Copyright © 2001, Canoe Limited 
October 24, 2001

RICHMOND, B.C. (CP) -- British Columbia's key forest industry is bracing for a radical shift in the way it's governed, with self-regulation replacing government micro-management, says the province's chief forester.

 The B.C. government plans to overhaul the mammoth Forest Practices Code next year to give the industry the prime responsibility for meeting environmental goals.

 It's part of the Liberal government's policy of less interference in business, highlighted Wednesday when Forests Minister Mike de Jong also announced he's scrapping Forest Renewal B.C.

 The overhaul is being undertaken at a time when the ministry budget faces a cut of between 20 and 50 per cent.

 But chief B.C. forester Larry Pederson said Wednesday sustainability will continue to be the goal of the provincial government.

 "I believe it is entirely possible to move towards a more results-based code without putting forest values at risk," Pederson said after speaking to a forest-management conference.

 "It isn't a model of putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

 "This isn't a free-for-all. There will still be standards of conduct for forest management in the province. It's just a different way of attaining those standards."

 Preserving the wealth that flows from B.C. forests is a fundamental goal of the government, he said.

 The forest industry generated $18.6 billion in sales in 1999.

 Before the current slump took hold it accounted for one in six B.C. jobs, employing 85,000 people directly and another 115,000 in indirect and induced jobs, he said.

 B.C. forest management was headed for changes because of widespread unhappiness with the existing Forest Practices Code. It was instituted by the NDP government in the mid-1990s under growing pressure from environmentalists to tighten the rules on logging.

 The industry was also unhappy with Forest Renewal B.C., which industry observers found costly and bureaucratic.

 The Crown corporation, set up by the Liberals' NDP predecessors, doled out money from increased Crown stumpage fees for tree-planting in logged areas and to help retrain displayed forestry workers in regions where logging was being restricted.

 It spent $270.8 million in the last fiscal year and its budget for this year approached $290 million, de Jong said.

 "We have concluded that it is not the best delivery model," de Jong said during a televised cabinet meeting in Victoria.

 Forest Renewal will be replaced by a $134-million forest investment account managed by the Forests Ministry, targeting research, value-added wood production and forest enhancement.

 "The majority of that funding is going to be delivered by the private sector," said de Jong.

 Forest Renewal's six regional offices are set to close by the end of March and some of its 100 jobs may be lost, de Jong added.

 A prominent environmentalist was shedding few tears at Forest Renewal B.C.'s demise.

 "I think it started off as a great idea," said Joe Foy, a director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

 "You raised the charge for taking the public's trees and you reinvest it back into the forest from whence it came. But under the NDP government it got way off track."

 Forest companies began clawing back some of the money to fund work they should have paid for themselves, he said. The NDP also turned the Crown corporation into a slush fund to help bolster support in forest communities, Foy said.

 Pederson said the entire B.C. Forest Service is bracing for cuts under a government-wide review, cuts that will likely mean a downsizing of service staff.

 But that doesn't necessarily translate into fewer people on the ground managing the forest, said Pederson.

 "Possibly fewer people representing government on the ground in the forest," he said.

 Pederson said forest companies may need the specialized technical expertise of forest service staff, which means displaced employees may find themselves working directly for the private sector.

 A study by the consulting firm KPMG found logging costs had risen by 75 per cent between 1992 and 1996, with increased regulation being a major factor, said Pederson.

 "We were so focused on the social and environmental aspects we may have lost the balance in terms of the economic component," he said.

 That led to creation of a series of forest-management pilot projects, including seven set up since 1999 to test results-based approaches.

 Those projects have shown enough promise that they'll form the basis for the government's overhaul of forestry legislation next year, Pederson said.

 "We intend to use the information from the current pilots to actually help build the new Forest Practises Code," he said.

 "I think we have enough information to start to move forward. Whether we will take it in one gigantic step or whether it will be a matter of incremental steps remains to be seen."

 Foy questioned scrapping rules-based forest regulation in favour of a results-based approach.

 "It's all very well to say oops, we didn't get the result we wanted, but how the heck do you repair that?" he said.

 "It's way better, whether you're dealing with a lawn mower or your dealing with a forest, not to break it in the first place."

 Forest Renewal B.C. has spent $50 million so far on the pilot programs. Despite its disappearance, the government is committed to investing in research to promote good forest stewardship, said Pederson.

 We're still going to need an environment that fosters innovation and tests alternatives, even to any new model that we're building," he said. Error: Unable to read footer file.