My understanding is that the license provides for the Province to be able to re-assign cutting rights to another company if the licensee does not comply with the requirement to harvest the required amount over a five year period. This information was proivided from planning foresters of licensees. I have not personally read license agreements, so it is second hand information.

The province manages its forests for fibre production. I doubt that the scenario of letting timber stand much beyond a harvestable age will come about.

I also understand that such parts of the agreement were not comforting to some licensees who shifted operations from lands which had no pine, or very few pine on it, to other lands with major MPB infestation. Apparently the Ministry was very slow in addressing that rather obvious issue.

However, what we do know is that there will be a 50 year or so fall down in the AAC as a result of the MPB. As a result, if companies wish to stay active at the level which they have been, they will have to find timber somewhere else or go into another business, such as providing tertiary manufacturing processes, which they traditionally have not done.

Going international sounds like a sound financial plan to keep a large company with major investments in BC, a province which will soon have a shrinking timber supply, viable in this era of large companies.

Then again, we could encourage companies such as Canfor to play dead and allow American multinationals to buy up the bones and rationalize their operations by closing up mills, etc.

Whoever is in charge, one thing is for sure, they will not operate a business at a loss for long. I suspect that there is little the province can do about it. One cannot regulate a business to operate at a loss.

http://www.cortex.ca/TimberTenSysWeb_Nov2001.pdf

"The Pine beetle is about to change the way that we harvest timber in many parts of this province."

I think that is not the problem. Companies can deal with that. They will figure out a way to make it relatively viable.

What they cannot deal with is the loss of timber to harvest in the first place. That is the key issue. There will be less timber for 50 years. Less timber with large production facilities in place that use few people will mean smaller production facilites will likely close their doors.

Production facilties surrounded by 60% pine trees that have died will have to be reviewed in light of increased transportation distances. Highly efficient, but smaller mills may be an option in such cases, if they exist, or if they can be designed that way.

This will require new thinking applied to a new problem. Who knows what the solution will be.

One thing is for sure though, the amount of product coming out at the end of the cycle will become less over time. So, if timber based communities wish to try to continue to survive on timber alone, they will have to find a way to add considerably more value to the harvested wood before it leaves the region.

You got it! The Canfor's of this province are getting all the wood. If you are a small guy with great ideas to try to utilize beetle wood just try and procure some. As at last spring the Vanderhoof Forest District told us that all the timber in the district was spoken for.

You dont become a lumber Baron unless you have all the lumber. Just ask the Irvings.

Carrier Lumber has been harvesting Beetle killed timber in the Williams Lake area, with portable sawmills for years, and Im sure that this could be done in other areas if the will was there.

As for these Companys going to Russia or other areas and using the money from BC to finiance their offshore business's and then importing the lumber back into Canada, this is not new. I beleive Canfors USA operations import lumber into the US which competes with Lumber from this area.

This is much like what is happening with the City of Kitimat and Alcan. As I understand it Alcan wants to be able to sell surplus power to BC Hydro which will generate millions of dollars in profit for them. The surplus power will become available because they will build a newer more efficient plant that will use less power, and produce less ingots, and require approx 500 less employees. The power will be generated by water that was given to them by the Provincial Government for the sole purpose of producing aluminum and any surplus power was to be used in the vacinity of the Generating Station. If they were not allowed to sell the surplus power, then it is a good bet they would expand production in Kitimat not reduce it.

Some of the profits that Alcan will get because of its ability to sell more power to BC Hydro, will be spent in building new alum production plants in Quebec.

You can see from the foregoing that BC will be losing jobs in Kitimat and Quebec will be gaining plants and jobs in Quebec at our expense.

Other than the Mayor of Kitimat and some concerned citizens who have taken the Provincial Government to court to try and stop this farce, who really knows what is happening, and worse yet, who cares. Alcan is being aided and abetted by the very politicians that we voted for to look after our interests.

Whats new????