Comparison of Forest Policy of British Columbia and Ontario

Running head: COMPARISON OF FOREST POLICY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND
ONTARIO
Comparison of Forest Policy of British Columbia and Ontario
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1COMPARISON OF FOREST POLICY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ONTARIO
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Complexity......................................................................................................................................2
Major difference..............................................................................................................................4
Public Participation..........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

2COMPARISON OF FOREST POLICY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ONTARIO
Introduction
British Columbia is considered to be on the Western Canada, located in the border of
Pacific Ocean. It is one of the most biologically and ecologically diverse province in Canada.
The forest in the province compose 91% of softwood thereby providing BC almost half of
softwood industry of Canada. The forest governance in BC encompasses about 95% of 55
million hectares of diverse forests which are publicly owned and prioritised for resource
management planning. The foundation of sustainable forest management in BC is considered for
timber supply which is reviewed through independent chief forester for determining the quantity
of wood which may be harvested from the individual province of 70 management units1.
The forest laws and policies of Ontario are directed for sustainable management and
usage of crown forests. This regulation is able to ensure that the forests remain healthy and
provide the adequate benefits to “present and future generations”. The forest sustainability act is
able to outline the way forest management planning, licenses, resources and revenue collection
are maintained. In addition to this, Crown Forest Sustainability Act includes information
management, forest operations, compliance, remedies and enforcement mechanisms. The report
aims to show the difference between the forest policy of British Columbia and Ontario. Some of
the main comparison areas of the report is included with the complexity of the reporting and state
the major differences and public participation2.
Complexity
The main reason for the complexity for British Columbia is due to the political stripe of
the government. Despite of the growth and “sophistication of the forestry, bureaucracy and
capitalists”, forest industry was able to assert their “short-term private economic priorities” over
the longer-term resources management goals of the professional foresters. During the early
stages of forest industry of BC’s, forest industry development was discerned with very limited
1 St-Laurent, Guillaume Peterson, Shannon Hagerman, and George Hoberg. "Emergence and influence of a new
policy regime: The case of forest carbon offsets in British Columbia." Land Use Policy 60 (2017): 169-180.
2 Yung, Yu Ki. "State of Urban Forest Policy and By-laws across Ontario Municipalities." (2018).

3COMPARISON OF FOREST POLICY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ONTARIO
political or economic scope for the advancement in the forestry pertaining to “people’s share”,
which is allegedly a highly competitive and unstable enterprise3.
In the starting of the twentieth century, BC was considered as one of the last timber
frontiers in North America. Much of the timber was in private hands which got alienated with the
railway land grants and the early crown giants. The timberlands were able to return small amount
of annual revenue to the government which has kept the industry well supplied. To capture large
amount of revenue of timber, the government had to adopt policy of allocating millions of acres
for future cutting at low rental charges for this purpose. Some of the other complexities were
evident with licenses changing hands more than once at a price approaching real market value of
the timber, thereby ending up in the possession of large American timber holding firms. The
important concern for the stability of tenure of more than fifteen thousand cutting licenses placed
in private hands by 19074.
Ontario has recognised the process of climate change as a challenge requiring
government action. The climate change strategy is committed to contributing to the global
greenhouse gas emission reductions by the preparation of changing climate policy and
continuing with the research to help assisting for the same and its implications on the
environment. The existence of ecologically functional growth is considered to be an “indicator of
healthy forest ecosystem” and its importance for the wellbeing of future generations5.
A composite forest stand structure such as planting old trees for the ecosite, large trees
along with “wide spacing” and “multiple canopy layers” and rates of the changes in the species
composition is considered to be difficult. It is also difficult to understand the ecosystem
functions such as “stand productivity, nutrient cycling and wildlife habitat” which are considered
to be dissimilar from the early stages of the forest development. In addition to this, the presence
of variability among the living organism from different foundations including the “inter alia
3 Hoberg, George, et al. "Forest carbon mitigation policy: a policy gap analysis for British Columbia." Forest Policy
and Economics 69 (2016): 73-82.
4 Furness, Ella, Howard Harshaw, and Harry Nelson. "Community forestry in British Columbia: policy progression
and public participation." Forest Policy and Economics 58 (2015): 85-91.
5 Zurba, Melanie, Alan P. Diduck, and A. John Sinclair. "First Nations and industry collaboration for forest
governance in northwestern Ontario, Canada." Forest Policy and Economics69 (2016): 1-10.