Features Forestry Management Harvesting
Mill closures could be on the horizon with less annual allowable cut

Feb. 1, 2017 - With the mountain pine beetle population now being brought down to manageable levels, the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) has also been decreased significantly for British Columbia. The outcome? Mill closures. And less mills means less jobs.

Hakan Ekstrom is the president of forest industry consulting firm Wood Resources International. “More sawmills will be shut down in British Columbia. The question is, will it be three, four, five or six sawmills? And will it be in the next three, four or five years?” he said to Business Vancouver.

The massive beetle outbreak began in 1999 and peaked in 2004 before being brought under control in 2015.

In B.C. alone, the beetle outbreak resulted in more than 16 million hectares of trees being destroyed, according to the B.C. government.

Read the full story by Business Vancouver's Gordon Hamilton.

February 1, 2017  By  Tamar Atik

A tree that has mountain pine beetle damage.