Coastal land-use plan scapegoat for job losses

In April 2001, Interfor announced it was closing its Coquitlam mill, which will also affect logging jobs in coastal communities. For those who follow coastal forestry issues closely, however, the writing has been on the wall for some time regarding mill closures, downsizing and job losses. In 1999, the Jobs and Timber Accord Commissioner warned there were too many mills on the coast and that some would have to close. He cited sawmill over-capacity and wood shortages, as well as market pressures, as the major reasons.

In recent years, because of market conditions and the increased harvesting costs of coastal logging, companies have actually been cutting below their AAC voluntarily in a practice known as 'undercut'. Previous overcutting forced them to move into the more costly, less accessible areas - what the Forest Alliance’s Reid Carter once termed the ‘guts and feathers’.

When Vancouver’s Eburne mill (whose timber supply came from the coast) closed in 1998, Canfor CEO Peter Bentley admitted that the company had exhausted its timber supply because of over-cutting.

The rhetoric blaming the coast agreement is unfortunate and misplaced. The Protocol between First Nations and the province, committing them to a shift from volume-based clear-cutting to ecosystem-based forestry planning, was endorsed widely by industry, environmentalists and some local governments.

Even the IWA and Truck Loggers signed on once more short-term compensation was promised. They, like others who support the deal, realize that more responsible forestry - cutting less trees but getting more value and jobs from each tree - is the only way to ensure a long-term future for this industry and the communities and workers dependent on it.

Ecosystem-based planning would see that the exceptional trees from our coast are conserved for the best, highest-end use, whether it be a certified wood product, a backdrop for a booming tourism industry, or critical habitat for cherished species like wild salmon and the now-famous spirit bear.

This decision by Interfor, and others to follow by Doman Industries and perhaps others, is devastating for workers and forest-dependent communities. But all British Columbians must face the reality that this is what happens eventually in a volume-based industry that shuts down and moves on once it runs out of wood or markets. We must build a new forest economy that can prevent this type of job loss in the future, and the central coast land-use plan offers a framework to begin that work.