Western Forest Products says it can't log under proposed Haida Gwaii rules

February 21, 2010

Vancouver Sun

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 WFP says it can't log under proposed Haida Gwaii rules

Vancouver Sun February 16, 2010 8:02 PM
 
The largest forest licensee on Haida Gwaii says it will be “difficult if not impossible” for it to stay in the logging business on the islands if proposed land-use objectives go ahead.

The impact of the objectives will cut logging rights in half and with that, “half the employment opportunities on Haida Gwaii will be gone,” Western Forest Products says in letters to the Integrated Land Management Bureau. The bureau is now reviewing public responses to the objectives, developed in consultation with the Haida Nation.

Further, in an interview Tuesday, a Western spokesman said the company is considering selling its timber tenures to the Haida Nation. Concerns over costs are a factor in Western’s decision to discuss a sale, said spokesman Gary Ley.

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