Collectively, we have a decision to make: do we take the path that leads to further decline - the slow, painful decline that the Pacific Northwest chose to take during the past 20 years, or do we take the path that requires immediate action necessary to set the conditions within the next five years to turn around the coastal industry? I say we should take the latter path to create the financial and operational conditions necessary to attract the $2.5 billion in new capital investment required for the coastal forest industry to become globally competitive.

The premier has asked the Competition Council to report on barriers to competitiveness and make recommendations that will lead to the revitalization of the coastal industry. The necessary changes are difficult and require substantive change - in the way we manage Crown lands to create cost and access certainty, in the way we increase mill productivity to reduce costs and increase value, and in the way we transition our industry to second-growth harvesting.

However, taking the difficult path will mean mill closures to improve capacity utilization. It will mean creating an improved business climate to attract vitally needed capital investment and it will mean optimization of the harvesting sector. Funding will be required from the federal and provincial governments to assist workers and communities in making a smooth transition through this difficult time. The coastal forest industry has been working to ensure this funding is in place and that workers are treated fairly.

Landmark land use agreements for the central and north coasts have increased protected areas on the coast to over 4 million hectares. The B.C. coast now has more protected area than area that is available for forestry activities (2.9 million hectares). Forest companies, conservation groups, First Nations, local communities, government and others must continue to work together to create a sustainable and globally competitive forest industry for our future.

And if we want things to get better, we must accelerate our efforts to create the conditions that allow us to stay in business and attract the capital we need to compete in today’s global marketplace.

SECURITYIt isn’t where you would expect to see detective work being done and Eric Bachen doesn’t wear the customary deerstalker hat or smoke a calabash pipe, but this river boat captain on the mighty Fraser conjures up images of the famous Sherlock Holmes, as he spends his days investigating the disappearance and sudden appearance of stray logs along the river.

Today, we are traveling west along the north arm of the Fraser River with his sometime accomplice Coast Forest Security Program’s Clay Brown, whom I am coming to think of as a close match to Doctor Watson. Together they patrol these waters, now and then waving at local log salvors, stopping to compare observations with them, jotting down codes like DSO 13B (or Baker).

Bachen decodes a series of letters and numbers of fresh ink on the dash for me to mean the nine bundles of Douglas fir that has recently gone missing from one of the coastal companies. “I’d like to find those ones,” he says with a wide grin.

Not today though. Today we find something else. A large bundle tied up by the last log salvor Bachen talked to, who pointed west saying he had a bunch of “dogs in the logs”, river speak for logs that are tethered with lines, hammered in by an iron loop and stake.

As we approach the bundle marked in florescent pink paint with the log salvor¡s number 4116, Bachen leaps from the boat, a lumberjack in disguise. He begins walking the floating bundle of Douglas fir which contains at least 35 logs worth close to $3,500 to a currently unknown forestry company.

“He’s looking for a tag or mark,” explains Brown, as I watch him gracefully maneuver the bundle. When no tag is visible, he points a can at the ends of a few chosen logs and sprays them with white paint. Like magic a mark appears, a hidden message from the log scaler telling us where these logs were scaled. “It’s DSQ 13B,” says Bachen, “not DSO. He missed the tail on the Q. These logs are from the Squamish District, probably from Interfor’s Empire division.”

On our way to the next bundle Bachen continues his mental deductions and concludes with certainty that the logs belong to Richmond Plywood. At our next stop he again looks for tags or marks. Finding none, he reaches for his can of paint and applies his handwriting. The invisible mark appears, revealing a similar mark to the first one: DSQ 13. “Yup, they’re married,” he sings. A few phone calls later and the lost bundles are on their way back to RichPly’s boom. Case closed.

I caught up with Richmond Plywood’s Angus Allison a few days later, on his way down to the mouth of the river to inspect the damaged boom that the bundles had leaked from. He’s quick to praise the work of the security patrol saying, “We’ve recovered all our product which, given the value of it, is important. At any given time, our company has $10 to $12 million worth of logs in the river, all the way up to Chilliwack. These guys provide another set of eyes on the river all the time, looking at things like booms that are damaged, and they track it down quickly because they have such a good knowledge of the industry, saving us a lot of time and money.” (continued on page 4)

“The agreement reached on these areas represents an unprecedented collaboration between First Nations, industry, environmentalists, local governments and many other stakeholders in how we manage the vast richness of B.C.’s coast for the benefit of all British Columbians,” says Campbell. “The result is a strong marriage that balances the needs of the environment with the need for sustainable jobs and a strong economic future for coastal communities.”

The announcement, resulting from 10 years of discussion and collaboration, provides certainty for the coastal forest industry. Western Forest Products President and CEO Reynold Hert states, “The certainty of knowing where we can operate, the certainty of knowing what areas are permanently protected, and the certainty for our customers that we will continue to produce forest products from the B.C. coast free from market campaigns is important.”

In 1997, the provincial government implemented a multiparty land and resource management planning process (LRMP) for the central coast. Four years later they launched a similar process for the north coast.

In 1999 companies and environmental groups began to set aside differences and focus on solutions. Negotiations led to a standstill in the campaign and the resumption of some harvesting. This initiative, which became known as the Joint Solutions Project, allowed companies and environmental groups to resolve issues and jointly provide input to the LRMPs.

Companies involved in the Joint Solutions Project are Canadian Forest Products, Catalyst Paper Corporation, International Forest Products and Western Forest Products. Weyerhaeuser was involved until the sale of their coastal operations in 2005. These companies came together as the Coast Forest Conservation Initiative (CFCI).

