B.C. government announces forestry strategy to weather wildfires, tariffs

The B.C. government says it is taking action to safeguard the province’s lumber industry.

The province’s strategy looks to ensure long-term sustainability and employment in the face of wildfires and tariffs by ramping up production.

The NDP says it is expanding BC Timber Sales (BCTS), the provincial industry that manages about 20 per cent of logging on Crown land. Its new focus will be on mitigating wildfire impacts and restoring damaged areas quickly.

With more U.S. tariffs on the horizon, potentially as high as 25 per cent, Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar says the work begins immediately, and the goal is to sustain a harvest of 45 million cubic metres of wood.

“45 million is a number that will support an innovative, diversified, and thriving industry,” Parmar said.

In terms of wildfire management, the project looks to work with local communities, First Nations, and industry partners to thin out high-risk areas, remove damaged trees, rehabilitate rangelands, and deepen its partnership with the BC Wildfire Service.

Parmar says the federal government will also need to play a part, especially if Trump raises the tariff on Canadian lumber imports, which currently sits at over 14 per cent.

“The federal government has not stepped up. It has not done enough. I’ve continued to call, alongside the BC Lumber Trade Council, for federal program investments and trade diversification, focused on lumber,” he said.

He says this initiative is important because the industry’s future is on the line and, should Trump follow through on his desire to cripple the Canadian sector, experts say an additional tariff on timber imports would be devastating for B.C., as 75 per cent of its exports go to the U.S.