Cut Control, probably the most complicated piece of legislation to try to explain and work through. I am sure you have all glazed over while someone explained the ins and outs of cut control.
Basically, cut control is the way in which the Province regulates the amount of timber harvested from a forest tenure. A woodlot licensee is responsible for being in compliance with cut control.
However, cut control is full of contradictions, so sit down and get comfy, here we go:
Cut control is a set amount of volume you can harvest over a five-year period, BUT:
1. There may be volume you harvested that would not apply. There are grade 4 credits, species modifications and other downward adjustments that may apply to your woodlot.
2. The volume on your Waste Survey will also be attributed to your cut control. This will be an upward adjustment.
You don’t need to harvest 100% of your cut control. You can harvest less and you have the flexibility to harvest up to 120%. BUT
3. If you harvest over 100%, the extra volume carries forward to the next cut control period. BUT if you harvest less than 100%, that volume is ‘lost’ as you don’t get that unharvested volume attributed to your next cut control period.
a. In other words: if you have a 5-year cut control of 5000m3 (1000m3 each year of Allowable Annual Cut) and you harvest 4000m3, your next cut control period does not become 6000m3 as the 1000m3 you didn’t harvest isn’t carried forward.
b. If you harvest 6000m3 in your 5-year cut control period, your next period would have a cut control harvestable volume of 4000m3 as the overcut of 1000m3 is carried forward.
4. Exceeding cut control by more than 120% is a finable offence. Exceeding 120% is very serious and the government does not take kindly to overcuts. In fact, recently two woodlot licencees made a decision to disregard cut control and keep harvesting. As a result, the government is looking at increasing cut control fines. In some parts of the province, districts will no longer begin working on approvals for the next cutting permit until the previous cut control period has passed. Please DO NOT overcut.
Cut control includes all the volume harvested during that time period, BUT not really:
5. If your cut control period ends December 31, and you are hauling between December 1 and December 31 of that final year, that volume will be attributed to your next cut control period.
6. You CAN have this volume adjusted back into the cut control period you hauled it, but you need to write letters to the Ministry of Forests to make that happen. Do this BEFORE you start logging, or at least three months prior to the end of your cut control period.
The Ministry of Forests will send you a cut control statement, BUT:
7. It might not be right. READ your statement! If there is an error, you can send in a letter requesting a review. You have 30 days to do this. DO NOT DELAY.
8. Cut control is a bit like a vault, once you are in a new cut control period, and 30 days has passed since you received your statement, trying to make adjustments due to an error is just not possible.
Cut control is for five years, BUT:
9. You can apply for an early termination of cut control. As per section 75.4.1 of the Forest Act, a woodlot licensee has the option to terminate a cut control period early and start a new 5-year cut control period.
10. Make sure you have good professional advice prior to requesting cut control termination.
11. An example of when a cut control reset might be applicable would be:
a. It’s 2008 and you are at year two of your cut control period. You’ve cut two years of volume and don’t foresee a log market for some time. You could reset so that the log market has another 5 years to rebound.
b. A woodlot gets sold. Again, the cut control is balanced (i.e. the number of years that have passed equals the amount of volume logged) and the new licencees want to start with a full 5 years of cut.
Cut Control Includes Grade 4, BUT:
12. If you have Grade 4 that you sell to a facility that is not a sawmill or veneer processing facility you can request to have it removed. This would apply to chipping facilities or pellet plants, to name a few.
a. You need to submit a formal request to your district including the volume, the scale site and your licence details.
b. Make sure you double check that Cut Control Statement to make sure the request was included in the calculation.
Keep Yourself in Compliance Tools:
For more information, I am going to refer you to a handy reference guide that the Federation produced:
https://woodlot.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021.07.19-WL-Reference-Guide.pdf
Cut control is discussed on page 42 to page 46.
There aren’t any checklists to accompany cut control, but here is one for you to use:
- Is there enough volume remaining in your cut control period for your harvest plan
- Does your cut control period end during your harvest timeframe
- Where is that Cut Control Statement Document
- READ the cut control statement
Now for the how-to section. This is less clear than searching for a timbermark, and does not replace a cut control statement from the government. But it is a good place to confirm when you harvested and how much went across the scale. You need to know what type of volume to remove (see point 1 above).
Also, if you are looking at statements over your cut control period end date, you need to consider point 5 and 6 above.
Tap the following link: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/hbs/ . At the top is Harvest Reports. You have two choices, date of invoice and date of scale. Either work unless you are tracking volume across a cut control period. Tap the one of your choice.
Within this screen:
• Change the dates in the Month Billed Interval. You can choose up to a 12-month period.
• Click the Forest File ID bullet at add your woodlot. This should be in a W1234 format.
• Tap Configure PDF Report
– If a new page doesn’t appear, you never logged during those dates or double check your woodlot number.
• On the Report Configuration page choose the following bullets for a basic report:
– Group output by: Licence and Mark
– Detail Lines Displayed: Volume (M3)
– Include Species/Products/Grades Groups: Species and Grades
• Tap SEND PDF REPORT as view PDF only gives you one month.
• Put in your email address twice.
• Wait patiently for an email with a link. If you don’t get one in a couple minutes check your spam folder.
Sorting out your own cut control is a DYI that really should be done by a professional. It’s a bit like doing your own electrical in your house. Just because you watched a YouTube video doesn’t mean you should rewire your breaker box. The above search will get you some rough information for you to talk intelligently with your MoF contact when discussing cut control. Always ask the MoF for a cut control statement.
Bottom line: If you don’t know your cut control position, and you are about to harvest, or are harvesting, request a statement from your Forest District. Do not put yourself in a position where you have overcut.
*Logging truck photo by Freya Logging