The status of forestry research in British Columbia

1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 730-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clark S. Binkley ◽  
Susan B. Watts
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
The United States ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Economic Returns ◽  
Research Organizations ◽  
Research Expenditures ◽  
The Status ◽  
Forestry Products

A survey of forestry and forestry products research in British Columbia indicates that the various research organizations in the province (e.g., Ministry of Forests, Forestry Canada, forest products companies, NSERC, and Universities) spent $71.1 million on research in 1991. This amounts to about 0.69% of gross sales, a figure that is less than half the research expenditures by such key competitors as the United States or Sweden. Although the economic returns to forestry and forest products research apparently are high, the failure to allocate more funds to research and development stems from a failure to conceptualize research as part of a larger forest sector strategy. Adopting this "third generation" approach to research planning would insure that research results are actually implemented, and would probably result in appropriately larger expenditures in this area.

scholarly journals The status of and recent trends in forest sector research in British Columbia

1999 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clark S. Binkley ◽  
Susan B. Watts
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Forest Policy ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Forestry Research ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Sector Research ◽  
The Status ◽  
Forest Renewal

In the decade between 1988 and 1998, expenditures on forest sector research in British Columbia have increased substantially in absolute terms but have fallen in relation to the scale of the province's forestry enterprise. These aggregate trends mask important shifts in funding sources and in the specific fields of research that have been supported. The crown corporation Forest Renewal BC has emerged as the dominant source of support for forestry research, clearly displacing appropriated funds with-in the B.C. Ministry of Forests. As a result of falling stumpage fees and changes in forest policy, this source of support is now declining and the long-term security of the Forest Renewal BC research program is in question. At present, expenditures on forestry research are more or less consistent with expenditures on forestry research in other advanced forested jurisdictions, but the anticipated decline in Forest Renewal BC research support belies this otherwise favourable finding. Expenditures on forest products research in the province have not matched their counterparts elsewhere in the world, and recently have declined precipitously. Forestry – forest conservation, management, products and production processes – is becoming ever more complex. Research activity in the province does not appear adequate to sustain the flow of economic and ecological wealth from forests that British Columbians have always enjoyed and have come to expect.

scholarly journals Creating a knowledge-based forest sector

1993 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clark S. Binkley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
Managed Forests ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Knowledge Based

Traditionally an industry based on plentiful natural resources, the forest sector in British Columbia must be transformed to include a far higher amount of technology if its prosperity is to be sustained. Only by embodying a larger technological component in its products and processes can the forest sector offset the economic decline usually associated with the transition from old-growth to secondary, managed forests. Research will also increase the contribution the forests themselves can make to our economic and environmental well-being. Because of its position as a large producer of forest products, effective research strategies for British Columbia (and probably for Canada more broadly) will differ substantially from those pursued by major consuming nations such as the United States or Japan.

scholarly journals Forest Product Trade Impacts of an Invasive Species: Modeling Structure and Intervention Trade-Offs

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey P. Prestemon ◽  
Shushuai Zhu ◽  
James A. Turner ◽  
Joseph Buongiorno ◽  
Ruhong Li
Keyword(s):  
Forest Products ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Spatial Equilibrium ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Spatial Equilibrium Model ◽  
The World ◽  
Nun Moth ◽  
Market Consequences

Asian gypsy and nun moth introductions into the United States, possibly arriving on imported Siberian coniferous logs, threaten domestic forests and product markets and could have global market consequences. We simulate, using the Global Forest Products Model (a spatial equilibrium model of the world forest sector), the consequences under current policies of a widespread, successful pest invasion, and of plausible trading partner responses to the successful invasion. We find that trade liberalization would have a negligible effect on U.S. imports of Siberian logs and, consequently, on the risk of a pest invasion. But, if it happened, possibly through trade in other commodities, a successful and widespread pest invasion would have large effects on producers and consumers over the period 2002 to 2030.

