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.
Creating a knowledge-based forest sector
