ROBIN ADAIR
VANCOUVER ISLAND – Over 30 years ago, I walked into a school portable on a rainy day in Port Alberni. The room was full of forest industry workers hunched over computer terminals trying to learn new skills to hopefully reinvent themselves for high tech job opportunities.
Most had dark expressions and were clearly frustrated. I saw this scene as part of a media tour hosted by the NDP government to publicise the re-education of hundreds who had recently lost their jobs because of mill closures and reductions. It was a sobering sight then and the situation today is even more desperate.
Currently there are about 40 thousand people living on the BC coast who directly rely on what has become an unstable industry. The forest sector for some time has been facing a shrinking fibre supply, high harvesting costs and inefficient aging mills.
Thousands have already lost their jobs and there’s a great deal of pessimism about the future. Successive governments of all political stripes have tried quick fixes to the forest management framework without much success. Clearly a comprehensive policy review is badly needed. So, what comes next?
Jeff McWilliams is a third-generation Registered BC Forester who believes through significant changes to land use planning, tenure and taxation a solution is possible. He says a key pillar would be the establishment of community and regional management of most forested areas. This proposed new management structure would include collaborations between First Nations and non-First Nations residents to oversee “Community Forests”.
Community Forests would be governed by public boards with forest managers to fulfill agreed upon objectives. This new body would tender timber sales and/or auction wood to manufacturers who would pay fair market prices. Revenue would flow through the Community Forest administration with a negotiated portion going to the province and the rest directed at holistic forest management.
McWilliams anticipates this proposal would impact the current system in several ways. This would include major forest companies which would no longer be tenure holders and instead would focus on manufacturing and wood products. By ensuring a reasonable certainty of fibre supply, the Community Forests would encourage the re-tooling of mills and the construction of new manufacturing plants to match-up with available timber. Value added producers would also have much more access to wood through this competitive sales system. All of this would add up to sustainable forest sector employment across the province.
McWilliams acknowledged that a change to our provincial land use system would be contentious. But there’s strong belief that the people living and working in smaller communities and regions know more about their timbered land and would be ideally positioned to lead in future land use decision making.
The sad truth is BC’s forests have been over-exploited for short-term benefits. But with enlightened locally-led stewardship there’s a real opportunity for industry to recover. Community overseers would also ensure that designated forest areas are protected while other adjoining land would be set aside for recreation and tourism.
I share Jeff McWilliams’ view that there would be welcomed relief if the forest industry could be reinvigorated with prosperity returning to small town British Columbia. I also suspect there would be much happier expressions on the faces of former forest workers in re-education centres if they were being taught skills to help them adapt to a modern, evolving forest Industry. To my way of thinking this would be training money well spent.
Robin Adair is Co-Host Victoria Rumble Room
