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  As the saying goes, the planets lined up on April 13-15 in Prince George for the first Annual COFI Convention. We had great attendance, outstanding speakers and presentations all in the context of a very upbeat mood and positive atmosphere. This is not to say that we do not collectively face many challenges but my sense is, now that we have made progress on softwood litigation and have a Pine Beetle Action Plan in place along with generous provincial and federal funding, that these challenges can be looked at as opportunities. So my thanks to all of you who attended our convention and contributed to its huge success. You have given us an even higher bar to hurdle next year in Kelowna on April 5-7, 2006. If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see next year please let us know.  John Allan |
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 All over the interior of B.C. forest companies are investing in mill upgrades and expansions. Some of the more significant projects that have been announced include Canfor's Plateau sawmill in Vanderhoof that will be expanded to increase annual lumber production to 620 million board feet from 450 million board feet. The project is expected to cost $104 million and will include new technology designed to handle beetle killed logs. West Fraser has announced it will spend $105 million to construct a new sawmill and significantly expand its administrative offices in Quesnel. The new 3-line mill will replace the existing sawmill on Brownmiller Road. The new mill will employ modern technologies to optimize productivity and maximize recovery from beetle killed timber while improving emissions quality. Annual production will be 500 million board feet. |
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 The provincial government has released its Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan. The plan recognizes that this issue has moved beyond being a purely forestry issue and provides a framework to direct provincial ministries and assist coordination between governments, industry, communities and other stakeholders. In addition, the government announced it is providing $800,000 to the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition to help southern interior communities prepare for, and recover from, mountain pine beetle impacts. At the COFI 2005 Annual Convention in Prince George, Premier Campbell announced that the province is providing an additional $50 million in funding for the Northern Development Initiative, including $30 million specifically aimed at helping communities respond to the mountain pine beetle infestation. The Ministry of Forests projects that 80% of the province's lodgepole pine inventory could be killed by the beetle by 2013. For more information go the the Ministry of Forests Mountain Pine Beetle web page: www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/mountain_pine_beetle |
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 Injury The Extraordinary Challenge Committee will hear oral argument in the first week of June with respect to the U.S. challenge of the NAFTA Panel finding in favor of Canada on threat of injury. Negotiations The Canadian and U.S. industries met under the auspices of their federal governments in Chicago on April 4, 2005 to exchange positions and views. Another meeting will be scheduled for May. For more information please see the following websites: BC Lumber Trade Council: www.bclumbertrade.com Government of Canada: www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/eicb/softwood/menu-en.asp Government of BC: www.for.gov.bc.ca/HET/softwood |
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 Forest education in the southern interior has been active with the zone educator positions now filled in the Kootenays, the Cariboo and the Thompson, joining the existing team of Okanagan educators and the COFI South forest education coordinator. In January, the inaugural online "Learn Forestry" Newsletter on the www.learnforestry.com website became a reality, designed to keep those interested in forest education informed on projects and events and to provide a forum for sharing events, ideas and resources. In February a Coastal Pro Day saw teachers and forest educators from the southern interior joining with coastal teachers to tour BCIT's trade shops and woodlot, visit UBC's research forest and learn about post-secondary opportunities in forestry. Two career days in March for Gr. 9/10 and high school students presented career options in the forest industry emphasizing the diversity of jobs, the need for both trades and professional expertise in the industry and the demand for students to enroll in forestry programs to cope with the aging workforce. The ILA forest education van is ready for another busy season and recently made a visit to Kelowna's Family Environment Day and to a Vernon elementary school. It will be touring Thompson and West Kootenay schools and community events and will soon have a forestry summer student as a driver/presenter. Recruiters from BCIT and UBC visited Central and North Okanagan/Shuswap high schools in April in conjunction with their attendance at the ILA tradeshow/mini-career fair, where hundreds of students had a chance to view state of the art industry equipment, tour the forest education van and talk to recruiters from around the province about their forestry and natural resource science programs. This year's feature booth, the Emily Carr Institute, highlighted the wood design option offered within their Industrial Design program. COFI's Southern Operations has joined the Environmental Mind Grind competition as a sponsor. Teams from various school districts in the Southern Interior compete for prizes as they test their knowledge about environmental issues in areas of water, waste, forestry, natural science, air and parks. National Forest Week presentations will take place in April and May as elementary schools in many districts host visiting forestry presenters discussing disease, pests and fire and how they affect the health of our forests . A Mountain Pine Beetle resource package from BC Market Outreach will follow in May as an additional resource for elementary schools with local additions on forest health added by Okanagan forest educators for southern interior schools. For further information on forest education in the Southern Interior, contact Deb Bazett, Forest Education Coordinator for COFI South by e-mail: bazette@cofi.org or by phone: (250) 866-9663. |
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