September 10, 2026
Following up from earlier stories CFURadio aired covering a forestry partnership between Saik’uz First Nation and the District of Vanderhoof, and an industry retrospective with local entrepreneur John A. Brink. It left another question unanswered, of whether their approach was similar to that of the Area Based Management approach that BC Forestry Minister Ravi Parmar referred to in a conversation with Mr. Brink. Fortunately we were able to follow up and ask Mr. Parmar that question directly over the phone.
While the collaboration does have a number of things in common with the concept of Area Based Management, as opposed to Volume Based Management plans, Mr. Parmar stated in relation to the inadequacy of the province’s current Volume Based Management strategy, “I probably wasn’t as clear as I should have been on the John Brink Podcast. I don’t think we should just switch from volume based to area based management. I think we must transition from volume to area based management.”
He went on, “I don’t believe volume based will help support the future of this sector, and in fact I think it is a detriment to the success of this sector, and is leading to the demise of this sector.”
Though alluded to during our conversation it has been revealed since our interview first by a Tyee article and then by a BC Government issued statement, that forestry management practices in the province are being changed to a version of Area Based Management in the form of three zones.
Beyond challenges that include, but are not limited to, consultation work that will likely be conducted in lieu of shifting the system and integrating public interest tests in transitioning existing tenures, opportunities could arise. The Minister referenced part of his vision, “From a provincial perspective my number one priority is to build a working forest that can ensure that it can align with values of all British Columbians and certainly I’m mindful that tenure reform will be a part of that conversation.” He also mentioned in reference to the concept of a working forest, a personal desire to attain stability, moving away from boom and bust cycles.
Working against that stability are ongoing tariffs and duties affecting the industry, the announcement of which took Mr. Parmar away from plans to visit Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh in August, and since our conversation some subsidies have been announced for BC businesses in need of financial aid.
Amidst a stressed local and provincial economy, these changes will have impacts, stay tuned to CFURadio for more information.
