Cost and productivity of alternative harvesting in B.C.'s interior wet-belt designed to maintain caribou habitat

This report documents the costs and productivities of group-selection harvesting of one-third of a stand in an old-growth cedar–hemlock forest in the interior wet-belt of British Columbia while preserving caribou habitat values. The group-selection harvesting was compared to clearcut and single-tree selection treatments. Harvesting costs were strongly influenced by the merchantability of the harvested stems and the criteria for selecting trees to be harvested. The single-tree selection had the lowest cost because of the selection criteria and merchantability while the group selection had the highest cost. The group selection treatment’s harvesting costs were about 22% greater than for the clearcut treatment.