 years. Let me comment on the comments below.
The recommendations I believe are good but what do they really mean?
No. 1, We as a province need a plan. We don’t have one for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that the province has been devastated by the pine beetle.
No.  2, We need to plant more seedlings. Foresters have known and spoken to this for many years.
No. 3 We need to plant a lot of trees to reforest after the pine beetle and to ensure long term viability. Foresters have known that and spoken to this for many years.
No. 4 When I was involved with the forest industry that was part and parcel with the needs of the Forest Service in conjunction with the industry information systems. Foresters / industry / and politicians have spoken to this for . . . . .
No. 5 I cannot even understand what this government speak is speaking about on this recommendation – it is so vague
No. 6. Every forester and industry rep would love to have this happen as it would make everyone’s job easier
So what do the below recommendations really mean, They mean, we need a plan for the short and long term and we need to plant a hell of a lot of trees of varying specie in different areas starting yesterday. They mean we need to monitor what we as society actually accomplish. Ergo, what does this really mean? They all combine to mean that we have to spend dollars and dollars and more dollars.
And what the auditor general does not address nor does Macdonald, is how the hell can we spend these dollars when the province does not have the dollars? How are we as society going to do this task? Raise your taxes by another 15% off your pay check? Does that we mean we drop our shorts to the banks and borrow millions upon millions to plant plant plant? Or…what? I for one don’t know and apparently neither does Norm Macdonald or anyone else in the NDP organization.
But I would venture to say, Stephen Thompson, the Forests Minister, has very capable staff working on finding solutions and has had them doing so for quite a while.
Auditor Generals’ recommendations taken from the executive summary Recommend that the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Nat ural Resource Operations;
– Develop a plan for directing forest stewardship that establishes clearly defined timber objectives and stewardship principles to guide decision-making, actions, time frames and assessment of results.
– Ensure that its investments in silviculture are sufficient to achieve long-term timber objectives, and that they align with stewardship principles and are cost-effective.
– Ensure that restocking activities result in the establishment of forests that are consistent with its long-term timber objectives.
– Ensure that its information systems reflect actual forest conditions in priority management areas.
– Ensure that the collective and individual components of its oversight framework are sufficient to ensure the achievement of long-term timber objectives.
– Develop and implement appropriate performance measures to demonstrate progress towards achieving long-term timber.
https://www.bcauditor.com/pubs/subject/forestry

David R Pacey
Radium Hot Springs

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