Friday, May 25, 2007
Page: A18
Section: Comment
Source: Times Colonist
Despite the risks and uncertainties, there is reason to welcome the province's second effort to revitalize the coastal forest industry.
Forests Minister Rich Coleman acknowledges that a major 2004 forest renewal plan has been slow to result in the promised investment and growth on Vancouver Island and the coast. The move to market pricing and reduced obligations for tenure holders has not resulted in the anticipated new, more efficient mills, despite some investment.
Now Coleman says that a new plan, to be revealed next month, will try a different approach. The government hopes to steer forest companies away from old-growth forests, restrict the export of raw logs from Crown land and encourage intensive forest management practices similar to those now in place in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
It is a major shift. The coastal industry has been built on old-growth timber, a highly valued resource. But much of the old-growth forest has been harvested and what remains is harder to access and more likely to be deemed environmentally sensitive. Uncertainty about the future timber supply has made companies unwilling to invest in new mills.
The goal now is to shift the focus to second-growth forests and their smaller, more uniform trees.
For a vision of the proposed future for forestry on the Island, look southward to the B.C. coastal industry's main competition in Washington state.
According to the Coast Forest Products Association, forest companies in the U.S. Pacific Northwest now rank in the top 25 per cent in the world in terms of efficiency. Those productivity gains follow 15 years of retooling to better handle second-growth. For the American companies, the change was largely triggered by a watershed event: The loss of access to old-growth timber supply in order to protect the spotted owl.
Coleman's new policy might constitute the turning point for B.C.'s coastal industry.
The required changes will be significant. Companies will now have to retool and refocus on second growth. Because of the past reliance on large-circumference logs, many companies have been exporting the smaller logs to jurisdictions, such as Washington state, better equipped to handle them.
This is not to say the B.C. coastal industry has been standing still. Over the last three years, companies have spent more than $350 million on equipment upgrades, including about $190 million to improve small-log capacity. In 2002, the largest 29 sawmills cut 3.3 billion board feet per year; in 2006, after four closures and one new sawmill, the largest 26 plants cut 3.5 billion board feet.
Some major questions about the new policy remain. Coleman says that logs exported from Crown lands will be subject to a 15-per-cent export tax. But he has yet to reveal the government's position on the soaring exports from private lands. Operators want a free hand; communities claim that the exports are costing them badly needed sawmill jobs.
Both the province and industry acknowledge changes are needed, but the transition will be controversial and sometimes painful.
However, something has to be done. Coleman's proposed policy changes appear to offer a useful starting point.
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