Buy & Sell Hardwood Logs in British Columbia

British Columbia is overwhelmingly a softwood province — its 54.4 million hectares of forest are dominated by spruce, pine, fir, hemlock, and cedar — but broadleaf hardwoods make up roughly 11% of the productive forest land base and supply a distinct, valuable Pacific-coast trade. The six commercial hardwoods are red alder, bigleaf maple, paper birch, trembling aspen, black cottonwood, and balsam poplar. Red alder and bigleaf maple are the appearance-grade stars of the coast, while aspen, birch, cottonwood, and poplar are largely interior mixedwood species feeding OSB, pulp, pallet, and veneer streams. See the naturally:wood species library for BC tree profiles.

The forest sector remains a pillar of the provincial economy. In 2024 it generated about $5.44 billion in GDP, supported roughly 49,450 jobs, and accounted for around 21% of BC's total commodity export value, according to the 2024 Economic State of BC's Forest Sector. Nationally, Natural Resources Canada reports the forest sector contributed about $21.6 billion to Canada's GDP in 2024. Hardwoods are a small slice of that total but punch above their weight in furniture, cabinet, flooring, and figured-wood niches that soften the swings of the commodity lumber cycle.

Pricing in BC is reported provincially in dollars per cubic metre through the Coast Log Market Reports and Interior Log Market Values; the CAD $/MBF ranges shown above are conservative conversions for planning, since most North American buyers think in MBF. The standout is figured bigleaf maple — curl and quilt grades are rare (sawyers estimate only a small fraction of trees show figure) and command large premiums from luthiers and exporters. For everyday loads, confirm current mill-delivered prices with a local buyer such as a Vancouver Island remanufacturer before you transact.