What Does the Forest User Require from the Forest Manager

The forest users' needs can be stated simply: "A continuous and sustained supply of wood at a constant real cost".Forest manufacturing is highly capital intensive. A pulp mill costing $500 million needs five 65-million-dollar sawmills and five 35-million-dollar logging operations to supply the necessary volume of chips. The total costs $1 billion and $150 million per year must be put back into the business. To obtain the money, there must be not only a secure forest tenure, but for Crown lands, an incentive for wood users to make a solid commitment to forest management.The logger needs a year-round operation with relatively consistent timber types and topography. The sawmiller needs wood of consistent size and quality at an economical hauling distance from the mill. Mills will go under if hauling distances increase year by year, hence the need for total regeneration and rehabilitation of the backlog of NSR Land. The pulp mills require raw material of consistent quality to sell pulp on the open market.Threats to these requirements are lack of regeneration of denuded lands, ever decreasing annual allowable cuts with increased haul distances, and withdrawal of forest land from production.The solution is to provide incentives for the user to manage the forests under contract with the owner. Then there will be long-term management — a time frame not compatible with the fiscal policies of politicians and hence governments. Key words: forest management, forest industry, financial requirements, forest economics.