The devastating blow that the softwood lumber dispute has had on trade with the U.S. is leading forest industry stakeholders to seek ways of opening new markets and making existing markets perform to peak efficiency, says the head of the Truck Loggers Association (TLA).
“In the drive to competitiveness, forest companies and the contractors who work for them are fundamentally rethinking the way they do business,” said TLA executive director Jim Girvan.
Girvan was one of many stakeholders attending the 61st Annual TLA Convention and Trade Show held in Vancouver last week.
The three-day conference, dubbed A New Vision, brought together B.C. forest industry players, government officials and First Nations representatives to discuss issues including forest policy, labour relations and trade concerns.
On the final day of the conference Friday, Premier Gordon Campbell announced that B.C. will move to an auction-based approach to pricing timber, a strategy that will be implemented within two years.
Campbell added that up to 45 per cent of B.C.’s total timber harvest will be available through the open market.
TLA president Bob Wood said the move, to be implemented first on the coast and later in the Interior, will help put about 3,500 people back to work.
Meanwhile, other speakers at the TLA convention argued for a new approach towards B.C.’s coastal forests.
“Think about a British Columbia where the forest industry is a strong, thriving industry. One where First Nations play a major role and where there is certainty for investment,” said Judith Sayers, chief of the Hupacaseth Nation near Port Alberni, during a panel discussion on the need to create opportunities for tenure in B.C.’s forests.
Tenure refers to the long-term allotment of tree farm licences, which essentially means the area where they can cut (and replant if necessary).
Sayers outlined many of the concerns that First Nations have with both government and the logging industry. “As First Nations we are last. We are last in everything. We have given up much and we have nothing left to lose.”
She said that many aboriginal rights and titles have not been resolved in British Columbia, and she deplores the current drive to resolve these issues in the courts.
The millions being spent in legal fees could better be used in finding a way to generate co-operative consultation among stakeholders, she added.
Sayers also argued that tenure would help to ensure long-term capital and certainty in the industry for First Nations people.
Other speakers addressed alternative issues surrounding the concept of long term tenure in the forest industry.
Provincial Deputy Forest Minister Doug Konkin noted it is easier than ever to acquire long-term tenure for tree farm licences in British Columbia, and posed an optimistic view of one of B.C.’s largest natural environmental disasters.
“There are 200 million cubic metres of pine beetle-ravaged wood, with those numbers growing exponentially and yearly. We need entrepreneurs to maximize the use of this fibre and take advantage of the significant opportunities there.”
Another form of creative partnership highlighted at the conference was the example of Revelstoke, a city that boasts a tremendous success story with its forests having turned what was essentially a dead economy in 1986 into what is now a thriving public-private partnership.
Robert Clarke, general manager of the Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation, told the conference how the eastern B.C. municipality partnered with local forest companies to successfully operate in the free market.
The principle objective of the corporation was to generate as much economic activity in the local community as possible. Staffing of the corporation itself is minimal, with all forest operations contracted out to local business. Half of the timber assets are shared with industry partners, with the remaining material sold off to the highest bidder.
“What makes this situation unique is that the shareholders of this corporation are citizens of one community, represented by city council,” Clarke said. “In addition to having a profit motive, we must support community objectives and values.”
Clarke noted that every year this community corporation has operated it has done so at a profit, with $6 or $7 million dollars injected into the local economy annually.
The corporation places an emphasis on labour-intensive methods whenever possible in order to encourage local employment, with a heavy focus on sustainable methods to protect the environment. Other issues addressed at the convention included an examination of financial opportunities and the 2010 Olympics as a catalyst for sustainable change.
The 650-member Truck Loggers Association advocates on behalf of independent logging contractors in the coastal region of B.C.
Girvan said the convention is an ideal forum to share information with other companies and stakeholders, “so that we can ensure the local business of our members, communities and First Nations gets out in front of these changes.”
(Karen Dyer can be reached at karen@businessedge.ca)
