You want me to grow trees? The social implications of biomass crops on the resilience of Quesnel, British Columbia.

Forest-dependent communities in the central-interior of British Columbia are facing an increasingly uncertain future due to ongoing change in the forest industry and more recently because of the mountain pine beetle. The use of forest resources to produce biochemical and bioproducts is seen by many communities and the provincial and federal governments as having potential to help communities adapt to this change. This thesis will focus on the implications of establishing short-rotation forestry crops on marginal ranchland in Quesnel, BC to provide a source of fibre for a biochemical/bioproducts industry. Ranchers in the Quesnel area were interviewed to determine how short rotation forestry crops would affect their current operations, the opportunities and barriers they see to its implementation, and their level of interest in growing these crops on their own land. The majority of ranchers were willing to grow crops provided it was profitable, though they were concerned about losing agricultural land to tree production. If agroforestry methods that integrate traditional crop production with short rotation forestry crops are used, there is potential for ranchers to have another source of income. However, there is also a chance that agricultural land will be removed from food production or excessively regulated. Both of these outcomes would negatively affect ranchers. --Leaf 3.