top of page

Community First: About BC Community Forests in The Tyee

  • SCCF
  • 4 days ago
  • 2 min read

A recent article in The Tyee explored the challenges some community forests face in accessing local markets and supporting value-added manufacturers. The issues raised are worth discussing and we have heard from a few people, including our Community Advisory Panel, that they wanted to hear more about them.


The Sunshine Coast Community Forest is proud of our record of local and diversified log sales. Last year, we sold logs to 23 different customers, mostly small and mid-sized mills and manufacturers throughout the Fraser Valley. In each of the last two years, 9–10% of our volume went to our local pulp mill, supporting local jobs and ensuring even lower-quality fibre is put to use. We’ve also built a strong, lasting relationship with our local cedar mill, which gets first opportunity to purchase any material that suits its needs - the same as other local mills of any scale. The story told in this article is not reflective of our business.


Our log broker, A&A Trading, has played an important role in expanding our regional customer base — despite them being mentioned in The Tyee as simply a raw log exporter. Yes, they serve that market, but they’ve also listened to our priorities and they remain instrumental in our success in finding the best use, closest to home for our logs. The Sunshine Coast Community Forest has seen less than 1% of our logs exported since we started working with A&A Tradining. Local sales are our policy — and they deliver.


This is exactly why community forests are so important - our Board and Advisory Panel help set the tone for priorities like local sales. We are commitment to transparency, and publish local log sales statistics in our annual reports.


Not all community forests are the same — we are closer to markets, and we know our friends in BC community forests all do their best to keep the benefits of commuity forests local. Read more about community forests in BC and the challenges in growing the value-added sector in this article by Jennifer Gunter, Executive Director of the BC Community Forest Association, in response to the Tyee article.


Sunshine Coast Community Forest Logs being processed into utility poles on a Board and Advisory Panel visit to the  Stella Jones' Maple Ridge yard, April 2025
Sunshine Coast Community Forest Logs being processed into utility poles on a Board and Advisory Panel visit to the Stella Jones' Maple Ridge yard, April 2025

 
 
 

Kommentare


bottom of page