Fibre Supply

The Northern Interior region of British Columbia covers about 55 million hectares (58% of the province) and 25 million of those hectares are forested. Most of this forest land is publically owned and is comprised largely of Spruce, Pine and Sub-Alpine fir (SPF) softwoods. Annual harvest levels in BC are well under 1% of the available forest area and all of these areas are immediately reforested.

Adapting to the harsh climate of the region, the SPF species naturally develop long, slender, thin-walled cellulose fibres, which make them especially valuable for high-quality lightweight printing papers, high-strength thin specialty papers, packaging and laminates.

CPLP purchases the majority of its fibre requirements from Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (Canfor). It sources the remaining 30 % through fibre supply agreements from other BC firms. Canfor has an allowable annual cut (AAC) in BC of about 8.5 million cubic meters, about 10% of the total BC AAC. All of Canfor’s forest operations that supply CPLP are independently, third-party certified to the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Sustainable Forest Management Standard. This insures that other important forest values, such as wildlife habitat, watershed control, medicinal and recreational are considered in Canfor’s forest management planning.

CPLP gives preference to suppliers who can supply fibre that originates from forest operations that are certified as sustainably managed to one of the three primary forestry certification standards. See Forest Certification. CPLP has an established goal of achieving 85% of its fibre supply from certified forests by 2014.