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Part of Timber

Timber damage assessment

Timber damage compensation on Crown land, billing rates, assessment tables, and resources on timber damage assessments.

On this page:

Overview

Much of Alberta’s forests on Crown land are designated for timber harvest by the forest industry. The Alberta government grants forestry companies and individuals the rights to cut trees on this land under a Forest Management Agreement (FMA), timber quota, or timber permits.

If the lands are no longer available for forest use following the approval of certain public land dispositions under section 95 of the Timber Management Regulation (TMR), compensation for the value of the trees and/or area impacted is payable to the Alberta government for lost revenues.

The TMR section above prescribes timber dues and other charges that are payable in respect of timber that is cut, damaged or destroyed under an authority granted by the Crown, other than a timber disposition under the Forests Act.

These other charges are commonly referred to as the Crown share of “timber damage assessment” and are distinct from compensation that FMA holders are entitled to for withdrawals by the minister “for disposition to users other than the Crown” under provision 6(3)(a) of an FMA.

For example, if an oil and gas operation is approved for a disposition within a designated FMA area, the trees are no longer available for harvest. In order for the Alberta government to receive timber dues on the trees and compensation for the loss of forest area, the disposition holder must pay the compensation due. The compensation value is calculated using Alberta’s Timber Damage Assessment (TDA) tables below.

Crown TDA billing rates

The Alberta government bills only for:

  • its share of the coniferous and deciduous TDA values
  • the appropriate associated coniferous or deciduous salvage timber dues

FMA holders bill separately for reasonable compensation that they are entitled to under provision 6(3)(a) of every FMA agreement.

The Government of Alberta‘s policy is to use pricing information as submitted by the Joint Management Committee and as posted on this web page for its own use in billing industrial and commercial land users for timber damages incurred through the issuance of dispositions under the Public Lands Act.

The Joint Management Committee has provided the following for inclusion in the 2024-25 TDA tables:

  • For coniferous timber, the standing timber value is $19.58 per cubic meter.
  • For deciduous timber, the standing timber value is $3.45 per cubic meter.

Current Alberta government billing rate table and information:

TDA tables

Overview of 2024-25 tables

The tables provide the provincial average TDA values calculated for each FMA and for non-FMA lands and used in the billing rate calculations.

The information is collected from the Alberta forest industry through surveys on the value and volume of private timber sales transactions and logging costs. The data collection, analysis and table updates are undertaken at the request of the Joint Management Committee (JMC).

The JMC directs the development of the survey and the methodology for the tables using data from:

  • timber auction prices
  • private sales
  • cost data

Read the Alberta Joint Energy/Utility and Forest Industry Management Committee (JMC) – Terms of Reference.

Exceptions

Peat harvesting

Peat harvesting activities occur predominately in areas that do not support timber harvesting. As such, an applicant for a public lands disposition that authorizes peat harvesting activities may request the amount assessed under section 95(2) be set to zero for the proportion of the disposition within the non-contributing land base, as determined by the director. Applicants must submit a shape file with the disposition boundaries to the Forestry Division shared tenure mailbox (fp.foresttenure@gov.ab.ca) prior to applying for a public lands disposition.

Geophysical

TDA values are set to zero for low-impact seismic programs where:

  • program average line width is 2 metres or less, and
  • no category of line width – new, source, receiver – is greater than 2.75 metres

Download the Geophysical Program – Timber Damage Assessment Calculation Form.

All activity must use best practices, including:

  • meandering avoidance
  • line of site to be a maximum of 200 metres
  • avoidance of merchantable timber where and when possible

Failure to achieve best practices will result in the line being billed at the full rate regardless of the line width. This general practice has been in place since 2009.

The Crown TDA payable for a Geophysical Program is based on the TDA table rates in effect at the time the exploration program was approved. TDA is payable and owing at the conclusion of the exploration program.

Contact the Alberta Energy Regulator for more information on Geophysical Final Plans.

Note: Only the director designated under the Timber Management Regulation (section 147) may relieve an industrial operator from salvaging timber. Contact your local forest area office for further information.

Contact

Connect with Forestry and Parks:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Email: fp.foresttenure@gov.ab.ca (for general questions about TDA and the billing tables) 
Email: fp.cirbs@gov.ab.ca (for TDA billing or assessment inquiries)