BC’s Forests Minister says the province expects to release a document soon on its findings about the BC Interior Forest Renewal process.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Doug Donaldson says the province has been taking action to ensure B.C.’s forest sector remains competitive and resilient, while also reconciling with Indigenous communities.

“Incredible amount of feedback and engagement that happened over the summer and fall, and so that’s on the horizon,” he said.

“People were also interested in knowing how the worker support programs were going, so overall, people were wanting to get up to date on that.”

Once that document is released, Donaldson says the province will begin shaping policy in the spring, based on the feedback received.

“In the bigger picture, increasing value over volume is a topic. You know people wanting resource development generally and people very concerned about climate. So if you combine those into what wood can do to address both those issues and I think there’s a good message there and a good future,” noted Donaldson.

“The younger demographics especially are really interested in what governments are doing about climate action. And we have CleanBC and we’ve been promoting the use of value added wood in taller buildings for example. So that’s the way we need to go, using wood to store carbon, to replace other materials that are more carbon intensive.”

Donaldson says the Interior Forest Renewal Process comes just months after a similar initiative for the forest sector on the coast.

It’s as the Interior faces its own unique challenges, including the pine beetle epidemic, record wildfire seasons, as well as lower prices for western spruce, fir, and pine lumber.