Although crucial to the BC economy, the forestry industry is struggling with reduced timber supples and high costs, despite innovation and support efforts for the sector.
The last time we took a deep look at the forest industry in BC, in May, we noted, “At this point, the outlook of BC’s forest sector is full of red ink and red flags," and,“The current policy environment has been anything but stable and anything but clear.”
We went on to note that Premier David Eby had appointed Langley MLA Andrew Mercier as Minister of State for Sustainable Forestry Innovation.
Mercier’s official mandate letter from the Premier spells out that there is a need to increase fibre supply, aimed at keeping people working and local operations running, while also mitigating wildfire risks and reducing climate emissions.
So what’s been happening?
For starters, through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund, the government said it would contribute up to $8 million to help Tolko Industries expand its Heffley Creek operation, including establishing a new Heffley Creek Engineered Wood Division.
Then the province updated the BC Building Code to allow mass-timber construction for buildings up to 18 storeys, up from 12 storeys, and mass timber can be used for new building types such as schools, libraries, retail, light- and medium-industrial, and care facilities.
Mercier himself announced new measures to streamline the salvage and use of wildfire-damaged timber.
The Kruger pulp mill in Kamloops began to get about a third of its fibre supply from nearby areas recently impacted by wildfires, up from less than two per cent in 2022.
But all is not well.
As Kruger stepped up its use of fire-damaged wood, Canfor’s Fort St. John sawmill twice announced curtailments of operations, one from June 28 to July 15 and a second from August 26 to September 6. Those were on top of earlier curtailments that the company blamed on weak markets — and reduced availability of timber.
Lack of fibre has long been hammered by the industry. As chief economist Kurt Niquidet of the Council of Forest Industries notes, timber harvesting on Crown land has declined by roughly 30 per cent since 2021.
“We need to find ways to stabilize fibre supply and build a more predictable and sustainable path forward for the sector."
"Locally and globally, the demand for wood products for more affordable and climate-resilient housing is growing, and so is the demand for low-carbon and bio-based materials. But in the short term, we are faced with a critical shortage of timber for BC mills."
"Left unchecked, reduced access to fibre supply will drive further losses in the investment, infrastructure, and workforce needed to meet those new opportunities.”
There are more challenges on top of that, including a shift of investment to the U.S. (plenty of available wood, and lower costs) and the damage caused by hefty American softwood lumber duties. All have contributed to forestry woes in BC
Still, the BC industry provides one out of every six manufacturing jobs in the province., according to a report from the Council of Forest Industries. The forest sector supports 49,000 jobs, the study says, and contributes $17 billion annually to B.C’s gross domestic product.
As well, BC is wrestling with market forces. As reported by WoodMarket Prices (ResourceWise): “For approximately thirty years, British Columbia (BC) has had the most affordable sawlog costs in North America. However, starting in 2018, there has been a decrease in timber supply, a decline in log quality, and a significant increase in wood raw-material prices.
“Following the 2009 economic downturn, sawlog prices in the province rose from US$32/m3 to nearly US$120/m3 by 2022, leading the province to transition from being the cheapest to the most expensive region for logs in North America. In contrast, the sawmill sector in the US South expanded its capacity, primarily due to the exceptionally low wood costs experienced in 2023 and 2024.”
Market forces and “commodity cycles” were cited by BC Forests Minister Bruce Ralston in May when Canfor suspended its plan to build a $200 million state-of-the-art sawmill in Houston in northwestern BC
But Canfor CEO Don Kayne blamed a shortage of timber and fibre, compounded by government policies and regulations.
“The ability to reliably access enough economic timber to run our manufacturing facilities is critical for our business... Unfortunately, while our province has a sufficient supply of timber available for harvest, the actual harvest level has declined dramatically. In 2023, the actual harvest was 42 per cent lower than the allowable cut, a level not seen since the 1960s.”
Kurt Niquidet says, “It is important to recognize that the direct and indirect economic benefits from the forest sector are linked to annual timber harvest levels.
Harvest levels and fibre supply are controlled by the BC government, which at the same time as talking of safeguarding the industry has also moved to protect old-growth trees, and to help First Nations to play a bigger and more powerful role in forestry.
This last policy measure, which has yet to take shape, has inevitably caused uncertainty among forest investors.
And now we have two BC First Nation chiefs slamming the provincial government’s slow process for granting timber-harvesting permits, saying unnecessary delays are killing the province’s forest industry.
"Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dolleen Logan said, “We should be the ones doing the permitting, not the government. Put us in charge of permitting, put us in charge of taking care of our lands, as we have been doing for over 10,000 years."
“This is forestry country, which it has been forever, and we should have a say. Mills are shutting down and we need to find an economy, which is forestry, to keep the North going.”
Says Niquidet: “Industry, government, First Nations, local communities and workers need to come together to address current uncertainty over fibre supply and attract the investment required to build on BC’s strategic advantage in the conservation and sustainable management of this renewable resource.”
It’s long beyond time, all, to come together on this.