Beyond the Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Announcements

It's been a few months now since Howe Sound Pulp and Paper announcing plans to close, followed by considerable effort by many people to successfully change course from a trajectory that seemed inevitable on the heels of so many other pulp mill closures.

Now that the immediate uncertainty facing many workers has eased, we'd like to take a moment to recognize those who worked so hard to support the mill and its workers, and reflect on some of the important conversations that came out of the prospect of losing such a significant part of our community, and our local forest economy.

We want to acknowledge the dedication of everyone who worked toward this outcome, particularly the mill's workers and their union, Unifor, the Province of BC, and local leaders including MLA Randene Neill and Gibsons Mayor Silas White, who advocated strongly for the mill and the people whose livelihoods depend on it. This was an important effort on behalf of our community, and one worth recognizing and celebrating.

The prospect of losing Howe Sound Pulp and Paper brought to light just how dependent our local forest economy is on it. Beyond the hundreds of people directly employed at the mill, it provides an essential market for pulp-quality logs, sawmill residuals and other wood fibre that has limited alternative uses. It also provides a means of disposing of some invasive species and wildfire risk reduction material.

As we shared in our original post, Howe Sound Pulp and Paper has been our most consistent customer over twenty years. Now remaining open, they have re-committed to purchasing logs from our wildfire risk reduction project north of the Sechelt Airport, most of which have no other viable use or market. Having a place for these logs to go was essential to make the work feasible, and we appreciate HSPP for being a good partner.

The continued operations at the mill is welcome news for the Sunshine Coast. We hope the conversations that started around diversifying our regional forest economy, build new markets for wood products, find innovative ways to make better use of the fibre we produce will continue. Partnerships and creative thinking are still needed to strengthen our local forest economy for the long term, a need that wasn't visible until we were faced with significant disruption.

Photos of SCCF staff, directors and advisory panel members touring HSPP: