Daily Archives: December 2, 2019

Vancouver – As B.C. politicians continue to argue in the legislature about the ongoing job losses in the forest industry, thousands of laid-off workers and the communities they live in are left facing an uncertain future. At 95 million hectares (235 million acres), British Columbia is about twice the size of California. Around 64 percent of the province is forested – amounting to 60.3 million hectares (149 million acres). However, less than 1.0 percent of BC’s forest land is harvested annually. In the 2018 BC Forest Sector Overview – the forest sector was responsible for 32 percent ($14.9 billion) of B.C.’s total exports. The sector is the primary employer in many parts of the province and directly supports over 7,000 businesses and employs more than 50,000 people. Close to 4,000 forestry industry workers have been laid off in British Columbia already, while advocates continue calling for urgent government action to stem the bleeding. There have been shutdowns or curtailments at over 200 mills in the province to date.

Forestry companies have announced closures and production cuts at more than two dozen mills. …A number of forces led to us to this point. They include wildfire devastation, with 2017 and 2018 both setting records for area of forest burned. …We’re also at the end of the mountain pine beetle harvest — a period of high timber cuts permitted to salvage as much beetle-killed timber from the landscape as possible while it was still worth something. …It’s no coincidence that many of the communities closely tied to the recent closures are in the heart of mountain pine beetle country. …Back in 2003, I’d just started working at a forest research lab. …He started itemizing the cascade of the outbreak’s impacts. …Sixteen years later, that catastrophe is still unfolding. …We’ve been confronting many of the beetle outbreak’s consequences for years. We’re now facing the foreseen economic and social consequences.

KAMLOOPS — Howard McKimmon doesn’t know how much longer the forest industry in Merritt can last. “If something happened to our current mill that’s here now [Aspen Planers], the impact on Merritt would be devastating,” said McKimmon, the owner of Howard McKimmon Trucking in Merritt.  Aspen Planers is the only mill operating in the Nicola Valley. It too, however, has been impacted, now down to one shift. Three years ago, Tolko in Merritt shuttered due to a reduction in the annual allowable cut. Only barren land is left where thousands of logs used to sit. [Scroll past the huge banner ad on the site to see the full story]

John Rustad

It seems barely a day goes by without an announcement about layoffs, temporary closures or permanent mill shut downs in British Columbia’s struggling forest industry. …BC Liberal forestry critic John Rustad… “It’s unfathomable to think of the carnage that’s already happened, let alone what will happen this winter.” …”Basically, I would say 80 per cent or more of the coastal forest sector is down,” Rustad said. “It’s not good. It’s really, really tough. …Finance Ministry budget numbers show forest revenues are down 11 per cent so far this year. …Donaldson said the request for relief is before the Ministry of Finance, but he added stumpage rates in the B.C. Interior dropped by 12 per cent in October and 24 per cent on the coast. …Industry spokeswoman Susan Yurkovich said it can rebound but companies need assurances from the government about long-term availability of a timber supply at a reasonable cost.