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Tough times force forestry communities to be more innovative

LAURA RAMSAY

Monday, May 19, 2003

Tough times have forced forest-based communities like Prince George, B.C., to take a hard look at the industry -- and some are encouraged by what they're seeing.

The battering the forest industry has taken as a result of the softwood lumber dispute with the United States has forced the sector to become more innovative and productive, which will make the city stronger in the long run, says Ken Veldman, vice-president of Initiatives Prince George, a municipally owned economic development corporation.

Mr. Veldman says the region's commodity manufacturers (two-by-fours and pulp and paper) have "been so good at driving costs down . . . that a remanufacturing industry has been developing around the edges of that." That means taking those two-by-fours and "turning them into something else," such as furniture or building products.

"Our challenge is to make sure the rest of that value-added manufacturing ladder continues to be filled" through the local development of new products.

Prince George will likely benefit from a $3-billion global marketing network launched in March by the provincial government to promote what it describes as "B.C.'s world-class forest practices and products" to countries and consumers around the world. However, Mr. Veldman is more excited about the $609-million the province has pledged to spend upgrading rural roads and enhancing highways over the next three years, because it will make it easier to access supply and get products to market.

Local mills are using new technology to boost competitiveness and, as a result, he says, "production numbers are up and costs are way down.

"We're probably as competitive as we have been in a long time."

The price paid for that competitiveness has been the loss of hundreds of jobs to new technology, to which the city is still adjusting, says Mr. Veldman.

"It's painful. The good news is that the jobs that are left require a higher level of training and skill, and, in the long run, that's a good thing for the community" because the positions are more stable.

The establishment of the University of Northern British Columbia a decade ago also had a "huge" impact on the city's ability to adapt to forestry's transformation into a high-tech industry, he says.

"Having the university here has developed a lot of high-tech type start-ups" to serve the industry.

And some of these firms have discovered "it's not a huge leap to supply the natural gas industry" as well. With Fort St. John's gas fields only a four-hour drive north, "opportunities have presented themselves there too," Mr. Veldman says.