Bio-energy from Mountain Pine Beetle Timber and Forest Residuals: The Economics Story

In light of the large volumes of pine killed in the Interior forests in British Columbia by the mountain pine beetle, many are keen to employ forest biomass as an energy source. To assess the feasibility of a wood biomass-fired power plant in the BC Interior it is necessary to know both how much physical biomass might be available over the life of a plant, but also its location because transportation costs are likely to be a major operating cost for any facility. To address these issues, we construct a mathematical programming model of fiber flows in the Quesnel Timber Supply Area of BC over a 25-year time horizon. The focus of the model is on minimizing the cost of supplying feedstock throughout space and time. Results indicate that over the life of the project feedstock costs will more than double, increasing from $54.60/BDt ($0.039/kWh) to $116.14/BDt ($0.083/kWh).forest economics, biomass and bio-energy, forest pests

An Economic Analysis of Mountain Pine Beetle Impacts in a Global Context

The economic effects of the mountain pine beetle outbreak in British Columbia are simulated using a multi-region spatial price equilibrium model coupled with a stochastic dynamic updating procedure. The simulation captures expected changes in the B.C. timber supply, growth of plantation forests in the southern hemisphere and an escalating Russian log export tax. The results indicate lumber and log prices will rise in B.C., offsetting some of the economic loss to timber producers. However, on net producers in the B.C. forest industry will experience a decrease in economic surplus.Mountain pine beetle; spatial price equilibirum; trade modeling

Canada-US Softwood Lumber Trade Revisited: Examining the Role of Substitution Bias in the Context of a Spatial Price Equilibrium Framework

In the last two decades, softwood lumber trade between Canada and the United States has been characterized by numerous trade restrictions. Many studies have attempted to quantify the effects of such sanctions, and in doing so, softwood lumber was modeled as a single, homogenous commodity. However, recent research has suggested that this may be a misleading assumption, since not all softwood lumber products are equivalent substitutes. We refer to this problem as the substitution bias, and uniquely address this issue in estimating the effects of trade restricting policies. Using a spatial price equilibrium (spe) model, impacts of the post-sla import duties are estimated and compared to estimates of two alternative policy regimes – an export tax and quota. By controlling for substitution bias, our estimates indicate a larger share of the tariff burden is placed on us consumers, with Canadian producers suffering less injury compared to estimates using the traditional homogenous lumber assumption. In addition, by comparing the net impact associated with the alternative policy regimes, a policy equivalence result is found. Our results suggest that the short-run impact of a trade restriction is largely independent of the policy regime incorporated, with the collection of quota rents or tax revenues determining overall winners and losers.Softwood lumber trade, spatial price equilibrium, lumber substitutability

Implications of Expanding Bioenergy Production from Wood in British Columbia: An Application of a Regional Wood Fibre Allocation Model

Energy has been produced from woody biomass in British Columbia for many decades, but it was used primarily within the pulp and paper sector, using residual streams from timber processing, to create heat and electricity for on-site use. More recently, there has been limited stand-alone electricity production and increasing capacity to produce wood pellets, with both using ‘waste’ from the sawmill sector. Hence, most of the low-cost feedstock sources associated with traditional timber processing is now fully employed. While previous studies model bioenergy production in isolation, we employ a transportation model of the BC forest sector with 24 regions to demonstrate that it is necessary to consider the interaction between utilization of woody feedstock for pellet production and electricity generation and its traditional uses (e.g., production of pulp, oriented strand board, etc). We find that, despite the availability of large areas of mountain pine beetle killed timber, this wood does not enter the energy mix. Further expansion of biofeedstock for energy is met by a combination of woody debris collected at harvesting sites and/or bidding away of fibre from existing users.bioenergy production from wood fibre; mountain pine beetle; competition for fibre

