The deputy chief forester has ordered Teal Cedar to harvest more second growth timber on Moresby Island, or face an eventual reduction in its allowable annual cut.
Ken Baker made the order as part of the new cut determination for Tree Farm Licence 47, which covers areas of Vancouver Island, the mainland, and Moresby Island. The licence is held by TFL Forest Ltd, but the Moresby Island operations are run by Teal Cedar.
Overall, Mr. Baker upped the allowable annual cut for the tree farm licence to 780,000 cubic metres, effective Aug. 1. Moresby Island's portion of the cut remains at 100,000 cubic metres a year, of which at least 40,000 cubic metres must be second growth.
If the company were allowed to continue cutting only old growth timber, it would completely deplete the remaining timber in 17 years, Mr. Baker said, according to Forest Service calculations. The company has not been harvesting any second-growth timber in recent years.
"I am comfortable that future timber supply in this management unit is in fact robust, provided that the rising supply of second-growth timber is utilized," Mr. Baker wrote in his cut determination. "However, given the relatively small amount of remaining unconstrained old-growth timber, and given the great uncertainty about whether second-growth harvesting will indeed begin in earnest, I am loathe to increase the current sanctioned harvest rate."