The Joint Solutions Project and provincial government jointly funded the Coast Information Team (CIT) that provided scientific analysis and information to the LRMPs. The CIT conducted the most comprehensive analysis of these globally significant coastal forests ever undertaken. The team translated cutting-edge theories on how natural and human-based systems work into strategies intended to improve social and economic returns without compromising other values. The work of the CIT is a global first.

Under the terms of the coastal agreement, 2.1 million hectares of the area will be part of a system of protected areas. More than 100 new protected areas will be established. This means that the coast of British Columbia now has one of the largest percentages of protected areas of any jurisdiction in the world.

Environmental groups have hailed the announcement. “It’s an incredible conflict to consensus story,” says Lisa Matthaus, Coast Campaign Coordinator for Sierra Club of Canada, B.C. Chapter.

“EBM is a new and adaptive approach to managing forests and other resources in the region,” says Shannon Janzen, CFCI EBM Implementation Manager. “It requires more detailed planning and puts responsibility on the industry to be more innovative and flexible in our planning and harvesting. We have committed to full implementation of EBM by 2009. But already the transition has begun, and we are starting to see smaller forest openings, more wildlife habitat left behind in harvest areas, fewer roads and more protection of stream banks.”

Implementation will be overseen by senior representatives from the Province and First Nations in collaboration with stakeholders. “Implementing these agreements, and in particular EBM planning and practices, requires a high degree of collaboration,” says Bill Bourgeois, CFCI Project Manager. “The Province and First Nations have a lead role in implementation, but all parties have heavy lifting to do in the months and years ahead if collaboration is going to work.”

The global significance of the announcement is illustrated by the extent of media coverage, with major articles appearing in the Globe and Mail, New York Times, Washington Post and International Herald Tribune. TV coverage included CBC, CNN, CTV and Channel 4 News in the UK. As an editorial in The Vancouver Sun noted, “Despite the challenges ahead, British Columbians should be celebrating this accord. No doubt some will lament that the government and forest industry and to some extent First Nations have caved in to the pressure tactics of environmentalists. But the reality is the pressure that came from a global market can now be tapped to capitalize on what they have forced us to recognize is a tremendous asset.”

For further information, visit these websites:
www.coastforestconservationinitiative.com
www.citbc.org
www.savethegreatbear.org

The minister announced a number of activities that government is going to undertake and commitments that were made in terms of cost efficiencies. Building on recommendations for short-term policy fixes put forth by the joint Ministry of Forests and Range and industry Coast Recovery Group, Minister Coleman announced:

Coast Forest’s Rick Jeffery says, “the minister’s approach of ‘Don’t tell me why we can’t do it; tell me how we’re going to do it’ is both refreshing and needed if we are to realize short-term stability and long-term growth prospects for an active, vital industry.”

While Coast Forest will continue to fight for a fair resolution to the U.S. softwood lumber dispute, and aligning markets and new products, it will focus significant effort on working with the minister and his staff to deliver on all the announced policy changes by April 1, 2006.

“The provincial government clearly sees the severity of the problems facing the coastal forest industry,” says Jeffery. “We need to continue to work together to prevent a continuing and potentially long-term decline in B.C.’s most important industry.”

The Crown is projecting harvest volumes of 16 million cubic metres and Jeffery says that projection is realistic as long as further steps are taken to nurse the coastal forest industry back to health. Some of those steps are expected to be outlined in a Competition Council report on the industry which is expected to be released to government soon. (continued on page 4)

SAFETY STEPS (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)SAFE companies will be required to sign onto the Safety Accord and agree to put in place specific safety requirements. Companies will undergo safety audits to ensure they are meeting the SAFE Companies standard and, once confirmed to be a SAFE Company, will become eligible to receive savings of at least five per cent on their WorkSafeBC payments.

To help companies become safe, up to six safety advocates will be put in place throughout the province to conduct pre-audit assessments, review safety procedures and advise companies about steps necessary to meet the SAFE standard.

B.C. Timber Sales and the Ministry of Forests and Range have committed to having only SAFE Companies (formerly Qualified Companies) who are safety certified, work on their land base and sales.

Coast Forest is currently working with the B.C. Forest Safety Council, government, labour and the TLA to develop accepted SAFE Company standards. The Council expects to have pilot audits in place by mid-2006.

In addition to the SAFE Companies program, the industry is putting in place an independent safety ombudsman to deal with workplace safety concerns by April 2006.

Industry will also be supporting a comprehensive three-year review of fatalities and serious injuries to be conducted by the Forest Safety Council, WorkSafeBC and the B.C. Coroners Officer. This review will result in a series of findings and recommendations on forest safety practices as well as providing a comprehensive database for deaths and serious injuries in the sector over this timeframe.

For more information visit the B.C. Forest Safety Council website at: www.bcforestsafe.org

Last year, Coast Forest’s security patrol was responsible for identifying and assisting with the return of approximately 9,400 cubic metres of inventory worth well over a million dollars. The security of knowing someone is watching over the biggest unlocked warehouse in the world: Priceless.

The Fraser River Security Patrol is a user-pay system. For information contact Clay Brown at 604-891-1237 or 604-240-6404 or visit www.coastforest.org.

The announced Natural Resource, Applied Science and Engineering Research endowment should support the coastal industry’s continued R&D efforts to add value to coastal wood products, helping to ensure industry competitiveness in the marketplace.

ANNOUNCEMENTLee Doney has been appointed co-chair of the B.C. Forest Safety Council. Doney served as deputy minister of forests from 1999 to 2001, then deputy minister of B.C. Skill Development and Labour to 2004 with responsibility for Workers’ Compensation legislation and a new Employee Standards Act. He currently operates as a consultant to the industry and sits on the board of Western Forest Products, chairing the environment and safety committee.