To ensure accurate monitoring of the amount of Crown timber harvested, as well as collecting the fair market value (i.e., stumpage) owed on Crown wood, it is very important that all Crown harvested wood is tracked and reported accurately. This involves regulating the movement and scaling of harvested Crown timber and the calculation of fair market value.
Crown wood scaling, tracking and timber royalty
Transportation of Crown Timber
The Transportation of Primary Forest Products Act requires that all primary forest products transported in New Brunswick have a supporting Transportation Certificate (TC) indicating the source (e.g., harvest block number), date and time loaded, product, species, destination, license plate number, vehicle operator, offload date and receiver signature.
All TC’s that are to be used on Crown land are identified by the industry (Licensee) to the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development (DNRED) at the beginning of each operating season and accounted for at year end.
DNRED requires all trucks operating on Crown land to have compartments on the outside of the truck cab in which a copy of the completed TC must be placed prior to the truck leaving a harvest block. This control prevents any tampering of the TC while in transit.
DNRED and JPS (Department of Justice and Public Safety) staff routinely inspect trucks carrying timber to ensure that they have a properly completed TC.
DNRED staff conducting a check of a transportation certificate.
Scaling of Crown Timber
When a truck arrives at a receiving mill or wood yard, the wood is scaled (measured) to determine the volume of timber by species and product. The scale of primary forest products is legislated by the Scalers Act and only individuals that hold a N.B. Scaling License issued by the Minister of the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development are permitted to scale timber in New Brunswick.
Mills receiving Crown timber must provide scale information on all Crown wood deliveries to the respective licensee which is then submitted to DNRED.
DNRED also determines the appropriate conversion factors by species and product to ensure accurate volume conversion to cubic metres. These “factors” are calculated based on sampling performed at each mill receiving Crown timber.
A truck crossing the weigh scales at a mill yard.
A scaler measuring a load of wood to determine volume.
Timber Royalties
Subsection 59(1) of the Crown Lands and Forests Act defines timber royalty as a combination of the fair market value and an adjustment enabled by the Private Woodlot Sustainability Act. The royalty adjustment portion of royalties is used to focus improvements on management of the private woodlot forest.
Fair market value of Crown timber is set annually by government. This is recorded in Schedule A of the Crown Lands and Forests Act Timber Regulation. A private land stumpage study completed yearly by the NB Forest Products Commission is incorporated into the government’s determination of Crown fair market value.
The royalty adjustment is prescribed in the Private Woodlot Sustainability Act - Timber Royalty Adjustment Regulation. Most of the timber harvested from NB Crown forests is converted to commodities that trade in various wood product markets. The magnitude of the royalty adjustment is driven by the performance of these commodity markets.
Timber royalty is calculated for each delivery of Crown timber received by a mill. It is the responsibility of Crown timber licensees to collect the proper royalty amount from mills receiving timber from the license using the appropriate royalty rate for a given species and class of timber. DNRED calculates the total royalty owing based on the submitted mill deliveries and invoices the licensee monthly.
Collected royalties from Crown timber by operating year.