Pending changes to B.C.'s building code will increase the prominence of wood in new buildings, providing a spark to the troubled forest sector, forest minister Rich Coleman told a crowd in Sechelt last weekend.
Fresh off three hours of dental surgery, Coleman was delivering the keynote speech at Chatelech Secondary School to more than 100 attendees of the seventh annual B.C. Community Forest Association annual general meeting. A cross-section of the crowd included loggers, foresters, and managers and directors of other community forests in B.C.
"People need to realize that this resource is something that supports their province still," Coleman said. "We need to understand, in our own jurisdiction, the value of building with wood. By the fall, six-storey construction with wood will be possible," he said. The current height limit for wood frame buildings is four storeys.
Kevin Davie, operations manager for Sechelt Community Projects Inc. (SCPI) and vice-president of the B.C. Community Forest Association, said he welcomes the changes, since dimension lumber is something the community forest wants to stay away from.
"Engineered wood products mean we can construct buildings taller than what they're limited to now," he said. Having a strong value-added forestry sector also means promoting log construction, something he said is now occurring in the community forest's block 7A (north of the Sechelt Airport), where West Coast Log Homes and Sunshine Coast Forest Products are selecting trees from which to build timber frame houses.
Coleman said there are 650,000 hectares managed as community forest in B.C. and 27 operating community forests, 10 more than the previous year. He said he expects 10 more to begin by this time next year. He's also bullish about the prospects for B.C. forestry in the not-too-distant future.
"In 18 to 24 months, our advisors are telling us to be ready for an explosion in B.C. forest products," he said. The importance of certification standards means B.C. will thrive where wood exporters like Russia will flounder, he said. Coleman also announced First Nations logging operations may soon qualify for the same reduced provincial stumpage fee community forests are now subject to.
After Coleman's speech, community forest board chair Len Pakulak presented a cheque for $135,000 to Sechelt Mayor Cam Reid, thus paying off the $385,000 loan the District made to get the community forest running.
