Many say that the controversial practice of exporting logs without processing them provides the lowest possible value for B.C. communities and starves the mills and the livelihoods that rely on timber. Others counter that log exports are essential to the industry – that domestic sawmills are unwilling to pay the actual cost of harvesting the…
Provincial policies are being blamed for job loss in rural communities. There is a concern that not linking timber harvesting to processing lumber has led to mill closures in the Interior. “I would like to see resources process where they are harvested,” said Hank Cameron, Cherryville director, at a Regional District of North Okanagan meeting…
Two industry leaders in the auction business have joined forces with the announcement that Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers will acquire its former rival IronPlanet for approximately US$758.5 million. Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. is the world’s largest industrial auctioneer and a leading equipment distributor, notes a media announcement issued Aug. 29. Ritchie Bros. is one of…
It’s been 10 years since Domtar’s Cornwall location closed its doors but a committee of past employees have joined together and planned a special reunion and fundraiser to bring everyone together again and to benefit the United Way. The fundraiser gets underway at 5:00pm on Friday, September 30 at the Army Navy Air Force Club…
The Bank of Canada is belatedly acknowledging that the export recovery isn’t evolving as fast as predicted amid weak growth beyond Canada’s borders. The central bank opted once again Wednesday to keep its key overnight interest rate at 0.5 per cent, where it has sat since July, 2015. Many economists now say an eventual rate…
The College of New Caledonia is getting $1 million to create a long-term industrial research chair in forest health, whose fact-findings could help the forestry industry. The school has collaborated with the regional forest industry in central BC to create the position, and the five-year grant is being funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering…
After years of environmental destruction, China has spent billions of dollars on the world’s largest reforestation program, converting a combined area nearly the size of New York and Pennsylvania back to forest. The government-backed effort, known as the Grain-for-Green Program, has transformed 28 million hectares (69.2 million acres) of cropland and barren scrubland back to…
A landmark ruling in 2004 by the Supreme Court of Canada paved the way for the Haida Nation and other aboriginal groups to gain control over resources on their ancestral lands. For the Haida, that meant the richly timbered Haida Gwaii archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands….
The mayor of The Pas is offering a massive tax relief to the owners of a nearby paper mill in an effort to stave off a closure that could cripple the town’s economy. “We can’t just sort of sit back and see how things fall out, so we are going to take the lead and we are literally…
In 2012, I took a fateful trip to Cortes Island — a northern gulf island three ferry rides away from Vancouver — to document the Cortes community’s fight to fend off an impending logging operation by coastal timber giant Island Timberlands. Community members took us deep into the woods privately owned by Island Timberlands and showed…