VAAGEN PINPOINTS MIDWAY CLOSURE

Vaagen Fibre Canada (an affiliate of Vaagen Brothers Lumber) announced it is shutting down its Midway, BC sawmill indefinitely, while indicating it is looking for solutions to keep the operation going, and encouraging those impacted throughout the Boundary, West Kootenay and Okanagan regions to appeal to the Ministry of Forests.

The company said that on January 5 it informed the dedicated mill staff of 85 employees, as well as nearly 100 contractors, vendors, and/or suppliers that it will be shutting down the Midway mill. “Although the news we are sharing is not good news, we are steadfastly committed to continue to look for solutions for every possible way forward,” the company states.

Vaagen Fibre Canada is a non-tenured mill and has been operating in Midway without forest tenure for the past 10 years. As a non-tenured mill, it does not have forest licenses to manage Crown forests, which means it must purchase all logs on the open market including the procurement of logs from local private landowners and woodlot owners.

“Although our team has been creative for years in finding logs to run our mill, there are a few challenges that have compounded for us, and without resolution, the future of our operation is uncertain. This is an access to wood fiber at market price issue,” the company states. “We have put forward several solutions to the Ministry of Forests to help us reopen Vaagen Fibre Canada.”

The company noted that in 2008, Pope & Talbot, the previous owner of the mill, closed the mill, but the community rallied to save the mill, which Vaagen purchased.

“We encourage you to respectfully email MLA (Member Legislative Assembly) Roly Russell, who is also the Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development. Let him know how important the mill is to our communities and ask him to bring the voice of the people forward to the Minister of Forests to find solutions to help Vaagen Fibre Canada reopen.”

Vaagen released a form letter for supporters to e-mail to the MLA: roly.russell.MLA@leg.bc.ca

Dear MLA Russell, I am saddened to hear that the 85 team members/employees of Vaagen Fibre Canada and nearly 100 contractors/ vendors/suppliers who work in collaboration with the mill were told that the Midway mill will be closing indefinitely. This closure will impact not only many employees and their families, but local businesses, and many others who work and live in our rural communities.

In a press release to the community, Duane Vaagen, President of Vaagen Fibre Canada, shared that there may be several solutions to help solve the challenges the mill is facing.

As our MLA and the Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development who is committed to helping local families and communities thrive, I am signing this letter asking you to bring the voice of your constituents to the new Minister of Forests and his team to find solutions to help Vaagen Fibre Canada re-open.

Black Hills Takes Another Look

Black Hills Forest Resources Assn. (BHFRA) has prevailed in an appeal of a 2021 decision to drastically reduce future timber harvests on the Black Hills National Forest. In February 2021, the Forest Service (FS) Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colo., issued general technical report (GTR) 422. The report detailed timber inventory assessments and projected growth rates that led to FS officials reducing future timber harvests on the Black Hills NF by 50% during the next three years.

At issue is the GTR’s assessment that the forest had lost 50% of its timber inventory, requiring the drastic harvest cuts, and how FS officials came to that conclusion. The BHFRA argued that the GTR modeling and survey data reflected only certain areas and not conditions of the overall forest.

With timber harvests scheduled to go from 18 million cubic feet (CF) to roughly 9 mil- lion CF by 2023, BHFRA officials filed the appeal in late 2021. That action was initially denied by the research station, but a request for review by an interagency panel upheld several of BHFRA’s concerns.

The interagency panel didn’t agree with all BHFRA’s concerns, but did find that the initial GTR had improperly reached its timber inventory assessment. The action doesn’t mean timber harvests will be completely restored, but FS officials have directed research station personnel to come up with a corrective action process and particularly a more collaborative and transparent approach going forward.