Overcutting -- The Basics

WHAT IS THE OVERCUT?

Using BC Ministry of Forests terminology, the overcut is the difference between the Long Term Harvest Level and the Allowable Annual Cut.

The Long Term Harvest Level (LTHL) is the Ministry of Forests estimate of the annual rate that managed second-growth plantations will grow after liquidation of old-growth forests. Using computer models, the Ministry of Forests has set the most recent provincial LTHL at 59 million cubic meters annually.

The Allowable Annual Cut (AAC) is the volume of wood that the Ministry of Forests determines should be harvested every year. An AAC is set for every district and represents both a maximum and a minimum volume that license holders are required to cut. The AAC determination is reviewed every five years. BC's most recent provincial AAC was set at 71 million cubic meters per year. The AAC is presently under review in the 37 Timber Supply Areas, with some districts doubling their AAC.

So the province's Chief Forester has set the AAC at 71 million cubic meters and the Ministry of Forests has determined the LTHL to be 59 million cubic meters. This represents a 12 million cubic meter difference between the maximum sustainable level of cut and what is actually being logged in British Columbia.

To picture this discrepency, imagine a wall of wood 12 meters thick, a kilometre long and a kilometre high.

The BC government has known for decades that it has been cutting much more than the Long Term Harvest Level. By promising to grow future forests with tree plantations, the provincial government justifies the immediate cutting of our old-growth forests with an unsustainable Allowable Annual Cut.

The BC Ministry of Forests has a term for what happens when we run out of old-growth forests and must make a transition to second- and third-growth plantations. This is referred to as “falldown” because second- and third-growth plantations produce much less volume and a lesser quality of wood than old-growth forests provide naturally.

Decades of overcutting have meant that falldown has occurred more quickly and more dramatically than expected.

Creative Mathematics?

The LTHL is fundamentally flawed in several key areas. It is highly optimistic in its growth predictions over multiple rotations. The assumption that 2nd, 3rd and 4th growth forests will have the same success regardless of soil depletion, disease, insects and other factors is highly suspect. A truly sustainable cut is likely far lower.

Conversely,the AAC is calculated mainly according to political and economic factors such as how much wood is needed to supply mills or to support the current rate of timber production even if these are not environmentally sustainable.

Socio-economic costs of overcutting: mills close and economies suffer

Ecological costs of overcutting: Loss of biological and cultural diversity

See more on the Overcut