It’s one of the great paradoxes of B.C.’s declining forestry sector. Large forestry companies continue to divest from B.C. and shutter sawmills and pulp mills, largely due to a lack of access to affordable fibre. Meanwhile, in Coastal B.C., there seems to be plenty of timber available, mostly in the form of second growth. In 2025, only half of the 15 million cubic metres of the coastal available cut was harvested, according to the Truck Loggers Association. Nearly a third of that timber is owned or controlled by Coastal First Nations – about 4.6 million cubic metres. Iskum Investments, a consortium of 16 coastal First Nations, is looking to build a new, state-of-the-art sawmill capable of milling second growth hemlock and fir, at a cost of about $100 to $150 million. The consortium recruited Rick Doman to help them execute the plan, and recently received $1.3 million from Natural Resources Canada’s Indigenous Forestry Initiative to conduct a feasibility study.