TimberWest buys Western Forest Products land
The BC Liberals allowed Western Forest Products to remove thousands of acres from tree farm licenses in 2007.
Excerpted from Victoria Times Colonist:
Dogwood Editor's Note:
Ideally these forest lands would be managed and harvested by the communities of the Juan de Fuca electoral area. Though this is much better than the creation of a commuter suburb, TimberWest does have a reputation for clear-cutting and exporting raw logs to China.
TimberWest is planning to log, not develop, large tracts of forest on the southwest corner of Vancouver Island, bought from Western Forest Products Wednesday.
"It is certainly highly productive forest land," said TimberWest spokeswoman Sue Handel.
"It's a good age class and species mix and a great complement to our existing private-managed forest lands, so we don't have plans to manage it for real estate," she said.
TimberWest bought 7,678 hectares behind Jordan River and Shirley. One of the smaller parcels stretches towards Port Renfrew.
The land sold for $21.9 million and net proceeds will be used by WFP to pay down debt.
The purchase consolidates TimberWest's holdings in the area and will be harvested by contract loggers, Handel said.
"That will mean employment," she said.
All is privately managed forest land, but some is private land which WFP removed from the tree farm licence in 2007
The company has already talked to local politicians and will work to maintain a good relationship with the community, Handel said.
The community's relationship with WFP became increasingly rocky after the company put high-profile waterfront and recreational parcels of former TFL land on the market for development in 2007.
After courtcases, rezonings, aborted development bids and protests, the Jordan River surfing beach, Sandcut Beach and parcels next to Sooke Potholes Regional Park and Weeks Lake are being bought by the Capital Regional District.
Another parcel above Juan de Fuca Marine Trail was bought by developer Ender Ilkay, who hopes to build cabins and a resort.
Remaining WFP parcels suitable for development are still on the market, said Brian Cairo, WFP chief financial officer.
The sale to TimberWest makes sense because most of WFP's Vancouver Island operations are in the north and central Island, Cairo said.
"Strategically there was not much synergy. With TimberWest there's synergy," he said.
The 2010 volume harvested on the sold land represents less than two per cent of WFP's total harvest of about 7.4 million cubic metres, Cairo said.
The sale is being greeted with cautious optimism.
"It looks good because it's going to be managed as forest lands and it's not going to be used for development," said Vicky Husband of the Jordan River Steering Committee.
However, the company needs to work with area residents to ensure drinking water is protected and old growth areas around Muir Creek are protected, Husband said.
"It would be welcome to have a discussion on whether some of the wood could go to the local community," said Husband, who, like others, is worried raw log exports will increase.
Handel said the cut timber will be split between Vancouver Island mills and raw log exports.
Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan wants to see logging standards in the area to exceed guidelines and consultation with the community on cutblocks.
"If they have learned anything from the last four years it's that a forest company that wants to deal with the community is welcome, but a company that wants to ignore the concerns of the local community gets a rough ride," he said.
Mike Hicks, Juan de Fuca Electoral Area regional director, is encouraged the area will be used for forestry.
"They're going to log it in an appropriate way and that's what the land is there for. I hope this will put people back to work," he said.
jlavoie@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
FAIR DEALING NOTICE. This document may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Dogwood Initiative is making an excerpt of this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of environmental and social issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair dealing' of the copyrighted material as provided for in the the Copyright Act of Canada. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair dealing,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
