Plans to build new OSB in Hudson Bay, Sask.
on hold as FMA approval process moves slowly

Efforts to build a new oriented
strandboard plant in Hudson Bay,
Saskatchewan are still continuing as
the Saskfor MacMillan partnership is
going through approval procedures
for a Forest Manangement Agreee-
ment (FMA) with the provincial gov-
ernment.

Since the Saskatchewan Forest
Products Corporation and MacMillan
Bloedel joined forces last year to
jointly run three operations in the
northeast of the province, the commu-
nity of Hudson Bay has been waiting
for progress towards a new modern
OSB facility.

The Saskfor MacMillan Ltd. partner-
ship is a 50/50 split in ownership of
the existing oriented strandboard
(OSB) and plywood plants in Hudson
Bay, and stud mill in Carrot River.
MacMillan Bloedel used to own 100%
of Aspenite while Saskforest Products
owned both the plywood plant and
stud mill.

At this point in time it is not known
exactly how long the FMA approval
process will take place, say Dennis
Bonville, President of I.W.A. CANADA
Local 1-184.

“There has been quite a public
process that has been ongoing since
early last year,” says Brother Bonville.
“We hope to see sod turning in the fu-
ture to either add capacity to the ex-
isting OSB plant or build a separate
facility.”

When this happens, there should be
greater job security for the workers in
Hudson Bay, says Bonville. Currently
there are 145 I.W.A. members em-
ployed at the OSB plant, which con-
sumes about 400,000 cubic meters of
wood on an annual basis.

The Saskfor MacMillan partnership
hope to build a new plant which will
consume up to 900,000 additional cu-
bic meter of the hardwood on an an-
nual basis. So it is very important that,
during the FMA approval procedure,
precise inventory information is gath-
ered so the companies will know how
big the wood basket is for the future.

According to Ron Smith, General
Manager, Human Resources for the
Saskfor MacMillan Ltd. partnership,
current knowledge of the inventory
points to a sustainable cut level of
about 1 million cubic meters a year.
That means there would be an annual
shortfall of 300,000 cubic meters if the
proposed plant and current OSB
plant, which is a two line mill, will be
running at the same time.

Mr. Smith says that it may be possi-
ble to run both OSB operations for up
to a 10 year period as there is some
decadent stands of aspen to cut in
combination with undercut inventory
over the past several years.

“There’s still a lot of optimism
around the concept of building a new
plant,” say Paul Hallen, Plant Chair-
man at the OSB operation. “This de-
pends on the finalizing of the FMA
and the continuing interest and oblig-
ation of the partnership to invest up
to $165 million in the new operation.”

Brother Hallen, who sits as a union
representative on the FMA Advisory
Committee studying and making rec-
ommendations for the FMA, says that
there is a public involvement process
ongoing which is taking input from
government, industry, the union, First
Nations, environmentalists, businesss
Peale. and recreational users which

taken longer than expected.

He says that all parties must be able
to put forth their concerns before the
FMA is finalized and that it is impor-
tant to ensure that the forests are
managed in a sustainable way. The
union takes the position that a key
component must be sustainable indus-

_ try development with a firm commit-
Ment to maximize employment with
q paying jobs. The newly formed
rship company has given the

government an environmental impact
study which should be reviewed by
July of 1997. A 20 year cutting plan
will also be developed for environ-
mental impact.

Currently a Land-Use Committee is
working together with the FMA com-
mittee to look extensively at sustain-
able forest practices which can be put.
into place in various ecosystems
throughout the region.

Brother Hallen says that from the
union’s perspective it has been appro-
priate to cooperate with the forming
of a partnership company rather than
see the two companies compete for a
limited hardwood resource. A better
utilization of the total resource should
occur.

“It seems to make sense to have
one major industry (player) that could
be responsible for all of the committ-
ments for the Forest Managment Li-
cence Agreement,” he says.

At this point in time the partnership
is negotiating with First Nations mem-
bers over the issue of co-management
agreements and is taking into consid-
eration other users of the land base
that are not interested in commercial
forestry.

The FMLA stretches from Greenwa-
ter Lake, east to the Manitoba border,
north to Creighton, west to Nipiwan
and south to Greenwater Park.

Because forests in the north are
boggy, the primary logging and haul-
ing season is only 4-5 months during
the winter, with a very limited sum-
mer harvest. Both companies have
used private logging contractors in
the past.

For years both companies have
watched each others logging contrac-
tors criss-cross over each other's log-
ging activities. MB would be finished
harvesting aspen and then Saskforest
Products would move in for the soft-
woods.

It definately makes more sense,
now that there is a partnership, for
both softwood and hardwoods to
come out at the same time. One prob-
lem, however, may be equipment.

