Showing 1 results

The series consists of management files relating to public sustained yield units. These files document day to day operations and were used for implementing and managing yield policies throughout the province. These records were created between 1956 and 1984 by the Ministry of Forests and its successors. The records were created by the ministry’s central office in Victoria and relate to all areas of the province.

Public sustained yield units (PSYU) were used by the ministry between 1948 and 1978. They were a method by which the ministry regulated harvest rate. PSYUs were an outgrowth of the Royal Commission on the Forest Resources of British Columbia of 1945. This commission recommended that the ministry should establish forest management units that would be managed for a long term sustained yield of timber.

The ministry established 88 public sustained yield units in the province and these are reflected in the records of this series. In 1978, the ministry replaced public sustained yield units with timber supply areas. The 88 PSYU’s were reduced into 33 timber supply areas.

Records contain correspondence, maps, and reports. The correspondence is with ministry staff, other ministries, other governments, businesses and members of the public. The correspondence includes letters about annual cutting rates including information about companies that exceed or do not meet their annual rates of harvesting. There are also requests from municipalities, members of the public and businesses for an increase in cutting quotas.

Files are arranged alphabetically. There is a file for each of the PSYUs in the province. Each file has also been assigned a classification number that begins with the numbers 700-6-1. This classification number was first assigned to the records ca. 1979. Documents in each file that were created prior to 1979 have been assigned a “0” number. The “0” numbers are 7 digit numbers that are part of a filing system that was created by the Dept. of Lands which was a predecessor of Forests.

Ministries responsible for creating these records, and the dates that they were responsible, include:
British Columbia. Dept. of Lands and Forests (1955-1962)
British Columbia. Dept. of Lands, Forests and Water Resources (1962-1975)
British Columbia. Dept. of Forests (1975-1976)
British Columbia. Ministry of Forests (1976-1984)