The B.C. governmentB次元官网网址檚 new log export rules arenB次元官网网址檛 allowing increased log exports, theyB次元官网网址檙e on a path to phase them out and the harvesting jobs that go with them, says a logging company with operations in Northwest B.C.
NorthPac Forestry Group has partnerships with Gitxsan, Haisla and Tahltan Nations, among the Indigenous communities that now control much of the timber supply in the B.C. Northwest. NorthPac CEO Cathy Craig has spoken out about claims from Skeena Sawmills that new log export limits from the region are increasing and threatening its Terrace sawmill with reduced log supply.
The previous governmentB次元官网网址檚 order allowed up to 20 per cent of logs to be exported from the region without offering them for sale to B.C. log buyers. The new export limit is higher, but includes logs that no local buyer wanted to bid on, Craig says in a letter to the Terrace Standard. (Full letter below)
B次元官网网址淣o one can operate under this kind of uncertainty, spending millions of dollars in planning and harvesting, only to find that the purchase offers for the logs from the local sawmill will not cover the cost of harvesting and delivery to them, never mind allow for profit,B次元官网网址� Craig wrote.
B次元官网网址淭hat means harvesting will decline or stop, entrepreneurs will lose business, people will lose jobs, communities will lose revenue. The government has provided a short-term fix to let us continue operating. But our calculation shows we will have zero Order in Council [cabinet approved] export capability within six months.B次元官网网址�
Skeena Sawmills president Roger Keery raised his objections to the new rules in a letter to Forests Minister Doug Donaldson in late July. (Full letter below.)
Keery argued that the changes would lead to more export of high-grade logs from the region, adding to a shortage of marketable logs for his companyB次元官网网址檚 sawmill, the only one still operating in the region.
Craig says Skeena Sawmills has two large forest tenures in the Terrace area and a third one south of Kitimat, but harvested less than half the available timber volume in the past five years.
B次元官网网址淚n the meantime, they have made a habit of threatening to block export sales, and as the sole bidder for this same volume through B.C. Timber sales, they force the harvester to sell them logs at below the cost of harvest,B次元官网网址� Craig wrote.
The forests ministry issued a statement to Black Press last week, saying it is working with Skeena Sawmills and other forest industry businesses to monitor the effects of its export policy changes. The ministry questioned SkeenaB次元官网网址檚 estimates of log exports, noting that log exports are down so far in 2019 compared to 2018.
B次元官网网址淭he minister and premier have both stated that we will be monitoring the effects of the policy changes and if there are unforeseen impacts we will take another look,B次元官网网址� the ministry stated.
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tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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