Glenn Sollitt and the federal Green Party have got this one right. Almost. Sollitt, the Green Party candidate for the Courtenay-Alberni riding, sent us a letter to the editor last week, extolling the value of Vancouver Island sawmills. More accurately, Sollitt was railing against raw-log exports. Our sister paper, the Alberni Valley Times, had a…
UCLUELET – Economic and employment opportunities in the Barkley sound region are being enhanced by a new community forest agreement announced today by Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson. The Barkley community forest agreement will have an allowable annual cut of 27,000 cubic metres and an initial term of 25 years. The…
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) says the recommendations by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources on transforming the forest sector will help the industry reach the ambitious goals of its Vision2020. The committee report is calling for continued strategic investments promoting research and development of innovative technologies. This type of support…
In the 60 years since Bob Jordan III joined his family’s North Carolina sawmill business, he hasn’t seen anything quite like the Canadian invasion of the South’s lumber industry. “You didn’t have people coming in from the outside — we never had this before,” Jordan, 82, president of closely held Jordan Lumber & Supply Inc., said…
After the report on June 21st, there were three new fires reported. North bay 4 is under control at 0.5 hectares and is located near Pickerel Bay of Lake Temagami. Cochrane 8 is currently not under control at 4.5 hectares and is located near the far north communities of Fort Albany and Kashechewan. Fire crews…
As mayors across the region are banding together to counter forestry activists, a debate is heating up over whether environmental restrictions placed on the industry to preserve caribou habitat is actually backed by science. Protecting the ranges of Ontario’s woodland caribou herds has been the justification for restrictions on forestry companies operating in the North,…
Unbelievable to hear negative raw log exports comments from Mayor Mike Ruttan and MLA Scott Fraser without facing the facts and reality. Their comments all miss the number one point. The lumber industry is now competitive, and to be competitive, B.C. forest manufacturing WAGES have to come down lower. If our mills cannot produce the…
The mighty Elaho Giant has stood in place since the days when Vikings were settling on this continent, but now a raging wildfire has tested its resilience. The Douglas fir, estimated to be 1,000 years old, is believed to be the third largest of its species in the world by circumference. It would take five…
Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson has responded to the City of Revelstoke regarding the controversial proposed logging in Revelstoke’s cross-country skiing and mountain biking areas at Mount Macpherson. Previously, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) board received a letter that was interpreted as a rebuff of their call for more…
INTERFOR CORPORATION (“Interfor” or the “Company”) (IFP) announced today it has completed the acquisition of a sawmill in Monticello, Arkansas from The Price Companies, Inc., thereby increasing its annual lumber production capacity to 3.2 billion board feet, of which over 40% is in the US South. “We are pleased to extend our US South footprint…