This summer the Forest For Tomorrow program had trouble coming up with enough proposals to spend $13-million on brushing projects across the province.
This might have been the first sign that industry may not have the capacity or the inclination to the carry the weight of delivering the Forest For Tomorrow program. It may be especially true when the program ramps up over the next three years to spend close to $100-million annually addressing the mountain pine beetle crisis.
As a result the ministry of forests is considering other delivery models including creating a market for program delivery recipients. Under the Forest Investment Account licensees are the prime recipients and they then look after the delivery of the accepted projects either directly or through contractors. But this exclusive licensee model may not work for the welter of FFT projects needed to deal with restoring the province’s forests in the wake of the ongoing assault on forest health.
The WSCA will discuss alternative delivery models at an upcoming FFT workshop later this month. The WSCA is considering a possible role as a program recipient to ensure that available funding is attached to projects creating work created for the silviculture contract community.