LUMBER SUPPLY

Stretching 921 million hectares bordered by the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans - Canada has more than 202,000 kilometers of coastline and is the second largest country in the world. Canada is home to about 30% of the world's boreal forest and, overall, about 10% of the world's boreal and temperate forests. The composition of our forests is about 67% softwood, 18% mixed wood and 15% hardwood. There are 180 indigenous tree species in our forests. Almost half our land about 417 million hectares is forested. Of that, about 235 million hectares are deemed commercial.

B.C.¡¯s land base is 95 million hectares (235 million acres), larger than France and Germany combined. B.C. forests cover 60 million hectares (149 million acres), an area larger than France and twice the size of all the New England states and New York State combined. The forest industry is the heart of B.C. ¡¯s economy yet only one third of one per cent of its vast forests is logged each year. B.C. has the largest forest stock of any province in all of Canada, with about 45% of Canada s total softwood forests. B.C. forest industry harvests a diverse mixture of softwood species, including hemlock, balsam, Douglas fir, western red cedar, yellow cedar and Sitka spruce. Spruce-pine-fir is the largest species grouping and volume of lumber manufactured.

With more than 10,000 million cubic metres (m3) of growing forest, B.C. has one of the world¡¯s largest temperate forests. The forest industry is the heart of B.C.¡¯s economy yet only 1/3 of 1% (or 0.33%)of its forests is logged each year. As owners of this ecologically diverse and biologically important forestland, British Columbians demand strict regulations so they can be sure that environmental, recreational and economic values are balanced and meet local, provincial and global needs.