Logging truck being unloaded at Stillwater, near Powell River, 1994. The stiff-leg crane to which the grapple is attached is the largest in the world. Keith Thirkell photo

During the past half-decade, the list of key corporate players in the forest industry in North America, and in British Columbia in particular, has been transformed by a wave of mergers, takeovers and acquisitions. Companies that were industry giants for years have been swallowed up in the drive to get bigger and more efficient. Probably the most stunning change was the disappearance of the province's largest forest company, MacMillan Bloedel, sold in 1999 to the US-based Weyerhaeuser Co. However, since the beginning of 2004, there have been several other major deals, as companies attempt to realize the cost benefits that are presumed to follow growth. And it is not just that certain companies have changed hands. More significantly, the number of major forest companies active in the province has declined since the 1990s by about half.

Because it is hard to tell the players without a scorecard, here is a summary of recent deals.

• 1999 - Weyerhaeuser, the Washington State timber giant, purchases MacMillan Bloedel.
• 2000 - Norske Skog, a Norwegian company, purchases Fletcher Challenge Canada. The Canadian operations are renamed NorskeCanada.
• 2001 -- NorskeCanada adds the paper-making operations of Pacifica Papers at Powell River and Port Alberni to its holdings.
• After a bit of a lull, the industry began a major consolidation early in 2004. The difference was that BC firms, instead of being bought, were the ones doing the buying.
• March - Riverside Forest Products, an Interior company with manufacturing facilities in the Okanagan Valley and the Cariboo, takes over Lignum Ltd., a sawmill operator based in Williams Lake. Lignum was founded in 1946 by Leslie Kerr and later was managed by his son John, an industry leader for several years.
• April - Canfor Corp. (formerly Canadian Forest Products) merges with Slocan Forest Products, a 25-year-old firm operated by another industry leader, Ike Barber. The new company is the second-largest lumber producer in North America after Weyerhaeuser.
• July - West Fraser Timber, operated since 1955 by the Ketcham family, buys Weldwood Canada from International Forest Products, making West Fraser the third- largest lumber producer in North America.
• July - Doman Industries Ltd., a Vancouver Island-based company, emerges from bankruptcy protection as a re-organized Western Forest Products.
• August - Riverside Forest Products is the object of a spirited takeover attempt by Tolko Industries. Along with mills in British Columbia, Tolko owns plants in Alberta and Manitoba. Riverside rejects Tolko's offer and appears to be on the verge of selling to the highest bidder.