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

Abstract

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.