|
|
|||||||
|
  As we approach year end plans are well underway for completion of our member survey and annual program review. On a preliminary basis our top priorities are implementation of new log grades, mitigation of the pine beetle epidemic and expansion of market opportunities in Asia. Clearly these are major challenges as the industry continues to be negatively impacted by softwood duties, a rising Canadian dollar, falling lumber prices and an underperforming pulp and paper sector. I will have more to say about these issues in the future following completion of the Wood Products and Pulp and Paper Advisory Committee Reports to the Competition Council.  John Allan |
||||||||||||||||||
 A new sawmill and the purchase of an Alberta lumber remanufacturing company are part of the expansion plans of Brink Forest Products in Prince George. Earlier this month Brink announced it has purchased Palliser Lumber Sales Ltd. in Crossfield, Alberta, just outside Calgary. The purchase nearly doubles Brink's size, creating a company with nearly 500 employees and production capacity of lumber products of 500 million board feet a year. The purchase of Palliser reflects the overall trend to consolidation in the BC forest industry to achieve economies of scale as well as synergies between companies. It helps boost Brink's purchasing power of raw materials, which includes low-grade lumber and trim ends from sawmills. The combination of the two companies is not expected to result in any job losses, as the idea is to grow the companies. Palliser will continue to operate under its name as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brink. Also in the works is a sawmill, being built on 40 hectares of land at the BCR Industrial Site, expected to be operational in February of 2006. The new sawmill is intended to supply Brink's existing secondary manufacturing plants and secure the supply of raw materials. The mill will include two lumber cutting lines - one for large logs and another for smaller logs. It will produce about 150 million board feet a year on two shifts and create 100 jobs. For wood supply, Brink is hoping to access the increases in timber made available as a result of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. At the end of 2003, the company announced it had bought Pleasant Valley Remanufacturing, located in Houston, which produces wood blocks that are the feed material for finger-jointing. In 2004, Brink added a pair of finger-joint manufacturing lines at his operations in Prince George. For more information go to the Brink website: www.brink.bc.ca |
 West Fraser was founded in 1955 when three brothers, Henry H. Ketcham Jr., William P. Ketcham, and Samuel K. Ketcham, acquired a small lumber planing mill at Quesnel, B.C. From 1955 to 1979 the business expanded through the acquisition of a number of sawmills and related timber rights in the interior of British Columbia. Starting in 1979 the company expanded by adding pulp and paper, plywood and panel board operations in BC and Alberta. The company now employs over 7000 people in over 30 operations in BC, Alberta and the US and is the third largest lumber producer in North America. |
|
With a desire to learn more about natural resource management and the many forestry related careers, 35 students in grades 10 through 12 joined industry and ministry of forests representatives in the Bulkley Valley for two days of intensive hands-on field workshops covering a wide array of topics including wildlife management, fish management, traditional land use, archaeology, forest health, harvesting, timber cruising, fire suppression, silviculture and soils and ecology. "We offer this program to high school students to give them a first-hand, realistic look at forestry with the hope that some of these bright young students will consider forestry as a career option when they enter college or university", noted Chris Lear, COFI's northern operations Forest Education Manager. "I think this is a fine initiative," remarked Rick Budhwa, archaeologist and owner of Crossroads Cultural Resource Management in Smithers, BC. "Not only is it incredibly rewarding for the students involved, but for the teachers and workshop presenters as well. This program offers an integrated and effective approach to learning natural resource management, in addition to leaving everyone with lasting memories." New to the program this year was a 'Career Evening' where industry, government and educational representatives joined the students for dinner and then shared their career and 'life' experiences with the students. Each student then interviewed two of the professionals to gain a more in-depth understanding of the various professions. "I enjoyed the interaction with the students", explained Brain Balkwill, General Manager for West Fraser, Houston Forest Products Operations. "I was impressed