The hardwood loggers were the
first in becoming fully mechanized
and phased out traditional cut and
skid teams. In hardwoods they don’t
have to worry about things like butt
shatter which, if occurs in spruce, will
ruin a plywood peeler log.

With the hardwood species like as-
pen there is less limbing, less scat-
tered timber, and there is more yield
per hectare. Where softwoods grows
near hardwoods, they occur in smaller
patches with maybe 6-8 trees togeth-
er.

The Saskfor MacMillan partnership
has to figure out how to get logging
crews to take both types of wood and
efficiently get them to mill sites dur-
ing short hauling seasons.

Mr. Smith says that the partnership
is now working with government
agencies such as Community and Hu-
man Development to ensure that log-
gers in various regions of the north-
east are aware and can benefit from
new logging activity that will eventu-
ally occur.

If the activities can be spread out,
without disrupting traditional loggers,
then more communities will be stabi-
lized.

One area of contention for the part-
nership in the years ahead may be the
clash in corporate values that Saskfor-
est Products Corp. and MacMillan
Bloedel may have. It is marriage be-
tween a bottom-line orientated outfit
and a Crown investment corporation,
which has job creation as part of its
agenda.

Mr. Smith says that in Saskforest
Products Corporation “there wasn’t
really the displine to the bottom-line
that exists in private sector compa-
nies.”

e At the OSB plant in Hudson Bay in Local 1-184 member and forklift operator
Bev Yelle.

Brother Bonville says that the local
union expects that the new partner-
ship will pay attention to job creation
as well as being worried about the
bottom line.

The I.W.A. has taken a clear posi-
tion throughout all of the union’s par-
ticipation and involvement, with the
partnership and FMA process, that
jobs and people come first, backed by
a sustainable resource.

The public must understand that
this position can strengthen the
provincial economy and sustain com-
munities, says Bonville.

Doug Smyth, Research Director for
LW.A. CANADA, says that, although
there has been a temporary overbuild-
ing of plant capacity in the North
American OSB markets, future de-
mand will be strengthened by the clo-
sure of substantial numbers of sheath-
ing grade plywood plants in the U.S.
South.

Because southern pine timber sup-
plies remain tight, increasing competi-
tion for fiber by all sectors of the for-
est products industry will cause
plywood plants to cease operations in
the face of large volumes of substan-
tially cheaper OSB panels entering the
market. More importantly, those low-
er cost panels will enable offshore
customers to become used to the
newer product.

As a result, Smyth says it is expect-
ed that OSB will make substantial in-
roads into the traditional high-cost
overseas panel markets, particularly
in Japan.

MODERNIZATION IN CARROT
RIVER

One of the biggest changes to occur
over the past couple of years has been
the complete remake of the stud mill
in Carrot River, which happened be-
fore the Saskfor MacMillan partner-
ship came into effect.

The reconstruction took place be-
tween September and December of
1994 when a new efficient single log
line was put in to replace a two line
operation.

A new Optimill chipper canter
along with a new optimizer and trim
saw system can handle up to 10,000
small diameter logs on an 8 hour shift,
producing up to 145,000 board feet of
studs on a day where the wood is big
enough.

There is a 12” Nicholson debarker
which usually sees spruce, pine and
fir logs with an average diameter of 6
inches.

The partnership will continue to
process the top portion of the trees to
the Carrot River stud mill and ship the
lower butt portion at the Hudson Bay
plywood mill.

About 100 I.W.A. members are em-
ployed on a two shift, five days a
week basis which handles all of the
wood that is alloted to the operation.

The one line mill is just right for the
wood volume, says Plant Chairman
Gordon Lowe.

“If they put another line on it would
only be so we would slow this one
down,” he says. “We still would have
the same production levels but it
would be easier on the equipment be-
cause it would run slower.”

The mill produces both 2 x 4” and 2
x 6” studs. The 2 x 4’s are trimmed at
92-5/8” and 7 feet. It also make an 8’
economy study and puts out 5 and 6
foot lengths.

There is a new 10 bin J-bar system
and a stacker that can handle a maxi-
mum of 150,000 board feet per shift.
The planer mill moves at about 950
feet per minute.

This year cutting some 30,000 cords
of fire salvage wood. Recovery has
been good considering the depths of
the burn.

Photo courtesy Local 1-184

q

¢ ACCEPTING A NEW LOCAL UNION CHARTER from I.W.A. CANADA National President
Gerry Stoney (right) is Saskatchewan Local 1-184 President Dennis Bonville.
Brother Stoney visited a local Executive Board meeting in June to officially is-
sue the charter.

LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER 1996/15