Storybook

BC's Auditor General to Investigate Removal of Tree Farm Licences (11/24/07)

After receiving several requests to review the recent announcement, the auditor general of British Columbia will be looking into the process which lead the BC Ministry of Forests to the decision of removing over 28,000 hectares (70,000 acres) of private land on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

"forest companies placed their private lands in tree farm licences in the 1940s and 1950s in exchange for the right to log on public land.
The clinic says government and industry have long recognized that companies should compensate the public if they withdraw the private lands, while continuing to log Crown lands.
But, in this case, the clinic says the government didn't get any compensation, " (SOURCE)

Hope grows that the correct decision will be made; certainly allow Western Forest Products to sell the land to a private developer, but the public must be compensated from profits of the deal as well!

(my earlier post on this subject can be found HERE)

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

BC's New Log Export Tax Removes US Cost Advantage (11/20/07)

despite what the Coalition of Fair Lumber Imports would have you believe.

Due to the terms of the poorly crafted, recently signed Softwood Lumber "Agreement"; Canadian lumber exporters currently pay a 15% export tax on their product when selling into the US. When the lumber market was depressed, there results a surge in the export of raw logs. In an effort to hold back this mindless selling off of a valuable natural resource to unscupulous foreign buyers, the British Columbia government has announced a new 20% tax on the export of raw logs.

The idea is, essentially, keep our natural resource at home, to be worked and processed by Canadian employees, and the product sold by Canadian wholesalers.

But, in one of the most wonderful examples of twisted logic I have seen in a long time, the US Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports is laughably claiming that "Canada is artificially promoting production and exports that exacerbate and prolong the current difficult market conditions." while in the same release saying that "The U.S. industry cannot tolerate Canada’s unrelenting attempts to circumvent the Agreement. Especially not as we curtail production and lay off workers." (SOURCE)

So . . . it's OK for the US to institute protectionist measures against foreign lumber importers in the interest of their domestic employees and company profits (softwood lumber duty - background) but it's not OK for Canada to prevent the bleeding out of a raw resource for a foreign country to mill and work, process and sell?

In a statement of glaring inaccuracy, a seperate Coalition release claims that "Since these Canadian logs can not be sold abroad, but instead can only be sold to Canadian sawmills, these sawmills can exploit suppressed prices for the logs. The log export ban protects the timber-price subsidies and adds to existing subsidies by artificially depressing Canadian log and timber prices." (SOURCE) This is simply not true: Canadian logs must first be offered to domestic buyers, if there are no offers the sale is extended to the US. Of course we are going to give local producers a shot first!

A country must protect it's own resources after all, and extract them in a sustainable manner. I stopped reading the Coalition's release after that. I have no interest in filling my head with someone else's lies.

Despite Canada's best efforts to prevent the mass export of raw logs, it does still happen "The new regime is aimed at levelling the playing field between sawmillers in B.C., who must pay an export tax on lumber shipments to the U.S., and manufacturers in Washington state.
But even the current export restriction regime has proven difficult to enforce. B.C. cedar, which is not permitted to be exported at all, has been reported showing up in Taiwan." (SOURCE)

"Coleman predicted the new tax on raw logs will cut exports from public lands by 50 per cent once the fees take effect Feb. 1, 2008." (SOURCE) Good! It boggles my mind that the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports thinks it can pressure the US government to protect US lumber producers but Canada cannot take measures to protect Canadian timber and the Canadian wood products industry.

At the moment the industry is divided regarding the report: the Steelworkers Union decries it as exporting jobs, the Truck Loggers Association welcomes it as opening up the industry to smaller, more innovative players. The opposition NDP forests critic claims the plan will encourage raw log exports in other areas (than the mid-coast and north western BC), North Coast's Liberal MLA states the new plan discourages lumber manufacturing, therefore jobs, in BC's north. The Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP questions the wisdom in encouraging the export of raw logs when mills and processing plants are closing all over the province, while the CEO of the Coast Forest Products Association hopes the new plan will help local producers regain a competitive edge.

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

Forest Companies Selling off BC Timberlands as Real Estate (11/18/07)

Up until recently, all announcements of timberland sales I could find involved a transfer from one forestry company to another, with the expectation that the fibre would be used for wood products of some sort (including pulp).

