Alberta Timber Damage Assessment and salvage on dispositions

What the TDA is

Much of Alberta's Crown forest is set aside for timber harvest, under Forest Management Agreements, timber quotas or timber permits. If certain approved public land dispositions take land out of forest use, compensation for the value of the trees and the area affected is payable to the Government of Alberta for lost revenue. That compensation is commonly called the timber damage assessment, or TDA.

The legal basis is section 95 of the Timber Management Regulation: timber dues on timber cut, damaged or destroyed under Crown authority other than a timber disposition, plus, in most cases, an amount the director assesses based on the costs of reforestation and replacement. Once the timber dues and any amount assessed are paid, the timber becomes the property of the person who was authorized to cut, damage or destroy it.

Who pays it, and who it is paid to

The disposition holder pays: for example, an oil and gas operator whose disposition sits inside a Forest Management Agreement area. Inside an FMA, the province bills only its own share of the coniferous and deciduous TDA values and the matching salvage timber dues. The FMA holder bills separately for the compensation its agreement entitles it to. For a geophysical program inside an FMA, that can mean an invoice from the Crown and another from the FMA holder.

How it is calculated

The compensation is calculated from Alberta's TDA tables, which give provincial average values for each FMA and for land outside FMAs. The full-value tables estimate the average value of coniferous and deciduous timber damage for each hectare by forest cover type. Those values recognize the timber itself, the annual allowable cut that goes with it and the cost of future reforestation. The averages are prepared separately for the Foothills and Boreal natural regions.

The values come from surveys of the Alberta forest industry on private timber sales and logging costs, directed by the Alberta Joint Energy/Utility and Forest Industry Management Committee. The rates are published in yearly tables; the current Crown billing rate table took effect on July 1, 2026.

Seismic programs

TDA values are set to zero for low-impact seismic programs where the program's average line width is 2 metres or less and no category of line width, whether new, source or receiver, is greater than 2.75 metres. Programs must also follow best practices, including avoiding merchantable timber where possible and keeping line of sight to 200 metres at most; failing them means the line is billed at the full rate regardless of its width.

For seismic, the TDA rates in effect when the program was approved apply, and TDA is owed when the program ends. It is due when the final plan is submitted, and the final plan must be submitted within 90 days of completing program recording. A separate calculation form is completed for each FMA the program crosses.

Timber salvage and decking

Where land is cleared for industrial use in the Green Area, trees that meet the utilization standard must be cut, delimbed and topped, and decked separately from other trees and debris. The standard is the one that applies to the timber disposition overlapping the land; where none applies, it is 15 cm butt diameter, 10 cm top diameter and 30 cm stump height. The director may relieve an industrial operator from salvaging timber.

Within 6 months of clearing, the operator must remove the decked timber and put it to use, or dispose of it by sale or gift. Timber left longer can be forfeited to the Crown after the director's written notice, unless within 30 days the disposition holder gives a written plan that satisfies the director the timber will be removed and used, sold or given away. The person clearing must keep records of all timber produced, sold or transported.

Debris from clearing for pipelines, wells, roads, utility lines and survey lines must be disposed of before construction starts, and within 12 months of clearing at the latest. A forest officer may extend or reduce that time.

FMA and quota holders

Timber from an industrial clearing that the timber disposition holder does not use may still be charged as production against its timber quota or Forest Management Agreement. Before a seismic program starts inside an FMA, the holder must tell the FMA holder and give it a copy of the approved preliminary plan.

How we help

We measure the program's lines by width, check them against the low-impact seismic limits and find any FMA the project crosses. Where the project crosses an FMA, we prepare the request to the FMA holder for staff to send. Where the project crosses a Forest Management Agreement area, we find the overlap and prepare the request to the FMA holder.