The forestry industry has changed remarkably over the past sixty years, and informs the current state of transition it is in. Offering a lived and researched perspective of those changes as they have affected our Northern region is local entrepreneur John A. Brink in a two part interview series. Also shifting gears into our present speed, Brink references current USA trade disputes, climate change, and UNDRIP.
Change is in the air.
A Super B Train hauling between 50-60 cubic meters of wood fibre down the road in the Bulkley Valley on Yellowhead Highway 16
Photo Credit - Ian Gregg
An earlier story CFURadio aired covered a partnership between Saik’uz First Nation and the Municipal District of Vanderhoof. It left a question open, of whether such an arrangement of locally based organizations was similar to the types of entities that operated in the same area, decades earlier. To get an idea of what the regional forest economy looked like, we talked to someone who researched it, worked through it, and managed to come out the other side in one piece: John A. Brink of the Brink Group of Companies.
Brink came to Prince George in 1965 and has remained active in the area since. His subsidiary, Brink Forest Products Ltd. produces value-added dimensional lumber. Diversifying from the primary industry of harvesting raw timber, he moved into this secondary industry. This was pursued upon noticing a series of changes in the forestry industry that eventually proved to encourage the consolidation of hundreds of companies into a handful. In part 1 of 2 of this interview, we explore what the forestry scene looked like locally, how it operated and at what scale from the 1950s through to the 80s, covering concepts like volumes apportioned into the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC), and more.
In part 2 of this interview, Brink divulges more disruptions the forestry industry came to terms with: pulp mills, pine beetle infestation, and trade disputes. While these past events remain in focus, recent changes in regulation, plotting courses through timber tenure administration, and forces like climate change and wildfire compound them. Despite Brink’s diversification into value-added manufacturing, trade duties in the millions of dollars dampen his business and others in the region. While he recommends radical change in forestry policy to work towards a solution, and a collaborative group of Municipalities and First Nations is a change from the norm, Brink says of our earlier question, “…this does not even come close to comparing to the mid sixties…”
While timber availability may be limited, so are opportunities.
The amount of raw materials available to harvest, and the regulatory framework that is being operated in has changed dramatically. Mr. Brink referred us to his own interview with BC Forest Minister Ravi Parmar, where among other things, they discussed the possibility of moving from the current volume based, to area based forest management.
To consider the present shifts in ecology and economy, we first examine the past, on CFURadio 88.7FM.
- Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Check out more of our stories on FrequencyNews.ca
Podcast subscription URL for your podcast app (RSS):