Canadian Forest Service Publications
Working together: a reciprocal wood flow arrangement to mitigate the economic impacts of natural disturbance. 2008. Patriquin, M.N.; Lantz, V.A.; Stedman, R.C.; White, W.A. Forestry 81(2): 227-242.
Year: 2008
Issued by: Northern Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 28314
Language: English
Availability: Order paper copy (free), PDF (request by e-mail)
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1093/forestry/cpn017
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Abstract
This study investigates the regional economic impacts resulting from the current mountain pine beetle infestation in British Columbia, Canada, and proposes a mitigation strategy to reduce the negative impacts. The strategy consists of reducing the abrupt timber supply changes in an infested region through a reciprocal wood flow arrangement with an adjacent region less affected by the beetle. Two study areas facing different levels of beetle pressure are investigated: the Quesnel Timber Supply Area (high beetle pressure) and the combined Williams Lake/100 Mile House Timber Supply Area (low beetle pressure). A computable general equilibrium model is constructed for each region and is used to simulate the sensitivity of a suite of economic indicators to various timber supply scenarios for both regions. The results indicate that the negative economic impacts attributed to beetle damage could be reduced under a reciprocal wood flow agreement between the two regions. The degree to which the impacts are reduced in each region depends largely on assumptions about forest regeneration and growth and the terms of the reciprocal wood flow agreement.