Canfor mill closures spur calls for government action. They include:
- Vancouver Sun’s Derrick Penner: BC communities eye difficult transitions
- COFI’s Linda Coady: Closures underscore need for action to address root causes
- Steelworkers’ Jeff Bromley: Union is devastated. Say Canfor should lose tenures
- Conservative leader John Rustad: NDP forest policies blamed for mill closures
- First Nation Chief Colleen Erickson: Government leaders knew this was coming
- Spar Tree’s David Elstone: Canfor move a premonition of something worse
In other Business news: Tolko curtails logging to get inventories in line; Jasper’s wildfire will cost insurers $880 million; and CN Rail loses appeal of BC wildfire penalty.
In other news: FPAC responds to ENGO report of forest carbon emissions; BC’s forest watchdog releases report on Quadra Island old-growth; Oregon targets forest for wildfire reform; and understanding carbon-water tradeoffs in the Pacific Northwest.
Finally, four aged and scarred reformers ruminate over the future of BC’s forested lands.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Vanderhoof Mayor Kevin Moutray has watched the deteriorating conditions of B.C.’s forest industry gather, but it was still a shock to learn that Canfor will shutter its mill in his town of 4,500. …He added Vanderhoof is now pinning its hopes on the transition plans that Canfor and the B.C. government committed to to diversify its economy. …Canfor’s Plateau mill in Vanderhoof and its Fort St. John operation… become the second and third sawmills that Canfor has closed this year and the fourth since the start of 2023. Canfor, working with the United Steelworkers will set up transition offices in both communities to work on “an employee adjustment plan,” according to Mina Laudan. …With the closures, however, United Steelworkers representative Jeff Bromley said opportunities within the company will be slimmer. …“By the end of the year, they’re going to have no other mills in the north. …He’s pushing government to take away some of the timber harvesting rights that Canfor still holds.
Canfor announced Wednesday it would close its sawmills in Vanderhoof and Fort St. John, B.C., by the end of the year. …Canfor blamed the mill closures on “increasing regulatory complexity, high operating costs and the inability to reliably access economically viable timber.” …Fort St. John Mayor Lilia Hansen said the city was “deeply shocked and saddened” by Canfor’s announcement. “This news is a significant hit to our community and the families directly affected,” she said. Brian O’Rourke, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1-2017 in Prince George, B.C., said the job losses would hit hard for Vanderhoof and Fort St. John. …O’Rourke pointed a finger for the continued mill closures at the BC government. “We had a forestry summit a number of months ago in Victoria where three of the largest unions came together, and we pointed out to the government all of the faults and things they needed to do,” the president said. “And since that time, it’s been crickets.”
VANCOUVER, BC — Due to persistent weak lumber markets, Canfor Corporation announced it will reduce production at its southern US operations. Canfor will indefinitely curtail one shift at its Darlington facility in South Carolina, and reduce operating hours at its Estill, South Carolina and Moultrie, Georgia locations. The company will also implement curtailments across other southern US operations to better align with market demand. These changes will reduce lumber production by approximately 215 million board feet on an annualized basis. “The changes we are making today will better align production capacity in our US operations with current market conditions,” said Lee Goodloe, President, Canfor Southern Pine. “We regret the impact these changes will have on our employees and their families.” The Company will continue to evaluate conditions on an ongoing basis and adjust operating rates to align with market demand. 
While the BC Interior timber harvest in 2024 has been trending upwards, current levels are just too low and costs are too high to continue operating these northern interior mills. The BC government is focused on the immediate response to workers and communities, but it needs to be thinking about where this “foundational industry” is heading. …Since the NDP came to power in 2017, some 30 sawmills have been impacted, representing an estimated reduction of 35% of BC’s sawmilling capacity. …As big of an impact that Canfor’s announcement represents, it is actually just the canary in the coal mine. …
The recent U.S. decision to increase softwood lumber duties to nearly 15% is a blow to Canada. …Since 2017, Canadian lumber producers have paid more than $9-billion in duties. Many Canadians would be surprised to learn that Nova Scotia bears a heavy portion of blame. …The province of Nova Scotia… invests considerable effort to produce the benchmark information that it then shares with the United States. …Few Canadians know that softwood lumber produced in Nova Scotia is exempt from the U.S. duties. When U.S. lumber producers petitioned the U.S. government for the duties, they presented data on Nova Scotia’s timber pricing to support their allegations that other Canadian provinces were subsidizing producers. While Nova Scotia has benefited from securing its exclusion from the U.S. duties, other Canadian provinces bear that heavy burden. …It sets a dangerous precedent where a Canadian province collaborates with a foreign government at the expense of other provinces. [to access the full story a Globe and Mail subscription is required]
EDMONTON — The Insurance Bureau of Canada says the wildfire that tore through Jasper is the second-most expensive one in Alberta’s history for insured losses. It says initial estimates suggest more than $880 million in insured damage was caused by the fire. The 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta resulted in inflation-adjusted insured losses of $4.4 billion and was the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history. About 25,000 people were forced to flee Jasper National Park and the town on July 22. …More than 350 buildings in Jasper were destroyed, representing a third of its structures.
California is chipping away at developing new statewide rules to remove plants, mulch and other flammable materials within 5 feet of buildings and structures in fire-prone areas, the Board of Forestry confirmed this month. This proposed set of guidelines would also forbid that ubiquitous backyard feature — a wooden privacy fence. This rule lumps existing flammable fences into the same category as new construction. “We’re already getting calls on that,” Arbor Fence Manager Cassidy Everitt said. The Sonoma fence construction company uses redwood in at least 75% of its business No date is set on when the upcoming defensible space guidelines will be finalized or implemented, California Board of Forestry spokeswoman Edith Hannigan said. Insiders say it’s only a matter of time when insurance companies make the changes mandatory.
After weeks of what one community advocate calls “stringing contractors along,” contract loggers for Tolko will return to work Monday. Angie Clowry is an advocate from a former logging family. Tolko director of communications Kyle Happy confirmed Southern Interior scales have been closed since July 22 to get inventories in line and manage log quality, cost and market risks. …“These decisions are not taken lightly; however, are necessary to sustain our business for the future,” said Happy. Tolko will be taking deliveries on Sept. 9. …Clowry says contract loggers are frustrated over how the situation was handled by Tolko. “I realize they’re a business and they’re forecasting, but they also have to remember that this is money that is super important to all these families. …Tolko also confirmed that contractors in the Cariboo region remain shut down as inventory levels are high.
BRITISH COLUMBIA — It’s as regular as it depressing. Every summer Canada suffers from major wildfires. …After a 10-week wildfire season in 2017, former BC Forests minister George Abbott filed a 108-recommendation report outlining steps the province could take to reduce wildfire risk. …These reports and others highlight challenges between levels of government, better training of firefighters, updated technology and equipment — and “fuel management.” …Canada — and BC — are pretty good at fighting wildfires, but we aren’t very good at minimizing their size, spread and duration. That’s where “fuel management” comes in. …Want an example of how big a difference fuel management can make? Look to Finland, a country that in latitude, geography and tree species is comparable with the B.C. Interior. …And guess what, the “fuel” — the brush and hazard trees thinned out through this common sense practice — is directed to Finnish pulp and paper mills to keep them running and competitive.
