A new independent report from the Provincial Forestry Advisory Council (PFAC) finds that British Columbia’s current forest management system is failing to meet a range needs, including communities, First Nations, businesses and the environment.
The report concludes that small, incremental reforms are not enough to address the scale of challenges facing the sector.
Titled From Conflict to Care: B.C.’s Forest Future, the report identifies outdated systems, limited access to trusted public data, and deep structural misalignment as major drivers of ongoing conflict and instability. Decades of layered rules and centralized, top-down decision-making have created a system that lacks the predictability and flexibility needed to respond to today’s ecological, economic, legal and social realities.
“This isn’t about tinkering around the edges or adding more rules,” said Shannon Janzen, co-chair, PFAC. “It’s about rethinking the system as a whole. From Conflict to Care lays out a practical path forward, one that moves beyond elusive short-term fixes toward a system capable of addressing challenges and realizing the opportunities that we actually face.”
At the heart of the report is a shift toward Land Care – moving away from managing forests primarily through timber-harvest targets and toward regionally grounded, area-based decision-making about forests. This approach is designed to improve transparency and predictability, and to better reflect local conditions and regional requirements.
The report notes that the industry is struggling to adapt to declining fibre supply, rising costs and market pressures. While past reforms have added complexity and expense, they have not delivered the long-term stability or transparency communities, First Nations, and businesses need to plan and adapt.
“We heard frustration across the spectrum that the system keeps asking people to endure more process, while delivering less certainty and little change on the ground,” said Garry Merkel, co-chair, PFAC. “This report responds directly to that reality. It sets out a way to move decision-making closer to the land, grounded in transparent information and regional accountability. Stability will not come from preserving the status quo. It will come from changing how the system is built.”
The report highlights this systematic transition as an opportunity to reset relationships, with the land and with people, by supporting place-based approaches that reflect Indigenous Rights and Title, and local knowledge.
Key proposals include creating a transparent, light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-based public forest and ecosystem inventory, and shifting to area-based land management with independent oversight to allow regions to develop co-ordinated plans reflecting local priorities.
The report also outlines pathways to support First Nations in co-designing land management approaches consistent with their governance and responsibilities.
The Provincial Forestry Advisory Council stresses that meaningful change will require co-ordinated and focused implementation. Piecemeal action is unlikely to succeed. From Conflict to Care provides a structured transition toward a more stable, accountable, and responsive land management system, one designed for today’s realities and the long-term care of B.C.’s forests.
The full report, From Conflict to Care: B.C.’s Forest Future, is available for download here.
