BC timber appraisals for Land Act and BCER applications

When an appraisal is needed

In BC, Crown timber means timber on Crown land, or timber reserved to the government. Private land is land that is not Crown land.

For energy resource activities, the BC Energy Regulator issues cutting permits under a Master Licence to Cut, and stumpage is payable according to the interior or coast appraisal manual. The cutting permit can be applied for with the energy application, by filling in its Forestry tab, or separately under the Forest Act.

For other projects on Crown land, the applicant must hold a right to occupy and use the land, such as a lease, and applies for an Occupant Licence to Cut through a natural resource district office or FrontCounter BC. Operators cutting Crown timber must report and pay for it, whether or not they use it. An occupant licence to cut that allows both cutting and removing Crown timber also requires waste assessments for merchantable Crown timber that could have been cut and removed but, at the holder's discretion, was not.

Which pricing method applies

This guide follows the Interior Appraisal Manual; coast projects use the coast manual. In the Interior, a cutting authority under a Master Licence to Cut or an Occupant Licence to Cut of less than 10 hectares uses the district's rate in the manual's less-than-10-hectare column.

Master or Occupant Licences to Cut of 10 to 250 hectares, and every linear tenure whatever its size, are priced by area: the area in each forest class multiplied by the rates in effect on the cutting authority's effective date. Non-forest areas have a stumpage rate of zero. The manual also allows the volume estimate to come from a timber cruise completed to the standards of the Cruising Manual. All cutting authorities in a district for the same project, such as one pipeline or transmission line, must be priced under the same section of the manual.

Who signs it

The area-based estimate must be completed, signed and sealed by a Forest Professional registered and in good standing with Forest Professionals British Columbia (FPBC). Cruise plans are professional documents: they are prepared by a registered or associate member of FPBC, or supervised by a registered member. If the cruiser is not a member, a member signs a cover letter saying they supervised the work and accept responsibility for it. At Access Forestry, a Registered Professional Forester reviews and seals every appraisal.

What goes in the package

For an Interior area-based estimate, the manual asks for:

• a map of the harvest area split into five classes: non-forest, immature forest, and below-average, average and above-average mature forest;
• the stumpage calculation, from the area in each class and the rates in the manual's table;
• a species profile with the top three species and their estimated percentages, for the whole cutting authority;
• an estimate of the total merchantable volume.

The classes must be checked on the ground, from the air or on imagery: classing based only on a map exercise is not accepted. Our package adds the shapefile, the maps and the values, ready for the application.

The steps

1. Map the footprint and take out timber reserves on private land: the Regulator does not issue cutting permits there, and asks applicants to leave those areas out of new cut area calculations.
2. Class the area and check the classes on the ground, from the air or on imagery.
3. Have the estimate completed, signed and sealed by a Forest Professional.
4. After construction, submit the post-construction plan within 60 days of completing construction; it is required for every energy resource activity that cleared or disturbed new land, except geophysical activities.
5. The post-construction plan carries the as-cleared areas, which the Regulator forwards to the Ministry of Forests for stumpage billing.
6. At the end of harvesting, a Forest Professional certifies what was actually harvested or disturbed, and stumpage billing is reconciled using the existing classes and that area.

For pipelines, the Pipeline Regulation requires post-construction plot plans within 60 days after the permit holder completes construction of the pipeline and all associated activities.

Avoiding rework

• Inside a woodlot, include the woodlot holder's consent with the application, to avoid delays in the review.
• A smaller area of cut than permitted needs no amendment; it is dealt with through the post-construction process.
• If clearing adds area that has not been classed, the above-average rate is applied to the new area.
• Timber marking must follow the Timber Marking and Transportation Regulation.
• Before wasting cut timber, permit holders should tell potentially interested parties, such as mill operators, forest licensees and local First Nations, its size, species, volume and location.
• Wood waste left on site must be disposed of at the end of the clearing phase or at the end of the summer fire season, whichever comes first.