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  The forest industry in the coast region of British Columbia pioneered the establishment of a sustainable forest production system. The basic tenets of its forest management practices are to manage forests and replace them with the same species as are cut, while still maintaining a mature forest base and establishing a complete rotation of harvest. These practices encompass the entire range of sustained forest management activities including silviculture, reforestation and tending the forest to nurture growth and protect against disease and fire. This policy has been a forerunner in the realization of sustainable forest management, the backbone of today’s forest policies in Canada. Characteristically, coniferous trees tend to be shade tolerant when they are young, growing vigorously under tall trees in multi-storied forests. This pattern makes conifers some of the most renewable tree species and well suited for sustainable forest management. Furthermore, the forest management practices employed in British Columbia’s coast forest, in which three seedlings are planted for each tree felled, fulfill a social mission of being a part of the province’s industrial economy that supplies forest-based revenues and employment continuously and reliably without adversely impacting the environment. The Province of British Columbia, which owns 94% of the province’s forest base, has established and enforces a strict Forest Practices Code on all forest companies operating in the province. The level of forest management is high by international standards and meets or exceeds standards set by leading forest management certification bodies.
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