Stressing Forestry’s Importance
Prince George, B.C.- Forestry remains a driving economic force for B.C., it’s a message that Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall has been trying to drive home.
Mayor Hall recently joined other forestry community Mayors in a special panel at the Council of Forest Industries Convention in sharing that message. Hall admits the message may have seemed to be singing to the choir ” Yes, in some respects, but for me, it was wanting to, as the Mayor of Prince George, let them know how important the industry is to us. I said at the conference that I felt the forest industry is the foundation of this community, that’s what this community was built on.”
Mayor Hall says there has been a lot of talk about the natural resource industry in B.C., “We’ve been talking a lot about natural resources, LNG, mining, oil and gas, but forestry still needs to be part of that conversation. It is the mainstay of not just Prince George, but you take a look at the entire north, it provides a tremendous amount of jobs and a tremendous increase in the economy in the province.”
The North Central Local Government Association will be debating a resolution at its convention in May, which calls for communities to have more say in major industrial decisions . As NCLGA President Brian Frenkel told 250News last week “You can’t be the Houstons’ and the Quesnels’ where you wake up one morning and the CEO’s are phoning those mayors going, ‘yeah, we’re shutting down a mill.’ Those have huge implications for communities and we need to have some sort of engagement process that will better enable us to understand what’s going on in the resource sector around us.”
Mayor Hall says forestry communities are being heard “We had the voice at COFI we have the voice at NCLGA, and if we put our mind to it we can certainly have the voice at UBCM. We get together as a northern group from 100 Mile House north at the NCLGA meetings, and quite honestly I think we are all of the same mind when it comes to the resource sector, specifically around forestry.”
Comments
Just a matter of time and the good wood will all be gone and then what?
just remember that every good paying job in the resources likely is employing another two jobs in the city. Just look at the taxes these people pay, and the companies paying taxes and royalties.
They pay for our health, education, highways.
yes, one day all our second growth timber will all be gone. But that is the reason why we plant trees. That is why we need to look into the future and recognize that, we did not inherit this world from our parents, but we are borrowing it from our kids.
Does anyone know how much stumpage revenue the Province receives these days? After the era of two bit stumpage, I haven’t been able to find out what actual revenue flows back to the Province from logging activities.
It is still a lot. I bought a 20000m3 sale 2 years ago and I paid 502000 in stumpage. That’s on 1.2 million revenue. Too much in my opinion
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