Major impact on Interfor's work force expected
John French
Chief Staff Writer
Big changes are on the way for logging in Squamish - especially for the community's largest forestry employer.
International Forest Products (Interfor) employees and contractors lea-rned earlier this month that implementation of the Forestry Revitaliza-tion Act is going to lead to 55 per cent of Interfor's Tree Farm Licence 38 holdings being transferred to BC Timber Sales, First Nations and communities.
"For Interfor, our take back was 579,000 cubic metres," Keith Rush, Interfor's general manager of south coast logging operations, told The Chief on Tuesday (Feb. 10). "That is a lot of wood. The government has been, ever since March, very clear to everyone that would listen that they wouldn't take 20 per cent across the board and they would take it where they needed it.
"The prime focus was to the first nations and the market timber sales."
Hugh Sutcliffe, executive vice president and chief operating officer, told all Interfor employees and contractors in a memo that the government has indicated that there will be a transition period and there won't be any take backs until at least the end of this year.
"The government's plan is to have all the takebacks completed by March 2006," Sutcliffe wrote. "We are not sure at this point when specific tenures, or portions thereof, will be taken from Interfor but we've been told that this year's logging plans will not be disrupted. Our plan is to run our logging operations and continue to plan, engineer and build roads during the transition period."
Coun. Corinne Lonsdale, chair of the District of Squamish's Select Committee on Forestry, has many questions about what is going to happen to Interfor and forestry through the corridor in the future.
She wondered on Wednesday (Feb. 11) how the province and Interfor decided that 55 per cent of TFL 38 is to taken from Interfor when the province originally announced that it would take 20 per cent of each major forestry operator's timber cut.
"I am really concerned, because quite frankly I'm not comfortable if enough thought was put into this whole change," Lonsdale said. "The Forests Minister set up a fund for affected workers, contractors and even companies. I don't think a board of directors has even been set up. If you wanted to tap that fund today I don't think you could access it because no formula has been put in place."
Lonsdale believes the changes will lead to many of forestry workers leaving Squamish.
"We've given back more than the 20 per cent which means that a whole number of families can be displaced," she said. "It is not proportional and people are going to be uprooted. I think it is really unfortunate how all of this is playing out."
Lonsdale plans to discuss the situation with her colleagues at the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM).
According to Rush, Interfor went to the province with a proposal and the government ultimately made the decision. "They are the landlord," Rush said.
Lonsdale and Rush both said that if 55 per cent of the cut is taken away from Interfor, the company will cut something close to 55 per cent of the work force.
On top the reduction in the TFL, Interfor is also losing 27 per cent of its cut in various timber licences throughout the Soo Timber Supply Area.
Lonsdale said Pemberton is going to be hard hit by the change and there won't be any more harvesting in the Callaghan Valley.
The long-term fate of the Empire Logging office in Squamish isn't known.
"We're looking at all options to deal with this," said Rush. "It is a tough show, there is no question."
While the news isn't great for the Interfor operations in Squamish, Rush pointed out that the timber taken away from the company is supposed to be harvested by First Nations, small business operators and community forest operators.
"This is not like taking the Clendenning Park," Rush said. "The government commitment is that this wood will continue to hit the marketplace. The intention is not to have it go into a black hole and not get logged."
He added that Squamish has a good bunch of loggers.
Interfor's operations in Squamish weren't hit nearly as hard as the company's operations in Hope. All of Interfor's timber in the Fraser Timber Supply Area was taken back so the Hope operation will eventually completely shut down.
The goal of the Forestry Revitalization Act is to make the province's forest industry more competitive and to address the needs of First Nations and local communities.
As part of the initiative, the province is moving to a Market Pricing System and that will mean more timber will be sold through auction. The way stumpage rates are calculated is also changing. Instead of calculating stumpage based on revenue targets, the rates will be based on actual market prices. This move might help resolve the softwood lumber dispute with the United States as Americans believe the current stumpage system amounts to a government subsidy for Canadian companies.
The recent changes brought on by the provincial government won't have any direct impact on Interfor's Squamish Lumber mill, according to Rush.
The company claims that Squamish Lumber isn't operating because the mill cannot produce lumber and make a profit.
Darrel Wong of the IWA recently wrote Squamish Council encouraging the community leaders to push Interfor to open the mill. If they don't open by Feb. 15, Wong wants Interfor to put the mill and TFL 38 up for sale as a package deal.
"Should there be no buyer, the local union would be interested in working with council and others on the idea of a community forest with the running sawmill," Wong wrote.
