Potential policy reforms for a “more exotic” Canadian forest sector: Comparing Canada's plantation policies with those in Australia, New Zealand and the United States

• Published in: Forestry chronicle Vol. 91; no. 5; pp. 560 - 572
• Main Authors: Anderson, Jay A, Lucker, M. K, Campbell, Hawley N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Institute of Forestry 01-10-2015
• Subjects: carbon sequestration; forest plantations; forest policy; forest products; forests; markets; planting; private lands; public lands; purchasing; timber production; trees; New Zealand; Canada; Australia; United States
• ISSN: 0015-7546; 1499-9315
• DOI: 10.5558/tfc2015-095

Though Canada remains a global forest products competitor, timber production globally is heading towards the use of exotic plantations, and Canada is not following this trend. Instead, Canadian forest policy is structured with the goal of replacing its “natural” forests with forests of similar attributes. While growing these natural forests is difficult to justify financially, intensification with exotic plantations may increase financial returns. Therefore, an alternative approach would be to reform policies in an attempt to promote intensively managed plantations of exotic trees. In this paper we address four policy and/or market constraints currently restricting the establishment of exotic plantations in Canada: (i) restrictions on planting exotic trees on public land, (ii) low financial returns to forest plantations on private and public land, (iii) low or no payments from sequestering carbon with plantations on public and private land, and (iv) prohibitions on foreign firms to purchase private land. We analyze each constraint by describing the current policy situation in Canada. We then explore policies from other countries, mainly Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. These policies, compared with current policies in Canada, suggest potential approaches for facilitating a “more exotic” forest sector.