Linking Forests and Economic Well-being: A Four Quadrant Approach

This paper has three main objectives: (1) to investigate whether the four-quadrant approach introduced by Maini (2003) reveals a useful typology for grouping countries by GDP and forest cover per capita, (2) to determine if the framework can enhance our understanding of the relationship between forest cover and GDP per capita, and (3) to investigate why countries in the four-quadrant world occupy different quadrants, and to determine the principal factors affecting country-movement across and within the individual quadrants. The examination reveals that countries can be classified into four broad categories, and that GDP and forest cover per capita have a low but consistent level of negative association. After regressing economic, institutional, social capital and other variables on a country’s occupancy and movement in the four-quadrant world, the results suggest that countries in each quadrant share different characteristics and that factors underlying country-movement varies according to the quadrant being observed. Overall, countries with less corruption and higher education are likely to experience increases in both forest cover and GDP per capita, while countries exporting a significant proportion of forest products have a reduced probability of increasing both variables.Economic well-being, forest cover, institutions, corruption, education

Forests for the New Millennium - MAKING FORESTS WORK FOR PEOPLE AND NATURE

THE WAYS IN WHICH FORESTS ARE PERCEIVED AND USED HAVE CHANGED DRAMATICALLY OVER RECENT YEARS. FORESTS ARE NO LONGER SEEN SIMPLY AS A SOURCE OF TIMBER, BUT AS COMPLEX ECOSYSTEMS WHICH SUSTAIN LIVELIHOODS AND PROVIDE A RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES. IT IS NOW WIDELY RECOGNISED THAT FORESTS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION.Forest, economics, livelihoods

Des Forêts pour le Nouveau Millénaire - DES FORÊTS À GÉRER DANS L’INTÉRÊT DES GENS ET DE LA NATURE

LA FAÇON DONT LES FORÊTS SONT PERÇUES ET LEURS UTILISATIONS ONT BEAUCOUP CHANGÉ AU COURS DES DERNIÈRES ANNÉES. LES FORÊTS NE SONT PLUS CONSIDÉRÉES COMME ÉTANT UNIQUEMENT DES SOURCES DE BOIS MAIS DES ÉCOSYSTÈMES COMPLEXES QUI PERMETTENT À DES COMMUNAUTÉS DE SE DÉVELOPPER ET OFFRENT TOUTE UNE GAMME DE PRODUITS ET DE SERVICES ENVIRONNEMENTAUX. ON RECONNAÎT AUJOURD’HUI QUE LES FORÊTS PEUVENT CONTRIBUER AU DÉVELOPPEMENT RURAL ET À LA LUTTE CONTRE LA PAUVRETÉ.Forêt, économie

Bosques para el Nuevo Milenio - BOSQUES QUE BENEFICIEN A LA GENTE Y SUSTENTEN LA NATURALEZA

LAS MANERAS DE PERCIBIR Y USAR LOS BOSQUES HAN CAMBIADO DRAMÁTICAMENTE DURANTE LOS ÚLTIMOS AÑOS. YA NO SE CONSIDERA MÁS A LOS BOSQUES SÓLO COMO UNA FUENTE DE MADERA, SINO COMO ECOSISTEMAS COMPLEJOS QUE SUSTENTAN LAS FORMAS DE VIDA HUMANA Y SUMINISTRAN UNA GAMA DE PRODUCTOS Y SERVICIOS AMBIENTALES. AHORA ES AMPLIAMENTE RECONOCIDO QUE LOS BOSQUES PUEDEN CONTRIBUIR AL DESARROLLO RURAL Y AYUDAN A ALIVIAR LA POBREZA.Forest, economics, livelihoods

Carbon uptake strategies in the western boreal forest region of Canada : economic considerations

Land use change and forest management strategies for carbon (C) uptake are investigated for the boreal forest of Northeastern British Columbia. Deterministic cost-of-mitigation analysis indicates that afforestation does offer some potential for low cost C uptake. However, alternatives within the existing forest base are shown to be high cost and very limited in scope. These strategies include increasing the rotation length, changing the species, age and quality of harvests and more intensive planting. The uncertainty which plagues the climate change problem cannot be ignored. Strategies to meet C uptake and other objectives using traditional multiple scenarios are compared to one that applies fuzzy measures to uncertainties in timber yield, C targets and policy targets. The case study shows that the arbitrary choice of uncertain parameters, often done when employing multiple scenarios, is not appropriate and thus these uncertainties must be modelled explicitly.Forestry, Faculty ofGraduat