Forest Products

FOREST PRODUCTS sector of the BC economy is focussed on the primary manufacturing of lumber, PULP AND PAPER, and plywood and other panel boards, most of which are exported. Since early in the 20th century, the export of logs cut on Crown land has been restricted to encourage the province's manufacturing industries, and in 1997 more than 98% of the 68.6 million cubic m of logs harvested were processed in BC. The FOREST INDUSTRY sector had total sales of over $15 billion in 1999, making it the single most important component of the economy. In the late 1990s, exports of forest products accounted for about 50% of the province's exports.

The first SAWMILL began operating near VICTORIA in 1848 to supply local needs, and by 1900 several large export mills had been established in VANCOUVER and on VANCOUVER ISLAND. During construction of the CPR, a large sawmill industry developed in southeastern BC, providing much of the lumber used during the first decades of the 20th century to develop the prairie provinces. Today most coastal lumber production occurs in the Greater Vancouver area, with the majority of Interior milling taking place at various centres. In 1997 BC sawmills produced 13.9 billion board feet of softwood lumber, about half of Canada's output. Three-quarters of this was milled in the Interior of the province at some of the most modern and efficient sawmills in the world, utilizing relatively small logs of uniform size. The older coastal mills, built to cut big logs (which are now in short supply), accounted for 25% of provincial lumber production.

Plywood production began at the Canadian Western Lumber Co plant in NEW WESTMINSTER in 1913. Several other coastal mills were built to utilize high-grade, old-growth DOUGLAS FIR; these operated until supplies of suitable timber began to run out in the 1980s. The first Interior plywood plant opened at NELSON in 1927. Several Interior mills built in the 1970s and 1980s utilize SPRUCE to make sheathing-grade plywood. In 1997 plywood plants produced the equivalent of 207 million sq m of 3/8" plywood, resulting in $760 million in sales.

BC's first pulp mills began operating in 1909 at SWANSON BAY and PORT MELLON. (A paper mill using rags had opened at PORT ALBERNI in 1894 but it failed.) Today most coastal pulp and paper production occurs on Vancouver Island, in HOWE SOUND and at PRINCE RUPERT. Interior pulp and paper mills are scattered, with the largest concentration at PRINCE GEORGE. Market pulp production in the province in 1999 was 4.9 million tonnes; 3 million tonnes of newsprint, fine papers, cardboard and other paper products were manufactured. Pulp and paper operations employed 10,700 people in 26 operating mills.
by Ken Drushka