Weyerhaeuser

Continued from previous page

of the 2x4’s and 2x6’s go to Nelson
Homes in Lloydminster, Alberta
which is an IWA Local 1-207 certifica-
tion.

In Canada, Weyerhaueser markets
most of the wood products through its
retail service centres. Markets for its
lumber have fluctuated and are now
getting better in Edmonton, Toronto,
Winnipeg and Halifax.

This year the company is putting a
new log deck with twin cut-off saws,
moving its barker outside and is build-
ing sorting bins for the chipper. A new
dry kiln is slated for construction next
year as production will increase. Now
a two kiln system can handle about
200,000 board feet per drying cycle.

The mill is set up as a 2 line system.
One line has a 30 inch, 3 face canter
twin band set up while the other line
is a 4 -8 inch chip and saw. All lumber
heads to trim which follows to a drop-
out sort which rounds back to a 3 saw
edger. The mill has a multi-saw trim-
mer which feeds a 40 bin J-bar sys-
tem.

Big River's annual log consumption
is about 400,000 cubic meters which
comes from a forest management
license agreement that supplies
Weyerhauser’s pulp mill in Prince
Albert. The mill is consistently getting
good quality 20 - 28” sawlogs at this
time.

However, there are concerns
amongst the workers that the
sawmills only get the logs that the
pulp mill sends it and that the supply
could be jeopardized in the future at
the discretion of Weyerhaeuser.

° Most of the Big River mill’s production is sent to other parts of Canada to avoid U.S. lumber tax.

Local project stimulates industry in Saskatchewan

‘ In these days of high unemploy-
n possi based communities all
are fighting for their very

existence. The same goes for Hudson
Bay Saskatchewan, a small communi-
ty 250 miles N.E. of Regina.

Here IWA-CANADA has been
involved with the Hudson Bay Rural
Development Corporation, a commu-
nity based forest project, which focus-
es on creating seasonal employment
for its members and others. The orga-
nization, in its first year of operation,
attempts to create employment in the
wood industry locally for laid off
workers.

To date the project, which concen-
trates on labour-intensive logging, has
stimulated the local economy to a
small extent and has put some unem-
ployed workers back on their feet.
Hudson Bay's economy was given a
rude shock over 2 years ago when
Simpson Timber Company, a U.S.-

e Local 1-184 logger Perry Paproski
receives added income from project.

based multi-national pulled the plug
on its 165 worker stud mills in town.

In addition to the lost mill jobs over
400 loggers were thrown out of work.
The spin-off effect on the community
has been tough to deal with.

Bob Cross, first vice-president of
IWA-CANADA Local 1-184, and a rank
and file worker at the Saskatchewan
Forest Products plywood mill in
Hudson Bay, says the community for-
est project is “a positive step because
we can ill-afford to lose any of the for-
est industry base we have now.”

On the project’s board of directors,
Brother Cross sits as a labour repre-
sentative along with other representa-
tives who constitute a mixture of
community interests (Chamber of
Commerce representatives, lawyers,
farmers, politicians etc.)

“It's very interesting to sit with peo-
ple whose basic interests are the same
as ours,” says Brother Cross. “We’re
all there to create work opportunities
in the absence of major industry and
our goal is to keep the community
alive.”

The two major elements of the com-
munity project has been logging and
reforestation. This has been an experi-
mental year for the creation of work
in silvicultural projects.

Several seasonal workers have
landed tree planting jobs under a
Section 25 agreement with the
Unemployment Insurance Commis-
sion. This has provided work opportu-
nities and increased qualification
weeks for U.I.C. benefits. Several
local students have also found work
in reforestation.

The project’s seedlings originate at
a local tree nursery on private
acreage, south of Hudson Bay.

The Rural Development Corpora-
tion has reached an agreement with
MacMillan Bloedel to log an area of
12,000 acres. The longer term pro-
gram will have a community forest
manager hired on a full-time basis
who will assist in putting together a
forest management plan for the area.

In addition the community forest
project is involved in building a fire
guard around Hudson Bay which will

create a buffer zone to protect the
town in the event of runaway blazes.
In the eastern part of the town, the
project will put 9,000 cords of black
spruce out to tender. The fire break
project will bring Hudson Bay into
line with new federal/provincial guide-
lines on protection against the spread-
ing of fires to communities and cities.
In addition to the creation of jobs
through community forest projects,
the Rural Development Corporation is
also looking at creating employment

in outfitting and tourism. It also sees
economic opportunity in the market-
ing of firewood and is inviting outside
interests to establish a value-added
hardwood industry in Hudson Bay.

Brother Cross says the community
at large is becoming more interested
in the rural development board’s
activities. He says that since the
Simpson Timber closure there is a
greater awareness that the community
must work together to preserve its
future.

e Skidder operator Ian Washburn working on poplar cut on outskirts of Hudson

Bay.

LUMBERWORKER/OCTOBER, 1992/7