This past summer an alarming amount of timberlands went up for sale for real estate use (resorts, condos) all across Canada and in the US. The concern, up here in Canada at least, is that the land was initially acquired from the government (Crown Land), generally together with a tree farm liscence (TFL), on the stipulation that a certain amount of fibre be harvested per year (or per three years) and milled. There is a question as to the correctness of now selling that land for private use; effectively removing it from public access completely. In addition, some form of rezoning must take place, as -for example- if the land was acquired at $1000 per acre as a resource base, but is now being sold at $14000 per acre as private property.

"Sutherland said he understands why companies such as Weyerhaeuser is selling land for home development.
"I can buy an acre of timberlands for between $750 and $1,500," he said. "But timberlands being sold as residential lands costs $15,000 an acre. It's a no-brainer if you can get someone to buy it." (SOURCE)

The uncomfortable thing about it, in Canada, is that the government must release the forest company from the TFL, effectively reversing the agreement under which the deal was initially signed, and allowing the company to make a KILLING on what is essentially public land after having not worked it in any way.

Here in BC land values continue to rise at an alarming rate; is it justifiable to allow the removal of land use from the public (hiking, camping, beach access) for private gain to an industry admittadly in trouble; yet while that land was under the control of the private company it was not improved in any way?

The most galling example of the moment, which has caused the greatest outcry from many camps, is Western Forest Products announcement of a sale of 2,500 hectares (approx. 6000 acres) of coastal Vancouver Island, including beachfronts.

"In January, the provincial government gave Western Forest Products permission to remove 28,283 hectares of private land from three tree farm licences on Vancouver Island, and WFP then put 2,532 hectares on the market.
The land stretches from beside the Sooke Potholes to beyond Jordan River, adjacent to the Juan de Fuca Trail, including the Jordan River townsite, campground and beach." (SOURCE)

I will be the first to explain the serious amount of financial trouble Western Forest Products (formerly Doman) has gotten itself into in the past decade. However this kind of brutal 'bottom-lining' would never have happened under it's creator, Herb Doman, nor his son Rick. In the past few years Doman was poached first by one, then another, cool, detached New York investment firms (after having over-leveraged itself and being in major trouble with various banks for long-term unpaid debts). Now that the dust has settled, these kinds of decisions are being made by business people in suits looking at reports rather than truck-driving lumbermen who care about their community. (SOURCE)

Being so removed, these distant business people failed to realize the big, stinky can of worms they had opened.
"It's an abuse of process to take this land out of the TFL and ask the community to beg for crumbs," said Victoria MP Denise Savoie." (SOURCE)
"The group is also asking for a debate in the legislature and that the auditor general conduct a formal audit into the deletions -- something already requested by the University of Victoria Environmental Law Clinic."
Most importantly, and my point, is this . . .
"In January, the province gave the go-ahead for the removal, but did not ask the company for compensation for decades of access to Crown timber."

Now, I'm all for doing whatever can be done to help sustain these businesses. Doman was once the largest employer on Vancouver Island! The lumber industry still drives the economy of coastal BC almost single-handedly. But they must pay back into the public trust what they had taken out! (for mere pennies, I might add).

WFP issued a news release through all the uproar:
"The Company confirms that it has entered into an agreement to sell these lands but that the agreement is highly conditional and subject to due diligence. Accordingly, there can be no certainty that the agreement will be completed." (SOURCE)
It will be interesting to see how all this unfolds in the coming weeks and months.

Another major Canadian lumber company taking advantage of the hot BC real estate market is TimberWest (also on Vancouver Island).

"As announced in August 2007, TimberWest expects to close the sale of 9,700 hectares of timberland on southern Vancouver Island to the Capital Regional District (“CRD”) in the fourth quarter for approximately $65 million or $6,660 per hectare ($2,700 per acre). This land is going to be added to the CRD’s watershed." (SOURCE)
"in addition to the unique properties being marketed internationally through the auction" "unique properties" means prime beach front real estate that a few years ago was of interest only to hikers, campers, locals, and a few passing whales.

