British Columbia has a huge wealth of timber resources, currently exceeding 7 billion m3 of mature timber on about 43 million ha classified as productive forest lands. That land area also supports a current volume of over 2 billion m3 of timber in immature stands. How much of the volume will be made available as an annual timber supply for the forest industry is dependent upon a set of policies governing timber harvest regulation, including social decisions on land and resource allocations, such as parks, and required resource management practices, such as environmental protection measures. These policies are considered by the province's Chief Forester along with detailed inventory data when determining an Allowable Annual Cut for each sustained-yield management unit. This paper provides an overview of timber harvest regulation in British Columbia and examines some of the major policy initiatives affecting timber supplies. Results of the recent Timber Supply Review are presented, along with a forecast of timber supply trends over the next several decades. Opportunities for increasing future supplies are identified.

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