June 26, 2012 - 4:37 PM
VICTORIA - British Columbia's independent forest practices watchdog is raising the alarm about the government's need to restock the province's forests to ensure future timber supplies.
A report released today by the Forest Practices Board says pine beetles and forest fires have ravaged Interior forests and calls on the government to move quickly to plant new forests.
Board chairman Al Gorley says if nature is left to take its course to regenerate forests without restocking, future timber crops will be delayed.
The report says up to two million hectares of Crown forest land could potentially be left insufficiently restocked.
The report says the forest industry plans to plant seedlings for about half-a-million hectares of that land and government has plans to restock up to a quarter-million hectares of forested land.
Earlier this year, B.C.'s auditor general John Doyle reported the province's forests have been neglected by the government.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012