by their enthusiasm and desire to learn about career opportunities in the natural resource field. If this is a cross-section of the future natural resource leaders our forest will be in good hands." COFI's northern operations Natural Resource Management Career Programs are held throughout the north in partnership with member companies. Annually these camps attract some 210 academic students and their teachers from seven northern school districts. For more information on this program or other forest education programs offered across north-central BC, please contact Chris Lear, Forest Education Manager, COFI North by phone (250) 614-4352 or e-mail: lear@cofi.org |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Over 65 guests received Bill and Chris' presentation at the George Dawson Inn and then held both speakers for over 20 minutes of questions. The lively discussion reflected the Peace region's keen interest in the expansion of this new sector of the forest industry in the Peace region. The presentation can be viewed on the COFI website at www.cofi.org\library_and_resources\presentations\2005\pdf\PeaceValleyOSBCommunityDinner2005.pdf. Dawson Creek mayor Wayne Dahlen welcomed dinner guests to the city noting the value of the COFI dinners for both industry and communities throughout the Peace region. COFI community dinners are an important component of COFI's community relations program and are held annually in various locations throughout the central interior. The dinners draw together regional municipal government, chamber of commerce, service club and business leaders to hear about forest industry issues of the day and to network with senior forest industry representatives. For more information contact Doug Routledge, COFI Northern Operations (ph: 250.564.5136 e: routledge@cofi.org) |
Peace Valley OSB is a 50-50 joint venture between Canfor and Louisiana-Pacific. Annual production is expected to be 820,000 msf at 3/8" thickness. The mill boasts the world's largest OSB press of its type. The 8 million pound press required state-of-the-art, first ever design and engineering. At full production the mill will produce enough OSB to fill 18 boxcars a day and the equivalent to build 75,000 moderate size homes a year. This represents about 40% of Canada's new housing starts a year, from one OSB mill! The new plant will consume about 1.1 million cubic meters of aspen and cottonwood per year. 127 salaried and hourly staff and employees will operate the mill while another 300 workers will be employed in harvesting, hauling and silviculture. At the peak of construction as many as 587 workers were on site on any given day and over 1,750 workers have helped build the new mill through the various phases of construction. The project has produced some record breaking safety stats including over one million person days of construction with zero lost time accidents. The new mill is designed with three redundant processing lines, state-of-the-art technology and will be energy self sufficient except for electricity. For more information on Peace Valley OSB contact Kevin Brown at: (250) 962.5005 or by email: kevin@kbcommunications.ca |
|
|
  On October 28, 2005, the Department of Commerce is expected to release its response to the October 5, 2005 Decision of the NAFTA Panel review of the final determination in the CVD investigation. If the Panel's instructions are faithfully implemented it is the view of the Canadian parties that the CVD rate will fall below 1% and that alleged Canadian subsidies will be de minimus. As a result the CVD Order should be revoked and cash deposits returned. The NAFTA Panel Decision of duty refunds remains long overdue. For more information please see the following websites: BC Lumber Trade Council: |
|||||||||||||||||
Financial Managers: half-day option: learn the impact of compressed air optimization on your company's bottom line. For more information, visit: www.bchydro.com/business/identify/identify27118.html |
|
|
|
 BC forest sector representatives, Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Transportation, trucking associations, WCB, RCMP, ICBC, the Coroner's Office and many others will be coming together in Vancouver on October 27 and 28 to follow up on the Prince George Forestry TruckSafe Summit held in June. The Vancouver meeting will finalize the Forestry Truck Safe action plan for the five focus areas identified at the Prince George meeting: Responsibility and AccountabilityEnforcement and Compliance Education and Communications Roads and Maintenance Vehicles and Technology Forestry TruckSafe is one of the key initiatives of the BC Forest Safety Council whose mandate is to eliminate deaths and serious injuries in the BC forest sector. For more information about Forestry TruckSafe and the BC Forest Safety Council go to the website: www.bcforestsafe.org or |
||||||||||||||||
