The law in Québec is supposed to give supply priority to private forest owners and to link the price of wood from crown land to sales from private lots. Not many ministers would dare apply that principle to the letter. The area is out of control and the place of privately held forests in Québec is quietly eroding. In Québec, 130,000 private owners supply 20% of the wood being processed. It is still significant.
Industry, forestry workers, mill workers, everyone has received some assistance to get through the present crisis, except the owners. What can be done for these private forest owners? They cannot sell, there is no market. Can we use the time to establish forest management programs designed to increase the value of the forest, like selective thinning, draining and land improvement? Now would be a good time to keep the workers and the equipment working in order to enhance the value of the wood in the years to come, in one or two years, when the good times are back.