Forestry Employment Data in British Columbia
Savage and Associates estimated that in gross terms, 966 cubic meters of timber supported a job in 1980, but 1300 cubic meters were required in 1993. In the major employment area, sawmilling and plywood production, 48% more timber is required to support a job in 1993 than in 1980,' including jobs in management, plants, production, transportation and infrastructure (1993:4). The growth of jobs in silviculture, an increase of 105 %, or 371 jobs, over the 1980 base of 181, was attributable to an increase in activity by the BC Forest Service; that is, they were public sector jobs. An increase of 132 jobs in forestry consulting employment, for a total of 150, was attributable to a pattern of contracting out by forest companies and the BC Forest Service to small, private firms. Road building and maintenance jobs are largely attributable to the public sector as well or are contract jobs paid for by the public purse. Thus much of the increase in employment was at public expense, while the decreases occurred in the private sector. Marchak, M. P. (1995). Logging the globe. Montreal & Kingston, Jamaica: McGill-Queen's University Press, p. 98. Photo: Courtesy of Dr. David L. Adams, Professor of Forest Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho.

The BC provincial government has perpared the Vancouver Island Land-Use Plan to manage the area's development.

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