Cariboo-Chilcotin Seeks Secondary Woods Industry

Sunday, March 18, 2007 06:20 PM

The Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Committee says its aim is to implement a secondary woods products strategy in that region of the province hard hit by the mountain pine beetle.

The strategies main goal is to double the size of the Cariboo-Chilcotin’s secondary wood products industry over the next 10 years by 2017 in tandem with a second goal to retain current job levels along with a 25 per cent increase in those jobs also by 2017.

The completed strategy document was presented to CCBAC at its March 13 meeting and marks a significant milestone in its mandate.

Among a number of potential secondary products, the study pointed to engineered wood products such as I-joists, housing components such as panelized wall systems and high-value niche products including furniture.

The study notes that, in spite of the mountain pine beetle devastation, the forest and related wood industries will continue to be an important component of the region’s economy. It suggests, however, that the region create circumstances that encourage further investment and growth in the value added sector.

CCBAC directors received the document along with draft copies of two additional strategy documents involving key sectors of the regional economy. Copies of draft-stage strategy papers are not made public until they are completed as they have not been finalized and subject to change during the review process.

More than 200 people are involved with CCBAC either as part of working groups or advisory committees. The advisory committees cover such subjects as agriculture tourism, conservation, mining, First Nations, arts and culture, other areas of interest in the region and assist in the review and recommendation process.

Another step toward creating a vital Regional Diversification Plan was taken with the receipt of a proposal to develop the strategy. CCBAC directors are reviewing the proposal.

CCBAC manager, Keith Dufresne, noted the diversification strategy “is one of the cornerstone building blocks in plans to mitigate the damage of the beetle epidemic and we are taking the time necessary to produce effective, long-term solutions to the anticipated impacts caused by the beetle.”

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Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 06:20 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on March 19 2007 1:21 AM

Caribou-Chilcotin? Hmmm? What about Prince George? Is the Secondary Woods Industry "train" also gonna stop at good ol' Quesnel too? Seems we can't quite win in this town. Lack of leadership and/or insight?

Posted by: bohemian on March 19 2007 9:17 AM

John Brink has been talking about secondary woods products for years. We're just not interested in that up here.

All we want to do is do the simple stuff as cheaply as possible.

And to make it even harder to move into value-added secondary wood products is the reality that corporate cultures of our primary industries have chased away anyone with the mindset for this type of transition. Those that weren't solely focused on eliminating costs from the system have left, or never came here.

It's hard to be creative or innovative when your idea of creative and innovative is buying a machine that makes sticks faster than the old one, and uses less people to operate it, or passing the cost of cutting logs to lenghth further up the supply chain.