The difference here, and why there is no outcry from the public, is because TimberWest owns the land privately, therefore there is no involvement of a TFL or need to ensure the taxpayers of BC have been compensated. (More Info)

In a turn-of-phrase I have seen used with nauseating repetition this year, one fellow's report sums things up nicely from an investor's point of view.
"Clearly, the days of the vertically integrated manufacturing company are coming to an end." (SOURCE)

NEXT TIME: BC's shameful export of raw logs in 2007

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

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Pellet Mills (11/14/07)

A lot of people are contacting me already today about pellet mills, for more information on the industry.

A good place to start for research would be here:

Pellet Fuels Institute

I talked to this fellow at my office in North Vancouver about a year ago, he had exactly 13 pellet manufacturers listed! Look at it now . . . .

Pellet Manufacturers - US & Canada

Assertions of this being literally an EXPLODING industry are not exaggerated.

_____________________

The reman plant Tom & I visited that is putting in a pellet mill can be reached here:
Highland Block Sort

They are in Merritt, BC Canada

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

A Weekend of Sawmills (11/13/07)

First thing Friday morning I got an email from a fellow who writes for an investment publication. He had come up to Vancouver for information on the BC forest industry; after speaking for a short while it became clear that he really only had very basic information.

I asked him what his plan was, he said maybe to tour some mills in Port Alberni (heavily hit by the last forestry strike, and subject to many mill closures and curtailments in the past couple of years). Some quick calls using my handy Madison's Canadian Lumber Directory, and I located a coastal cedar producer in Sechelt, and an interior reman plant at Merritt.

We spent Friday and Saturday booting on two road trips, visiting these mills and others, and me answering all his many and varied questions about the incredibly complex Canadian (really, North American) forest products industry.

Read his piece here . . . .

Daily Wealth - Nov 14 '07

Those looking for more information can read what I have written in the past two years about this subject:
Mountain Pine Beetle

or about the lumber industry in general:
Softwood Lumber

and contact me with any specific questions you may have.

-Keta
KetaDesign

___________________________

The reman plant Tom & I visited that is putting in a pellet mill can be reached here:
Highland Block Sort

They are in Merritt, BC Canada

_____________________

A lot of people are contacting me already today about pellet mills, for more information on the industry.

A good place to start for research would be here:

Pellet Fuels Institute

I talked to this fellow at my office in North Vancouver about a year ago, he had exactly 13 pellet manufacturers listed! Look at it now . . . .

Pellet Manufacturers - US & Canada

Assertions of this being literally an EXPLODING industry are not exaggerated.

.

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

Anatomy of a Wildfire (10/23/07)

The current situation in southern California serves to remind us - yet again - that forest fires are as natural a part of forests as the trees themselves. In recent decades humanity has tried to overcome this vital force of nature by supressing all fires in parks, and especially those close to populated areas.

Reality is now showing us that not only can we do nothing to stop a forest fire intent on burning, but that our efforts to control nature are turning on us: we have created a situation in which a forest fire, once started, will burn all the more fiercely and relentlessly.

The summer of 2003 brought the worst forest fire ever in Canada to Kelowna, BC
"the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire became the most destructive interface wildfire in Canadian history. Before it was controlled it had razed nearly 26,000 hectares of forest and burned through the southern neighbourhoods of the City of Kelowna consuming 239 homes" (SOURCE)(note: one hectare equals approx. 2.5 acres <---edit) eventually incurring a cost of C$33.8 million. (SOURCE)

In the intervening years, much study and reporting has been done about the nature of wildfires; particularly regarding prevention and suppression. One frightening fact has come to light, "Ironically, however, by tampering with the natural fire cycles—and by embracing fire eradication as the overriding principle of fire management—people have set the stage for more catastrophic fires." (SOURCE) "In the boreal forest, nature's way provided a mosaic pattern of fire-ravaged stands of same-age trees, creating a natural firebreak. Interfering with nature through suppression of fire in these stands set in motion the mechanism for larger, wider-ranging and often devastating blazes."

