Thank you.
Thank you to our guests today, as well.
As we've had over the last three days, we've had great testimony that definitely is better education than what you can get having an academic who's coming to us in Ottawa, as well. Listening to the local issues and hearing first-hand from those who are living, and making their living, off the shores of the rivers and in their local communities is very important.
It's come up, witness after witness, about the forest practices issues. In British Columbia, invasive species in our forests, whether it's the pine beetle or the spruce beetle, have led to accelerated harvesting.
I know that in this area, you have the spruce budworm and the brown spruce longhorn beetle. Has the harvesting of your forests been accelerated to try to get the infected trees out of the area? Has that contributed to it?
Is that the major issue with your forestry companies' practices, or is it just a matter of history, where your forestry companies have been unchecked? We saw that earlier on in B.C. with clear-cuts and what have you. As we've evolved, our forest practices have had to evolve as well.
What you're talking about today, is that primarily because your harvesting has had to be accelerated because of the infestation?