2023 Wildfire Season Economic Impacts to the Forestry Sector - Request for Inventory

Whereas 2023 has been the worst wildfire season in BCs history with over 2.2 million hectares burnt, and close to 1 billion spent to combat the wildfires; And whereas in April 2018 the Province received the AbbottChapman report titled Addressing the New Normal: 21st Century Disaster Management in British Columbia whereby recommendation 104 states: Following wildfire events, promptly undertake timber supply reviews to enable industry response and adaptation to a new allowable annual cut, and to allow BC to better understand and respond to impacts on habitat, fibre availability and community stability.; And whereas there has not been a provincial inventory of land base assets since the 2007 fire season; however, within the last 2 years the Province has undertaken several new forest and land based initiatives such as the Old Growth Strategic Review, Forest Landscape Plans, and BC Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework proposals that are being conducted in the absence of accurate inventory data: Therefore be it resolved that the Province of BC immediately defer its current land base initiatives until a comprehensive inventory is conducted after the 2023 wildfire season recognizing that the impacts of wildfire to wildlife habitat, timber, fish, water, First Nations Reconciliation, and community stability need to be examined and prioritized to understand if the current land base initiatives remain in the best interest of the Province.