B.C. Secondary Forest Products Sector Getting Hit Hard by Old Growth Forest Deferrals

Doing more with less and concentrating on high value-added products is the focus of B.C.’s NDP government officials, as they face a shrinking supply of harvestable timber, and the need to protect more old growth forests.

However, the secondary sector is more frightened than enthused by the plan: to protect up to an additional 2.6 million hectares of old growth, about half of which the government says is in the timber harvesting land base. That is because more than half of the wood secondary manufacturers use in B.C. comes from old growth. Secondary manufacturing can include everything from paper mills and remanufactured wood products to wooden fence picket production, often using lower value wood and lumber products.

Brian Menzies, executive director of the Independent Wood Processors Association, noted that 570,000 hectares of timber is now off limits to buyers, and it is having an immediate impact on secondary manufacturers.

“The value-added sector has real concerns, not when the AAC (annual allowable cut) is determined — we have some real concerns right now on the supply of our fiber,” Menzies said. “I can tell you right now, we’re running out. We’re talking months when we’re running out here when businesses are shutting down.”

There is, however, a major disconnect between those who see the forest products industry as the backbone of B.C.’s economy and those who see it as a dinosaur that can easily be replaced by industries like film and TV, high-tech, and tourism.