Are forest sector firms maximizing the economic returns from their timber? Evidence from British Columbia

2009 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Nelson ◽  
David Cohen ◽  
William Nikolakis
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Economic Returns ◽  
Timber Supply ◽  
Organizational Behaviour ◽  
Industry Value Chain

Understanding the components of the forest value chain and linkages is essential in designing a system that will maximize the economic value of Canadian fibre. A key part of the system is how firms incorporate the fibre quality and attributes of their timber supply into the decision over what kinds of products to manufacture. The linkage between timber supply and how firms decide to utilize fibre is critically important, especially in Canada, where government policy plays a key role in governing access to fibre. We explore this question by looking at whether firms try to maximize the economic return from their fibre, or instead focus on other objectives such as maximizing the production volume they can generate from their timber supply. We surveyed sawmills and woodland managers in British Columbia in the Fall of 2006 and focused on a particular characteristic—the extent to which sawmills and operations are responding to value-based signals rather than to other kinds of signals. We found that the majority of BC forest sector firms we interviewed are emphasizing volume-based measures on a daily basis, whether they are in sawmill or woodlands operations, and while economic measures become more important as the period lengthens, it is unclear as to how firms reconcile these 2 different types of measures. Key words: organizational behaviour, firm operations, Canadian forest industry, value chain optimization

International trade in forest products: lumber trade disputes, models and examples

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Softwood Lumber ◽  
Background Theory ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Because of the long-standing Canada-United States lumber trade dispute and the current pressure on the world's forests as a renewable energy source, much attention has been directed toward the modelling of international trade in wood products. Two types of trade models are described in this book: one is rooted in economic theory and mathematical programming, and the other consists of two econometric/statistical models--a gravity model rooted in theory and an approach known as GVAR that relies on time series analyses. The purpose of the book is to provide the background theory behind models and enable readers to easily construct their own models to analyze policy questions, whether in forestry or another sector. Examples in the book illustrate how models can be used to say something about a variety of issues, including identification of the gains and losses to various players in the North American softwood lumber business, and the potential for redirecting sales of lumber to countries outside the United States. The discussion is expanded to include other products besides lumber, and used to examine, for example, the effects of log export restrictions by one naton on all other forestry jurisdictions, the impacts of climate policies as they relate to the global forest sector, and the impact of oil prices on forest product markets throughout the world.

scholarly journals Enhancing Forest Technology: Research Priorities of the Southern Forest Sector

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-45
Author(s):  
Eric D. Vance ◽  
Ben H. Cazell ◽  
H. Nick Chappell ◽  
Howard W. Duzan ◽  
Marshall A. Jacobson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wood Quality ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Forest Productivity ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Managed Forests ◽  
Genetic Management ◽  
Industry Research ◽  
Research Organizations

Abstract The southern forest sector has undergone dramatic changes over the past decade, including shifts in land ownership (from integrated forest product companies to organizations with different objectives and time horizons) and losses of forestland to development. The ability to support sustainable biomass production for traditional and emerging markets is at risk because of a decline in industry research infrastructure and because of dilution of government agency and university forest productivity research with other priorities. To assess forest productivity research priorities, a survey was distributed to integrated forest products companies, real estate investment trusts, timber investment management organizations, and consulting organizations based in the South. Environmental services were a top priority for all organization types, cited as a high or very high priority by 74% of respondents, followed by forest management (64%), improving wood quality delivered to mills (57%), and biotechnology and tree improvement (39%). The highest priority individual research needs were to quantify the potential of managed forests to sequester carbon and sustain water quality and biodiversity and to update growth and yield models to account for changing stand, genetic, management, and environmental factors. Respondents rely mostly on university cooperatives and industrial research organizations for both basic and applied/technology transfer research.

Impact of timber-fee increases on British Columbia forest products companies: an economic and policy analysis

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clark S Binkley ◽  
Daowei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Good News ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Average Charge ◽  
Fully Depleted ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Policy Direction ◽  
The Impact

On 14 April 1994, the British Columbia government announced a new stumpage formula that, at then-expected product prices, increased the average charge by about $12/m3 and more than doubled the rate at which stumpage fees change when lumber prices change. Most of the increased revenues are reinvested in the forest sector by a new organization, Forest Renewal British Columbia (FRBC), created specifically for that purpose. Using standard event-study methodologies, this paper documents the net effect of the fee increases and new policy direction on British Columbia forest products companies. After controlling for firm-specific risk and the decline in the Toronto Stock Exchange that occurred at about the same time, the new stumpage policy extracted about $1.0 billion from shareholders of the firms studied, and perhaps $2.4 billion from all licencees (an amount roughly equal to the capitalized after-tax cost of the higher fees). The impact on individual firms is highly correlated with the allowable annual cut (AAC) in replaceable licenses each holds, with an average impact of about $33.3/m3 of AAC. The market appears to have discounted both the good news about offsets in impending timber-supply reductions that the creation of FRBC implies and the reductions in earnings risk that the new stumpage system provides. When added to the increased regulatory costs associated with the new provincial Forest Practice Code, the timber-fee increases appear to have fully depleted the value of holding British Columbia timber quotas.

