Prince George Woodlot Association Thinning Manual
Project Title: PG Woodlot Association Thinning Manual
Recipient: Prince George Woodlot Association
Theme(s): Cariboo
Awarded Amount: $10,500
Project Period: 2025
Description: Funding will support completion and distribution of a thinning manual targeted towards Woodlot Licensees across BC, designed as a “grassroots field manual” for those without access to commercial thinning committees. The manual is unique and differs from Provincial Guidance documentation such that it provides a strategy for the field worker to identify stands for thinning (e.g. it builds skills to determine if a stand should be thinned or left to grow longer) and advice on how to choose and manage the harvesting contractor. The distribution of the manual will be under the umbrella of Woodlots BC and their website, publications, social media platforms and conference.
FINAL Report:
The following is based on final reporting by the grantee.
February 10, 2026
Our project was to edit and update a Thinning Manual and to distribute the manual to woodlot licensee throughout the province via the Woodlots BC website. We are pleased that it will be available on SIP knowledge base SIPex site.
This manual provides information to woodlot licensee, contractors and others interested in forest management to fill a knowledge gap. It provides information is an easy to read/understand document. The original manual was written by Industrial Forestry Services Ltd. (IFS) for the Prince George Woodlot Association (PGWA).
This updated version of the thinning manual provides clarification and information that will be helpful for woodlot licensees throughout the province, not just within the PGWA area. Additional work has contributed to a completed literature review, a new Silviculture section and new basal area section.
A literature review was conducted to ensure the most up to date information was included. As commercial thinning has not been common in the BC Interior, there is not a lot of local information/ data available. As commercial thinning becomes more common, updates to this manual would be advisable.
The manual is written in easy to read/understand language and provides links to websites with more in-depth technical information.
Since we reported in the Halfway Report we have accomplished the following
- Edited the original report
- Re-wrote the section on basal area
- Completed a literature review
- Written the silviculture section
- Had the report proofread by woodlot licensees knowledgeable about thinning
- Edited and reformatted the manual to make it easy to read/understand
- The updated manual is available on the Woodlots BC website
We are thrilled to share this manual with anyone interested in learning more about Thinning in British Columbia. It provides up to date information that will be of great value to people interested in both commercial and precommercial thinning.