FILET MIGNON AND GROUND-BEEF OR COST-SHARING IN PUBLIC FORESTS

The new Quebec public Forests law, voted in 1986, has obliged forest e nterprises using the same supplying territory to integrate their activ ities and to agree on cost sharing. Cost sharing of forest infrastruct ures can cause problems and disputes. Until 1986, it was common practi ce for the first enterprise harvesting wood in a territory to build ro ads and bridges and pay for them partially or totally. Trying to solve the problem mentioned above and to correct that unfair practice, many are presently tempted to charge the average cost to each enterprise; this approach is no fairer than the preceding one and even threatens t he profitability of some enterprises. This article proposes a third ap proach that should be more appropriate; it is already used in at least one other activity sector and it is based on the products' realizatio n value; it is familiarly called the ''beef method''. When applied wit h judgment, this approach can be useful to minimize the number of case s of cost sharing under dispute that are now mandatory under the new Q uebec law.