Couple this realization with the fact that, up until very recently, silviculture practices involved planting same-age, same-species fibre. Because it's easier, and more profitable, to log similar timber in patches. There is, however, a dual unforseen hazard arising from the decades-old theory: not only does the fuel, once burning, get whipped up into an almost unstoppable frenzy (with no challenges of fire scars, old growth or decadent wood to slow it down), but the homogeneous timber becomes easy prey to insects and other parasites. As BC's current disaster with the Mountain Pine Beetle proves. "One positive effect of fire is that it regularly clears the landscape of aging trees before they become susceptible to insect infestation and disease." (SOURCE) Not to mention the underbrush, fallen trees, and other debris littering the forest floor that would normally have burned up. It is all only that much more fuel when a fire eventually does come through.

These new facts of life in the forest would be dangerous, and costly, enough. When added to the ever-encroaching home and community building into forested areas we have a particularly deadly situation. On a large scale.

Any forest fire fighter will tell you that a wildfire is a different animal than a house fire. The term 'animal' is fitting in this case, as people familiar with forest fires invariably describe them as seeming to 'have a life of their own'. In explaining the start of the current fires in southern California, experts have pointed to the Santa Anna winds. Once a forest fire reaches a certain intensity, it generates (very intense) winds of it's own. It also starts crowning (only the tops of trees burn; an extremely dangerous situation that, together with these winds, causes the fire to 'jump' considerable distances. Prevention personnel can easily get trapped in between, with no safe way out. Also, it is not uncommon for a burning crown to literally explode, sending entire branches full of fire in all directions at a high rate of speed.) (DATA) This combination of circumstances is why a few measly fire hoses are completely useless. The best that can be done is to try to prevent the fire from reaching populated areas, and to get people out as a precaution. (SOURCE; pg. 47)

Now that these facts are known, silviculture -and indeed even harvesting- practices will surely change. In order to preven at least some of these more intense fires, we need to re-plant our forests in a more natural way, rather than what is easier for human use. As for the building of homes and communities by timberlands, well . . . that unfortunately does not seem likely to stop just yet.

______________________

Those looking for deeper information may want to read further posts on my blog here, I have been writing about this emergency for the past two years
Storybook - Mountain Pine Beetle

_____________________

The reman plant Tom & I visited that is putting in a pellet mill can be reached here:
Highland Block Sort

They are in Merritt, BC Canada

_____________________

A lot of people are contacting me already today about pellet mills, for more information on the industry.

A good place to start for research would be here:

Pellet Fuels Institute

I talked to this fellow at my office in North Vancouver about a year ago, he had exactly 13 pellet manufacturers listed! Look at it now . . . .

Pellet Manufacturers - US & Canada

Assertions of this being literally an EXPLODING industry are not exaggerated.

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

.

Fuel Management - Beetle Kill Wood (9/25/07)

The reality of our stark future in the BC Interior has started to hit home. Mayors of small BC towns are making the ravaging effects of the Mountain Pine Beetle a hot agenda topic at this week's Union of BC Municipalities conference.

As widely reported in the media over the past couple of weeks, initial BC Ministry of Forests estimates (2003 report) are holding true: currently 40 per cent of BC's pine forests are dead. Predictions of 80 per cent beetle kill by 2011 have become widely accepted. The utter lack of real action by government and forest services is beginning to alarm the -particularly small- BC towns and communities that are literally surrounded by large areas of standing dead timber.

I mentioned in earlier posts that the hazards of simply leaving the first red, then grey, dead trees standing where they died goes beyond the obvious danger of raging forest fires. Just remember what happened at Kelowna in 2003; and that was perfectly healthy, fully alive forest. It would not take a fire even approaching that magnitude to quickly rage completely out of control through large swathes of beetle kill forest.
Government officials who work in the woods are now touting the dangers of flooding. It goes beyond the fact that the lack of tree roots to absorb water -and to hold the wet soil together, particularly on the hillsides- will increase the quantity of ground water. In addition, the lack of forest canopy will have a multiplying effect; in that more snow will fall to the ground rather than evaporating in the canopy, AND the lack of needles will no longer help to regulate the rate of snow melt. (Vancouver Sun article).

FINALLY the time has come where those in a position for action have stopped saying, "All we need is a cold winter!" and have started to make real efforts in the forests. Perhaps BC is feeling shamed by the concerted efforts of Alberta (controlled burns, fire guards, pheremones . .. 7,900 hectares were sent up in smoke yesterday at Banff National Park). Federal Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn promised $250 million to those gathered at the UBCM Convention. (Source).

