Forestry & Logging

British Columbia is endowed with a rich forest resource. Forests cover about two-thirds (60 million hectares) of the province’s total land mass. Canada’s wettest forests are located on the Pacific Coast, while the nation’s driest forests are found in the southern Interior.

Forest land includes 25 million hectares of old-growth forest—trees that are at least 250 years old. On the Pacific coast, where fires are rare, trees can live for as long as 1,000 years. In the Interior, where the climate is not as mild and wildfires are more common, trees typically have a shorter life span (120 to 140 years). Major species of trees harvested in the province include western red cedar, which grows in wet, mild climates, and ponderosa pine, and lodgepole pine, which grow in drier climates.

Since 95% of BC’s land base is publicly owned, the management of the forest resource rests largely with the provincial government, which allocates the right to log crown land through the sale of stumpage fees and a regulated annual allowable cut.

Almost all of the wood produced in BC is softwood, used to make lumber, plywood, shakes, shingles, newsprint, and pulp and paper products. In fact, about half of the softwood lumber produced in Canada comes from BC.

Forest products are the province’s most important export commodity, historically accounting for more than half of the total value of BC’s international goods exports. However, the dominance of forest product exports has been eroded in recent years as the value of energy and industrial goods sold to other countries has been rising while forest product exports have fallen. They made up less than 30% of the total in 2008.

The forest sector has faced many challenges in recent years.

The downturn in the US housing market is one reason for the current difficulties in the province’s forest sector. Other challenges include lower prices for forest products, a long dispute over softwood lumber exports to the US (which began in the 1980s and continued until 2006, when the Canadian and US governments signed a framework agreement to end the dispute) and a mountain pine beetle epidemic which has devastated forests in the Interior.

Forest products²⁶ are BC’s most important export commodity, but account for a dwindling share of total international shipments

The pine beetle issue has attracted a great deal of attention, as infected stands of timber have fallen victim to the beetle infestation. However, the effects on the forest sector have not been quite as devastating as was originally feared, since much of beetle-killed wood has been harvested and used. Although the quality of the timber is not quite as high as would it would otherwise have been, it was originally thought that much of the timber would be unusable.

What's included in this industry?

BC’s logging & forest products sector (which includes primary logging and forest services as well as wood and paper production) has developed around harvesting and extracting this valuable renewable resource. Wood is the dominant industry in manufacturing, and paper production is also one of the biggest manufacturing industries. These are discussed in more detail in the manufacturing industry overview. This section concentrates on forestry & logging: harvesting, managing and protecting the province’s forest resource. That includes logging and reforestation services, as well as forest patrols and firefighting. It excludes sawmills, planing and pulp and paper mills, which are part of the manufacturing industry.

What's happened since 1990?

The role of forestry & logging in the BC economy is diminishing

The relative importance of forestry & logging has declined significantly since 1990. The industry currently employs less than 1% of BC’s workers, down from just under 2% at the beginning of the 1990s. Its share of total GDP has fallen from 3% to less than 2% during this period.

The number of jobs in forestry & logging is declining. In 2008, there were 17,400 people working in this industry, only two-thirds the level (26,300) in 1990. The industry’s GDP was 13% lower than in 1990.

These declines are mirrored in the forest-related manufacturing, which have also seen employment and GDP drop since 1990.

What are the most common occupations?

Six out of 10 workers in this industry are in occupations unique to primary industries

Six out of 10 people working in this industry are in occupations unique to primary industries, such as operators of logging machinery, chainsaws and skidders. A significant number are silviculture and forestry workers (silviculture workers plant seedlings, do thinning, pruning and other maintenance of the forests).

Workers in this industry are not all engaged in falling trees or driving logging trucks. Occupations in natural & applied sciences account for a big share (22%) of total employment in the forestry & logging industry. Most of them are forestry technicians, professional foresters or biologists. Trades, transportation & equipment operators (8%) are mainly employed driving logging trucks and operating heavy equipment. One in twelve is employed in a business, finance & administration (5%), or management (3%) occupation.

How many people work in forestry & logging, and how much do they earn?

Total employment in this industry was 17,400 in 2008. These workers earned an average of $25.22 per hour, $3.76 more than the average wage in BC. We don’t have specific data on hours worked in the industry, but for forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas combined, the average work week is 45 hours long.

Wages in forestry & logging are well above the all-industry average

What are the characteristics of the work force?

Most (93%) of the people who work in forestry & logging are employed full time, spending at least 30 hours a week on the job. Eight out of 10 workers in the industry are male.

Seasonal variations in employment are quite significant in forestry & logging

Seasonal variations in employment are quite pronounced in this industry. Employment is usually lowest in the winter months, but ramps up during the spring and summer, before starting to decline late in the year. We do not have specific data for forestry, but temporary employment is quite common in primary resource-based industries.

There is no specific data on union coverage in forestry & logging, but 36% of the workers in forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas extraction have union coverage, about five percentage points higher than the average for all industries (31%).

Unemployment rates are usually higher in this industry

Workers in forestry & logging are more likely to be unemployed than are other BC workers. Between 1990 and 2008, unemployment rates in this industry averaged 13.5%, considerably higher than the 7.8% rate for all industries.

One in four workers in this industry was self-employed in 2008, making self-employment more common in this industry than in the province as a whole. Contract logging (where bigger forest companies hire contractors to do some of their logging) is a fairly common practice in BC.

Six out of 10 jobs in forestry, fishing, and mining, oil & gas extraction are in establishments with fewer than 100 employees

Data on employment by establishment size for forestry & logging are not available. However, it is likely that many of the small establishments in forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas extraction are in the logging or fishing industries. Thirty-three percent of the people working in these industries have jobs at establishments with fewer than 20 people.

Where are the jobs located?

Nearly a sixth of the workers in logging and other primary industries such as fishing or mining have jobs in Vancouver Island/Coast, with similar numbers working in Thompson-Okanagan and Northeast. Another 15% are located in Mainland/Southwest, and these industries are also major employers in Cariboo and North Coast & Nechako. The concentration of jobs in Northeast is likely related to mining, oil & gas extraction activities rather than forestry.

Primary industries such as logging are major employers on Vancouver Island, and in the Northern and Interior regions of the province

What's the outlook to 2017?

It is expected that employment in forestry & logging will grow slightly faster than the average for all industries. However, GDP growth in forestry & logging is expected to lag behind the average increase for all industries in the province.

The industry’s share of GDP is expected to continue to decline