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Finding a market for Whistler's wood

B.C. Wood conference biggest yet, despite economic slowdown

 

At a time when the forest industry is reeling from the global economic crisis and a slowdown in new home construction there were signs of hope in Whistler last week as the resort hosted the annual B.C. Wood conference and Global Buyer's Mission.

The event typically attracts roughly 400 to 500 delegates each year, but this year's event was sold out at 700 delegates from more than a dozen countries and organizers were forced to turn people away.

Member of Parliament John Weston noted that the federal government contributed close to half a million to the conference from different agencies, but pointed to a statistic from conference organizers that every $1 spent to hold the conference resulted in roughly $40 in sales in 2008.

"That's a 40-fold return on our investment and that means jobs in this province and this riding," said Weston. "For me this is an example of what government can do best, helping entrepreneurs and businesses to help themselves. This is the definition of stimulus funding."

B.C. Forest Minister Pat Bell opened the buyer's mission with an honest but inspirational speech, acknowledging the tough times that the industry is facing as a result of the economy and mountain pine beetle, while also challenging British Columbia to take the lead in developing wood technologies in the future - such as writing software that allows architects to build bigger and more complex structures using wood.

The province will also encourage innovations in wood by introducing new legislation this fall that mandates that all building projects with public funding maximize their use of wood and other products generated in B.C.

"Structure, finishing, furnishing - wood will be used for all aspects of buildings to express to the world our commitment to utilizing wood," said Bell, drawing a round of enthusiastic applause from conference-goers. He also said the future of the industry is to move away from raw log exports and to start building products that can be sold around the world - which is B.C. Wood's mission.

That means continuing to move towards something the industry is calling "ecosystem-based management," where every cut block can be evaluated separately to determine how to harvest trees with the least environmental impact. In some cases that could mean helicopter logging, and in others variable retention logging where more trees are left behind.

"The same groups that were chaining themselves to trees 20 year ago were on a stage recently where they were telling the world that this is new standard (for forest management)," said Bell. "Once upon a time we believed that our forests were endless and that the industry would always be there, and that we'd never run out of wood, but now we know that's not true. We didn't anticipate things like the mountain pine beetle."

The conference was a special one for Whistler, which has just signed an agreement with First Nations and the province to manage the area surrounding the resort as a community forest. Logging will continue to take place, but in a way that's environmentally sensitive, and that maintains and enhances recreational and cultural values.

B.C. Timber Sales will purchase and market most of the wood cut from the community forest lands, and some of that wood could be sold through events like the buyer's conference.

For Bell, community forests will play a larger role in the future of the industry, with communities and First Nations managing timber extraction in their backyards. The goal is to create employment in forestry in B.C.'s rural areas, but also to encourage small businesses to use the wood for local construction and to develop products for sale.

Bell personally signed off on Whistler's community forest application, and said he is excited to see the results.

"I know (Whistler) Mayor Ken Melamed is keen to see the highest level of certification for the wood, and this (Global Buyer's Mission), and I'm excited for the day when people can use wood products from your community forest," said Bell. "Buyers will know that the wood was harvested in a very sustainable way, while protecting the views, the water, wildlife, recreation values, First Nations values. There's a good future marketing that as a product.

"It's kind of like the Starbucks principle. They're not trying to sell coffee for 50 cents a cup, but people go there because they know the people who picked the beans were treated fairly and that there's a whole process to make sure it reaches that standard. It costs a little more, but you get good quality as well as assurances that you're doing the right thing for the planet."

Bell says the mix of species in Whistler's Community Forest is suited to the higher-end of the wood industry, and things like furniture and specialty homes.

In the near future Bell said the goal is to increase the percentage of community forests from 13 per cent of the land base to at least 20 per cent, working with communities and First Nations to develop tenures.

People involved in Whistler's Community Forest, called the Cheakamus Community Forest, held a workshop this week to discuss Ecosystem based management, certification, the Lil'wat small scale forestry industry, strategies for silviculture and next steps for moving forward.

The community forest is a joint partnership between the Resort Municipality of Whistler and both Squamish and Lil'wat First Nations. The agreement was signed with the province on April 9, with a 20-year tenure covering over 30,000 hectares of land surrounding Whistler on all sides, as well as the area within municipal boundaries. In total, the partners and B.C. Timber Sales will extract roughly 20,000 cubic metres of wood annually.

The community forest allows Whistler to have a say where forestry takes place, taking things like the viewscape and recreation values into consideration before planning any forestry operations.