Forest Minister Preps for Roundtables

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C.- The  stage is being set for the Working Roundtable on Forestry and a complete review of  forestry regulations.  It is  an  opportunity  Minister of Forest and Range Rich Coleman welcomes  “I find a lot of things and policies that have been made over generations in forestry that I’m continuously coming across and changing because they just aren’t practical anymore.”  

One of the questions will be about “point of appraisal” an issue that came to a head during the efforts to save the Tackama  plywood plant in Fort Nelson.

 “A saw log with no saw mill sitting in Fort Nelson isn’t doing anyone any good.  So if you’re going  and harvesting and you’ve got some saw logs that can go to another mill and you can the wood  you need for your plywood plant at the same time, then we have to allow those logs to move, otherwise you’re just wasting the wood.  The question for me going forward will be should I have this policy at all?”

One thing is clear, Coleman  won't  be changing his mind on the issue of wood waste. “I’ve said it for some time, I don’t like the waste, what can I do with it?  So I get all kinds of excuses like,  I can’t go and get it ‘cause there’s road liabilities etcetera, so  I said, well,  maybe I’ve got to change some legislation which I am doing  to allow me to make tenure for the waste.”

That means, those with a timber license are being told that when it comes to waste, use it, or lose it.

“I also said to the industry you can stop this coming at you if you perform.  Then I went to the Minister of Energy and mines and asked, you know, there’s a bio-energy industry everywhere in the world, where’s ours?  So we looked at it, and we knew there were some fundamentals  within  the system that needed to be fixed, like  how much we pay for the power and  if you make it in your plant then you’ve got to use it in your plant, what’s your  incentive to make new power?  So we’ve shifted all that so any incremental power can now be sold into the grid at market rates so people can actually look at the investment.  You just can’t say you’ve got to do something with the waste; you’ve got to find solutions.  We have a take or pay policy; they pay us for the wood they leave behind, but that really doesn’t solve it because I don’t really want it there in the first place.  If it’s not needed for bio diversity or regeneration of the forest, I think it is a product that should be identified and used.”

Cokeman says it is a challenging time to be the Minister of Forests "You have to adapt  on the ground,  When a market you supply 85% of your product to  goes down  by  well over 50% you know you’re not going to make as many products for that market, This is the reliance of our industry."

Coleman is optimistic “There are a number of companies that are positioning themselves because in 18 months the market’s back and the market’s stronger than ever, because it appears the world commodity supply is being adjusted as well, so we’re going to have a very vibrant forest sector in the future.”

The Roundtable will meet in communities across B.C. and undertake an exhaustive review of all facets of the forest industry, reporting quarterly to cabinet on ways to expedite workable improvements to ensure a strong, vibrant, and sustainable forest industry.

The full regulatory review will streamline and reduce unnecessary red tape, cut processing time, and eliminate unnecessary cost burdens resulting from regulation.

Coleman has every confidence that forestry will continue to be a key economic driver for B.C.  “We have the best fiber in the world, the best environmental standards in the world; we also have some of the best companies in the world.  It is a very amazing industry. I continue to be amazed by its resilience.”

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us