Campbell River’s premier wooden building hosts Forest Minister
A sold-out crowd of Chamber members packed the Maritime Heritage Centre over the noon hour yesterday to hear Pat Bell speak. He is the Minister of Forests and Range and believes opportunities within the forest industry still exist.
Prior to the Minister taking centre stage, Mayor Charlie Cornfield announced the creation of a Wood First policy by council last week. The policy is aimed at the use of wood in all new buildings funded by the City of Campbell River.
It’s important to support a wood culture in Campbell River His Worship said.
Minister Bell began his address to Chamber members by stating the Campbell River is a fork in the road. It’s time for decisions to be made about our future - do we want to continue to be a resource-based community or move towards a new way that could include tourism and various other opportunites. The challenge of how to create value for ourselves is ours to decide.
He provided some suggestions about where Campbell River could look for opportunities within the forest sector. Here are a couple:
* The creation of a bio-energy industry through using logging residues (more commonly known as slash to most people) to create wood-based pellets that would replace coal as a fuel source. Between 2.5 and 3 million cubic metres of slash existed in 2009 according to the Minister, providing significant economic potential for North Vancouver Island communities.
* Advanced and intensive silviculture. “We grow the best trees in BC here on Vancouver Island,” said Bell.
* The development of the Chinese marketplace. BC shipped 300 million board feet of lumber to China in 2007 – the equivalent of one mill’s entire annual production. The following year, that number had grown to 720 million board feet. As of the end of November 2009, more than a billion board feet of hemlock and cedar had made its way to China.
“If you send it, they’ll (the Chinese) figure out something to do with it,” said Bell.
Don’t focus on the revival of the US market, he said. Look instead to China. That country could feasibly becoming BC’s number one customer by 2013, when our softwood lumber agreement with the US expires.
Bell predicted more mills will be open at the end of 2010 than were operating at the beginning.
During the question and answer period, Minister Bell was asked about the reopening of the Catalyst mill. It’s a “local decision” he said, adding that the government is involved but only “peripherally” since the issue isn’t within the province’s jurisdiction.
Employees from Corilar, Pallan Timber, and the City of Campbell River won door prizes.
