UBC talks with forest firm to buy Vancouver Island land

The University of B.C. has been negotiating with Western Forest Products for more than a year to buy swaths of former tree-farm-licence land on southwestern Vancouver Island.

But on-again-off-again talks have foundered, and although both sides say the door is still open if price and conditions are right, hopes are fading for a deal on the land stretching from Sooke to Port Renfrew.

"It's not alive at the moment," said Stephen Owen, UBC vice-president of external, legal and community relations.

The initial plan was to buy the entire 12,000 hectares of private land, formerly part of TFL 25, so the university could run it as a research forest.

"There's a very interesting mix of biodiversity zones," Owen said.

However, UBC had to make a business case to its board that light, sensitive forestry could make enough money to pay for the land, and despite offers and counter offers, the figures did not match the forest company's expectations.

The university was hoping to work with foundations and the provincial government, but with the economic downturn and provincial unwillingness to buy private land, no deal materialized.

"I think the situation would have to change dramatically for us to be in discussions now," Owen said.

UBC's plans included light-touch, innovative forestry, with no logging of old-growth. It also wanted to look at making areas available for First Nations land-claim agreements and doing joint-venture logging with First Nations.

Money isn't the only area of concern now -- intense logging has recently taken place in the area. "Conditions on the ground are not as they were two years ago," said Owen.

Last week, after UBC and Western Forest Products hit a financial impasse, the company put 2,300 hectares of the highest-profile land back on the market. There are again calls for the province to preserve public access to areas like Jordan River waterfront, Sandcut Beach and a parcel adjacent to Sooke Potholes regional park.

Steve Frasher, president of Western Forest Products, said the UBC offer was about a third of the marketplace valuation --about $130 million for the 12,000 hectares.

"Our lenders have expectations that we should sell our assets for near the appraised value," Frasher said. Every effort is being made to work with UBC, including an offer that would see the mortgage held by Brookfield Asset Management, the forest company's major shareholder, Frasher said.

"I know [UBC is] still working on it. The door is not closed, but they are evaluating their model to see what they can do to get better value," he said.

A provincial land swap suggested by Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin would not work, since Western Forest Products needs capital to pay down its $130-million debt, Frasher said.

Juan de Fuca electoral area director Mike Hicks wants to see all parties get together to come up with a solution. For three years, since the province permitted the forest company to remove its private land from the TFL, community and environmental groups have pushed for government to protect forests.

Last week, Community and Rural Development Minister Bill Bennett said the province has not been able to find conservation groups willing to acquire the land and there is no appetite for spending taxpayers' money to buy private land.