Mountain pine beetle, global markets, and the British Columbia forest economy

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1313-1321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brant Abbott ◽  
Brad Stennes ◽  
G. Cornelis van Kooten
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
The United States ◽  
Timber Supply ◽  
Trade Model ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Export Tax ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Near Term

A number of near-term timber supply shocks are projected to impact global forest product markets, particularly mountain pine beetle induced timber reductions, a Russian log export tax, and timber supply increases from plantation forests in the Southern Hemisphere and Sweden. We examined their effect on a number of global jurisdictions using a dynamic global forest products trade model that separates British Columbia (BC) into coastal and interior forest sectors. The results suggest that global increases in plantation timber would have negligible effects on BC log and lumber markets, that the Russian tax would have minor effects on this market, and that the beetle-induced timber supply drop would moderately increase BC prices (primarily log prices). In the United States South, lumber and log prices could rise as a result of the mountain pine beetle, while other shocks will have a negligible impact on prices. Yet, lumber production will fall because log prices will increase substantially more than lumber prices. Japan could be impacted much more than other regions by the Russian tax on log exports. In the absence of export taxes, a beetle-induced timber shortage would cause lumber production in Japan to rise (as Japan can access nearby Russian logs), while the export tax would reduce lumber production because log prices rise disproportionately more than in other regions.

Modeling the effect of changing market conditions on mountain pine beetle salvage harvesting and structural changes in the British Columbia forest products industry

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 1806-1820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Schwab ◽  
Thomas Maness ◽  
Gary Bull ◽  
Don Roberts
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Salvage Harvesting

This paper describes the development and implementation of Cambium, an agent-based forest sector model for strategic analysis. This model is designed as a decision-support tool for assessing the effects that changes in product demand and resource inventories can have on the structure and economic viability of the forest sector. Cambium models aggregate product supply as an emergent property of individual companies’ production decisions and stand-level ecological processes. Modeling the forest-products sector as a group of interacting autonomous economic agents makes it possible to include production capacity dynamics and the potential for mill insolvencies as factors in analyzing the effects of market and forest inventory based disturbances. The utility of this model is tested by assessing the impacts of a market downturn in the US forest products market on forest industry structure and mountain pine beetle ( Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) salvage harvesting in British Columbia, Canada. Simulation results indicate a significant medium-term timber supply shortage; reduced stumpage revenues; intensive cost competition among primary wood-products manufacturers; and a large number of insolvencies in the panel, lumber, and pulp sectors.

scholarly journals A Regional Comparison of Stumpage Values in British Columbia and the United States Pacific Northwest

1980 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 225-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Haley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
North West ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Market Opportunities

In this paper, stumpages in British Columbia are compared with those in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States where public timber is sold in highly competitive markets. In 1978, the average stumpage for public timber in the Pacific Northwest was $39.11/m3 compared to $4.58/m3 in British Columbia. Between 1963 and 1978, real stumpage prices in the Pacific Northwest (i.e. net of inflationary increases) showed an upward trend of almost 11% per annum compared to a slight downward trend for British Columbia. Although the appraisal method used by the United States Forest Service is similar to the method used in British Columbia, appraised stumpages for the British Columbia Coast are considerably lower than for western Washington.There is little doubt that the principle reason for higher stumpages in the Pacific Northwest is that all public agencies involved in timber production encourage competitive bidding for standing timber, whereas in British Columbia competitive sales of public timber have been virtually eliminated. Other reasons include tax considerations on the part of firms in the Pacific Northwest with private timber holdings, the higher average quality of the timber resource in the Pacific Northwest compared to British Columbia and the fact that forest products companies in the Pacific North west face better market opportunities, particularly with respect to plywood, than their counterparts in British Columbia. Imperfections in the Vancouver Log Market may partially explain why appraised timber values in western Washington are higher than on the British Columbia Coast.There is good reason to believe that if public timber in British Columbia was sold competitively, stumpages, in many cases, would be bid well above their appraised level and direct Crown revenues would be substantially increased, particularly in those regions of the Province where accessible, high quality stands of timber are in short supply.

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