At this same conference, the tiny town of Bear Lake (north of Prince George) is speaking up loudly. It may only consist of 300 people, but it is so widely surrounded by beetle kill that -should the unspeakable forest fire happen- the town would be immediately lost. Oddly enough, it is BC Timber Sales that is holding up action towards safety; with only a two hour water supply in case of emergeny, the town wants to cut a two km swathe of forest around it's perimeter as a fire g

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

uard. At the moment, the stumpage fees incurred by the government agency are prohibitively costly. Just one of the ironies of a bureaucracy! I have every confidence that the issue will be resolved in the town's favour . . they want to cut before this winter, which may or may not be too soon to draft legislation into the BC's stumpage fee policy. (Source).

So the new term being thrown around now is 'fuel management'. This is in reference to cutting timber, not as a product destined for a lumber (or pulp) mill, but as a procedure to remove potential dangerous fodder to feed a massive fire. At the moment, it costs a land owner $1,000 for each tree removed. If a town, or First Nations, or other community, wants to take down portions of surrounding forest they are saddled with stumpage fees set by BC Timber Sales as well.

There is already talk of changing this policy in real terms; I'll be sure to keep an eye on developments and let everyone know! (BC Ministry of Forests and Range press release)

BC Beetle Migrates to Saskatchewan (8/18/07)

Just one year ago scientists and conservation officers were on the lookout for signs of the dreaded Mountain Pine Beetle - a tiny insect that has devastated 80 per cent of British Columbia's forests in less than 10 years - in Alberta. "If it crosses the Rockies" they said, "there's no other natural barrier to stop it's march straight across the Canadian Shield." This summer has seen park staff, forest companies and governments in Alberta employ several measures (from controlled burns to selected logging to pheromones) to try to hold back the beetle's relentless progess.

Now, in August of 2007, several parts of Saskatchewan have reported the little bugs' presence. It's favourite target in BC was the Lodgepole Pine; as it moves east it becomes equally at home in the Jack Pine forests.

This little wonder of nature, virtually indestructible (with anti-freeze running in it's blood during winter) and posing a double threat (it kills the trees by burrowing alleys between the bark and trunk where it lays eggs, plus a fungus that lives on the beetle leaves behind a blue stained wood) has seen a recent population explosion due directly to human activity. It's a perfect example of what happens when we think we are smarter than nature.

A hundred years ago and more, when this province was largely uninhabited, giant-sized forest fires used to rage across the land at regular intervals. Generally set by lightening in the summer, the fires were nature's way of clearing out the old, reducing the vegetation to rich fodder, and make way for new growth. In the mid-1980s it became standard policy for all parks land to immediately put out any fires that might start. Also, small towns and country communities were popping up everywhere; as soon as a posh golf club or fishing lodge was threatened by natural fire, locals raced to put it out.
Areas of diverse tree species that were logged were largely replanted with Lodgepole Pine (fast growing, relatively straight, knot-free wood). Huge parts of BC's interior were transformed into single-species, similar-aged forests. This turned out to be a recipe for disaster; it is now known that the beetle takes longer to munch through forests of a variety of ages and species. Ooops!

Twenty years later the forests became old, with thick underbrush. Not quite decadent, but getting close. As we should know by now, but seem very slow indeed to learn, if nature cannot manage itself in one way, it will find another. The pine beetle, formerly living in small pockets that did not travel far, population began to grow at an alarming rate by the end of the 1990s due to consecutive mild winters.
The only way to kill these bugs is for an extended period (two weeks) of very cold weather (-40 C) at the start of winter. By November the formaldehyde in their blood is plentiful so they just keep marching on.

The first true infestation of the pine beetle in BC started in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. The government policy of no forest fires was staunchly upheld, despite calls by staff and conservation officers alike that something must be done. By the new millenium, when the beetle had spread and the need for action was evident to all, the politicians declared, "All we need is a cold winter" and simply waited.
No one wanted to issue the incredibly unpopular order of a controlled burn! Again, as we now know, those cold winters have not been making themselves evident. And it seems unlikely that they will, into the immediate future.

