Proposed Forest Management Plan 2027-2037
Canfor has negotiated a Forest Management Agreements (FMAs) between the Government of Alberta and other forest companies under the Alberta Forests Act. Forest Management Agreements provide companies with the right to harvest and reforest trees on Crown land and ensure that forest management practices are carried out in a sustainable manner. The original FMA was signed by Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. on April 2, 2014 has since been transferred to Canfor (Whitecourt) Forest Products Ltd., which is valid until April 30, 2034. This is an area based tenure and is made up of 5 parcels of land commonly referred to by Canfor as Virginia Hills, Ft. Assiniboine, McLeod, Blue Ridge and Whitecourt. The total size of the FMA area is 472,628 hectares. Please see the attached map.
As per the terms of the agreement Canfor is required to complete Forest Management Plans (FMPs) to ensure that we are managing the forests in a sustainable manner. The current FMP expires April 30, 2027 and Canfor is in the process of renewing the FMP for the 2027-2037 term. The process of FMP development takes approximately three years to design and create.
Forest Management Plans contain details of where, when, and how trees on Crown land in Alberta are harvested and managed sustainably. The plans are prepared with input from the public, Indigenous communities, and other stakeholders and are subject to approval by the Government of Alberta. Forest Management Plans are technical documents that describes forest management objectives, strategies, and commitments. They identify intended met commitments such as: methods of harvesting, reforesting, and managing timber resources within the Forest Management Agreement area. The forest management planning time frame (also referred to as the 'planning horizon') is 200 years; this generally represents two full life cycles, or 'rotation', for trees in the FMA area. Since Forest Management Plans embrace the concept of sustainable forest management, they also look beyond sustained timber yield to consider non-timber resource values and uses. Some of the non-timber values includes fish and wildlife, biodiversity at the landscape level, hydrology and clean water sources, wildfire susceptibility, social and economic factors, as well as insects and disease. All of these parameters are considered when creating a forest management plan. The plan include an explanation of how the forest management strategies will be implemented and how performances are to be measured.
Forest Management Plans are to be submitted to the Government of Alberta every 10 years and this establishes a sustainable Annual Allowable Cut (AAC). The AAC is the volume of timber that can sustainably be harvested from the FMA area for a 200-year planning horizon. The Timber Supply Analysis (TSA) uses computer software to analyze and model various forest management scenarios to aid in establishing the AAC. The TSA also includes a 20-year spatial harvest sequence (SHS), which identifies areas within the FMA suitable for operational planning and harvest activities while maintaining the timber and non-timber objectives identified during the plan. Values, Objectives, Indicators, and Targets (VOITs) ensure that key values will be maintained on the landscape and will be developed using input from the consultation and public involvement process. A draft VOITs table has been included for your reference. The VOITS have not yet been finalised and are still in the preliminary stages. The FMP outlines and and describes how forestry activities will consider other resource users and values on the landscape, how operational plans are linked to strategic plans, how monitoring programs will be implemented, and the evaluation process to assess actual and expected outcomes.
Many portions of the plan are still currently in draft and will be made available as the information becomes available.