Canada’s National Forest Week: Forest Heritage and Forests as a Renewable Resource

The Williams Lake Tribune featured (9-22-24) an overview of Canada’s National Forest Week, which occurs every year during the third week in September. This year the celebration runs from Sunday, September 22nd through Saturday, September 28th. The purpose of National Forest Week is to raise awareness about Canada’s forest heritage and ways to value forests as a renewable resource.

The role of the forests in fueling the local economy is also evident throughout the region and in Williams Lake in particular. There are many logging companies bringing fiber to sawmills, plywood plants, and producers of other lumber products and biomass operations such as the pellet plant and power generation plant.

Within the Williams Lake Community Forest there are areas where fuel management and removal of burnt timber are active; there are also some great trails for the public to enjoy as well. First Nations communities are active in forestry with several in the region owning their own companies and partnering with the city and industry on fuel mitigation projects.

During the lead-up to National Forest Week, the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) released an economic study highlighting the role of BC’s forest industry. The study noted that in 2022, the forestry industry engaged over 9,970 suppliers and vendors across BC, resulting in C$6.6 billion in expenditures on goods and services.

“This study demonstrates that when BC’s forest industry is performing well, it benefits communities throughout the province. Without a healthy forest economy, thousands of businesses are impacted,” said Kurt Niquidet, vice president and chief economist at COFI.

Niquidet noted the forest industry has a diverse supply chain that supports businesses across 335 different communities, but said the industry faces significant challenges that threaten its stability and growth.

“These include greater regulatory complexity, higher costs, and uncertainty over access to the land base. The industry also needs to grapple with rapidly changing market conditions, including increased US tariffs on softwood lumber.”

Among the study’s key findings for 2022 were:

• BC’s forest sector contributed C$6.6 billion to suppliers across the province in 2022, through the purchase of goods and services across the supply chain.
• BC’s forest industry works with 9,970 companies and vendors.
• BC’s forest industry is connected to 335 municipalities and First Nations communities.
• BC’s forest industry spent C$326 million on supply chain expenditures with Indigenous-affiliated vendors, with more than 220 Indigenous-affiliated vendors in BC.
• BC’s forest industry has an average spend of C$662,000 per vendor.
• BC’s forest industry had C$1.2 billion of expenditures on logistics and transportation.
• BC’s forest industry had C$23.2 million of total community investments from 2020–22, benefiting more than 1,230 organizations across 165 communities.