Local woodlot licences available

Press release –

New woodlots available near Salmon Arm and Cherryville.

VERNON – Three new woodlot licences are available in the Okanagan-Shuswap area as the Province continues to create new forestry opportunities for individuals, groups and First Nations, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced today.

“Woodlot licences create employment for forest workers, from enhancing silviculture practices to value-added manufacturing, while promoting licensees’ long-term relationship with the land,” said Bell. “We are helping our forest sector recover by establishing new markets, new wood products and building a stronger role for small tenure holders and forest communities around British Columbia.”

The largest available woodlot licence consists of almost 1,200 hectares near Cherryville, with an allowable annual cut of about 3,250 cubic metres. Another available woodlot east of Tappen, near Salmon Arm, is 1,110 hectares, with an allowable annual cut of about 2,000 cubic metres, while the third is northwest of Malakwa, 1,128 hectares in size, with an allowable annual cut of almost 3,000 cubic metres. All of the licences may also include private land contributed to the woodlot by the successful applicants.

The new licences are part of more than 60 the Province will offer over the next few years, increasing the total number of woodlot operations in B.C. to 900.

“These licences are opportunities for individuals, groups or First Nations to generate income while being the stewards of local forests,” said Brian McNaughton, general manager for the Federation of B.C. Woodlot Associations. “Woodlots support local business and economies through their contribution and demand for products, services and employment, and these three will have a positive impact in the Salmon Arm and Vernon areas.”

Woodlot licences are small, area-based tenures that combine private land with up to 800 hectares of Crown land on the Coast and 1,200 hectares of Crown land in the Interior, and are managed by individuals, groups or First Nations. Usually, they are replaceable tenures, awarded for 20 years.

There are about 830 active woodlots in British Columbia. Each woodlot generates jobs in planning, harvesting, road construction and maintenance, reforestation, silviculture and small-scale timber processing.

Details on the licences are available online at www23.for.gov.bc.ca/notices/init.do. Applications must be received by 10 a.m. Aug. 10, 2009.

Press release
June 23, 2009
Public Affairs Bureau
Ministry of Forests and Range