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To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (17458)	3/27/2002 11:06:09 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Pulp Friction: Lets yada yada our way through the Canadian woods: "consider this isolated fact: Recent stumpage (the amount of money charged by the forest owner for each thousand board feet of lumber) in the B.C. interior is US$47. The stumpage on the same quantity of wood from a competitive private landlord in the southern United States is $145. Russ Taylor, publisher of the International Monthly Solid Wood Report in Vancouver, says the high U.S. stumpage fee is a function of "greedy [private] landlords" who are sticking it to the U.S. sawmill industry. Whatever the case, the discrepancy in stumpage rates might get resolved if Canada had a private forest management system. The case for privatization, however, grows by the day. The benefits of privatization might soon register with Gordon Campbell's new Liberal government, which is strapped for cash and running up fresh debt. A rough estimate by one industry expert is that the province could sell a third of its forest for maybe up to US$7-billion, roughly equivalent to the deficits the government is expected to run up over the next few years. The numbers come from Clark Binkley, former dean of forestry at the University of British Columbia and now chief investment officer at Hancock Timber Resource Group in Boston, a company that puts together forest privatization deals for institutional investors. Contacted yesterday, Mr. Binkley recalled calculations he made about a year ago. "I don't have the numbers with me, so I'm going from memory here. But if you privatized 20 million hectares in total, which would be about a third of the commercial forest land in B.C., there would be about 3-million hectares on the coast that's worth about $1,000 a hectare at least, or about $3-billion. The remaining 17-million hectares in the interior would be worth $300 a hectare or about $5-billion. And $300 a hectare is a very low number." "the economics of forest operation is the B.C. government's ownership of more than 90% of the province's forests. Residents of British Columbia, along with most Canadians, cling to public ownership as a sacred core of Canadian policy. Forestry is a social program, managed by the government to create community stability and maximize employment rather than return on investment." The benefits of privatization might soon register with Gordon Campbell's new Liberal government, which is strapped for cash and running up fresh debt. A rough estimate by one industry expert is that the province could sell a third of its forest for maybe up to US$7-billion, roughly equivalent to the deficits the government is expected to run up over the next few years.