In 2005 Alberta set up watch, looking for the tell-tale clouds of tiny acopolypse riding the air currents across the Rockies and into their forests. Last year various efforts were employed to contain the beetle to the stands of trees in which they were discovered.
This year, the town of Prince Albert, and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, in Saskatchewan, are the beetle's most recent new home. Next year, what . . . Ottawa? Who knows. Nobody knows how far this will go.

To date the BC government has spent $189 million on efforts to recover dead wood, and to reforest affected areas. $50 million more has been allocated directly to worst-affected communities.
http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2005_Sept_Update/bfp/6_tb_Mountain_Pine_Beetle.htm
Another $100 million has been promised by the Federal government.

Where forest companies had initially thought they had ten or 15 years to harvest the standing dead timber (depending on how dry the climate) they now find that even five year old beetle-kill wood is proving too brittle not only for the sawmills but for panel (OSB in particular) as well.

What we have here is the equivalent of matchsticks, stretching far and wide across this province, pointing up at the sky waiting for the next lightening strike to hit. When that happens, the trees will literally explode into flame, and no amount of pathetic human effort is going to be able to put it out.

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

Lumber Prices Slip Further Downward (7/31/07)

So far the strike at BC's coastal sawmills is having little impact on the North American lumber market. This is traditionally a time of strong homebuilding activity; were the US housing market not at a 10-year low, lumber producers would be jacking up prices to take advantage of potential shortage of supply. Instead, this year is following in the tracks of 2006 (and giving a gloomy prediction for 2008) with so few housing starts and even fewer permit applications, that mills and wholesalers must keep cutting prices just to keep product moving.

Even futures, prone to emotional reactions to even a figment of threat to supply, closed lower at the end of last week due to a poor cash market.

For dimension, benchmark WSPF 2x4#2&btr fell by US$13 to US$260 per thousand board feet (down US$20 from one year ago). The panel market rallied slightly half-way through this summer, but even benchmark Toronto 7/16" OSB fell by US$20 to US$175 per thousand square feet (down from US$185 one year ago).

Canadian mills have been struggling with a rising Canadian dollar, an abysmal US housing market, increased international competition (particularly in pulp), high energy and staff costs, and the devestation caused by the mountain pine beetle in BC (now with a frighteningly growing presence in Alberta). Quarterly results are coming out, with only dismal reports.

Canfor fared by far the worst, with 2Q 2007 loss of C$39 million (compared to a profit of C$40 million for the same period last year). West Fraser reported a 2Q loss of C$14 million (compared to a gain of C$105 million for the same period last year), while Interfor lost only C$3.5 million (compared to C$8 million in profits for the same period last year).
Both Canfor and West Fraser made large mill purchases in 2006; Canfor's decisions proved unwise (part of the cause for the ugly battle of control for Canfor's Board of Director's earlier this year) while West Fraser's have turned out to be largely profitable.

Given the continuing unveiling of horror stories of the collapse of the US "zero-interest" mortgage market, with various securities companies and banks launching suits on each other, in addition to record numbers of unsold homes in vital US markets (Arizona, Florida, California), it does not seem that Canadian lumber producers can start looking towards a brighter future before 3Q 2008 at the soonest.

The next couple of days will tell if the coastal forestry workers strike has been settled; it will have come and gone causing hardly a blip in the lumber market landscape.

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta

Vancouver Sun Sources me for Lumber Market Info (5/15/07)

Yesterday Gord from the Vancouver Sun called me at the office for some information on what is going on with Canadian sawmills right now, exactly. There have been some announcements, the latest from Tolko, of mill closures, curtailments, and cutting back of production lines.

I was quoted as explaining that this is an almost unprecedented move at this time of year, when traditionally mills are running all lines 24/7. There is no question the crash of US Housing Starts is mainly to blame, with other factors playing as well (interest rates, energy costs, and now an announcement that rail rates will be going up in the US).

Read me here!

Tolko reacts to low prices by taking down-time, cutting shifts

Gordon Hamilton, Vancouver Sun, May 15, 2007

__________________________________________________________________________

Regular readers who may be wondering why I don't write about the North American lumber market, the softwood lumber dispute and the mountain pine beetle anymore can check out my new site dedicated to those subjects at

Madison's Reporter

-Keta