Daily Archives: January 18, 2019

There has been growing concern in the forestry industry over raw logs being shipped out of the province and processed there. That has led to a decrease in jobs and fears that more job losses would come in an industry which was once the backbone of B.C.’s economy. In addition to making changes to ensure bids on timber sale licences are independently made, Horgan is also working on business-to-business relationships between BC Timber Sales, major licensees and First Nations.

 

VIDEO: The new plan aims to increase the amount of B.C. logs that are processed in-province. Nadia Stewart looks at what the B.C. government thinks it can do to reinvigorate the sector.

David Elstone

The province has vowed to keep raw logs in B.C. after unveiling a two-year plan to revitalize forestry along the coast. In a room filled with loggers, Premier John Horgan unveiled policy reforms aimed at incentivizing companies to process raw logs in B.C., with the goal of bucking a decades-long trend of local mill closures and increased log exports. …TLA executive director David Elstone said he was hopeful some of the changes the government is making will benefit the industry, but he says he’s unsure of the economics when it comes to curbing log exports. “There’s no markets. There’s no domestic processing facilities that are able to utilize that fibre.” said Elstone, noting that log exports make it economically feasible to harvest second growth wood. “There’s businesses that are based on the current parameters,” he added. “We need to know how it’s going to work.”

Vaughn Palmer

VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan announced measures Thursday to begin revitalizing the coastal forest industry by reducing log exports and increasing domestic production. A tall order to be sure and Horgan acknowledged as much. …The premier drew applause by pledging to reform the existing “fair market rate test” for payments to logging contractors. The test is regarded as anything but fair — indeed close to ruinous — by the truck loggers themselves. …But with the good news out of the way, the premier was met with less enthusiasm when outlining steps the New Democrats will be taking to implement their longstanding opposition to log exports. …Mindful of the need to proceed carefully, Horgan set no targets. …This time last year, Horgan suggested the New Democrats might bring back “appurtenancy,”…But that possibility was soon disavowed as outdated and unworkable by his own forests minister.

A recent audit of Skeena Sawmills found five cutblocks in the Kitimat area were in non-compliance with provincial regulations governing silviculture. At issue was the planting of seedlings outside the allowable elevation zone. The finding by the Forest Practices Board was the only fault discovered in a random audit last summer to ensure the company’s practices are in line with the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. Planting seedlings in the wrong elevation can potentially lower their overall survival and productivity rates. Skeena Sawmills’ woodlands manager, Greg Demille, says the seedlings were placed about 80 metres outside the proper elevation zone. The contractor responsible is no longer employed by the mill, due in part to the error. “It wasn’t very far outside the zone, so we’re quite confident the trees there will survive and grow as they should,” Demille says. “Aside from that, it [the audit] was a great experience.

The B.C. government has extended its log export orders for Northwest B.C. by another six months, allowing coastal logging contractors north of Vancouver Island to export a large share of their harvest. But “raw log” export policy is about to change for all producers who export logs from B.C. Crown land, Premier John Horgan said Thursday. …Horgan announced a revitalization plan with five goals, including rebuilding solid wood and pulp milling to process more wood in B.C., improving harvest efficiency, tightening up timber bidding systems to make sure bids are independently made, and auditing private forest land logging. …Cabinet orders for log exports out of the Haida Gwaii, Mid Coast, Nass, North Coast and Northwest Interior timber supply areas were extended Thursday, but only to July 2019. …The northern regions have been subject to relaxed log export rules for many years, due to a lack of mill capacity within economic reach of remote areas. 

Premier John Horgan revealed on Thursday the pillars of a “conscious and deliberate strategy” to curtail exports of minimally processed lumber. The goal: to rebuild the province’s solid wood and secondary forestry industries, and to turn profits from processing abroad into investments in BC. “The changes that were made by the BC Liberals have enabled log exports to be the easiest way to make quick money. We’ve seen Canadian companies investing in U.S. mills, not investing in BC. We want to turn that around,” the premier told attendees of the 76th annual TLA Convention. “Shareholders are happy with that, British Columbians are not.” …The plan will include reforms to raw log export policies, as well as carrot-and-sticks measures to eliminate surrogate bidding, penalize waste, encourage fibre production and discourage high grading – a type of logging where the highest grades of timber are selectively removed from a forest.

To create and support good jobs in British Columbia’s coastal forest sector, government is making policy changes to increase the processing of B.C. logs on the coast and to reduce wood waste by redirecting it to B.C.’s pulp and paper mills. The changes, as part of the Coast Forest Sector Revitalization Initiative, were announced by Premier John Horgan at the annual Truck Loggers Association (TLA) convention. Government is taking steps to reverse a systemic decline that has taken place in the coast forest sector over most of the last two decades. …Effective July 1, 2019, the fee charged for log exports will be revised to be based on harvest economics. New criteria for log exports from certain geographic areas, based on local harvesting economics and subject to engagement and consultation with First Nations, will be developed. Changes to waste policy are designed to redirect … wood waste on the coast … to pulp and paper producers and the bio-products/bioenergy sector, supporting CleanBC’s renewed bioenergy strategy.

Photo @ForestechTim

VANCOUVER — Plans are in the works to rebuild the wood and secondary timber industries in British Columbia by ensuring more logs are processed in the province, said Premier John Horgan. …The actions will reverse a systematic decline that has taken place in the coastal forest sector over the past two decades, he said, adding the plan will be implemented through a series of legislative, regulatory and policy changes over the next two years. …This will be a phased-in process and will apply to new sales through B.C. timber sales programs, he said. …TLA Executive Director David Elstone said the announcement addresses growing concerns about forest management on the coast. …The B.C. Green caucus said in a statement that widespread mill closures, large-scale exports of raw logs, growing amounts of useable waste fibre left at cut locations, intensifying wildfire seasons and pest outbreaks are all challenges the government must take seriously.