The Sunshine Coast Community Forest is in the black after projecting a loss to start the year, as operations continue to recover from a 2015 forest fire, according to its second quarter financial results.
Glen Bonderud, president and chair of Sechelt Community Projects Inc. (SCPI), told Sechelt councillors Sept. 6 that all the timber that could be recovered from the burn area has been removed and most of the higher value logs have now been sold.
He also said much of the burn area has been replanted.
As of June 30, SCPI’s timber sales had brought in about $2.4 million and the company is showing a profit for the year-to-date of just over $749,000. SCPI went into the year anticipating possible losses of $273,000.
“The quality of the logs [from the burn area] was better than we thought,” Bonderud said. “The damage was superficial in some cases… The value of the market has also picked up in the last year... Prices for cedar are probably at an all-time high.”
Bonderud said SCPI expects the average sale price for all varieties to come in at around $115 per cubic metre, well above the predicted $75 per cubic metre average they’d been forecasting.
In his written report, Bonderud noted that while most of the cedar is going to the U.S., other varieties are finding strong markets overseas. “Douglas fir is sold around the world, and has options if a softwood duty is imposed. Demand from China has helped keep sales of hemlock timber active, although prices are low,” said the report.
Bonderud said SCPI’s plans for fall include deactivation of roads and some engineering work and final timber sales for the fiscal year. “At the end of the third quarter we should have a definite picture of what the full burn [area] cut was worth,” he said.
The SCPI fiscal year has six more months to run, so projecting the final dividend to the District of Sechelt, SCPI’s sole shareholder, is difficult, but it’s now budgeted at $100,000.
Bonderud also encouraged councillors and the public to visit the Wood Expo on Sept. 16 at the Seaside Centre. He said artisans working with wood are a “significant economic factor on the Coast.”
