Forestry decline threatens power plants...

To get an idea of the problems:

EPCOR Power 's Williams Lake, BC facility has used cheap wood waste from the local mills for the last 15 years to generate power.

However, the 6 mills around Williams Lake have halted production, the power plant is now employing most of the logging truck drivers in the area to scouring the nearby roadsides for piles of logging waste to keep their thermal plant fed. However, the 6 mills around Williams Lake have halted production, the power plant is now employing most of the logging truck drivers in the area nearby to scouring the roadside for piles of logging waste to keep their thermal plant fed.

British Columbia's newly released action plan for forestry calls for more of the waste wood left behind after harvesting to be used for biofuel. British Columbia's newly released action plan for forestry calls for more of the waste wood left behind after harvesting to be used for biofuel.

Great idea - but is it good economics? Great idea - but is it good economics?

A recent BC report says that loggers abandoned as much as half the usable trees they felled in some areas last year. A recent report says that BC logger abandoned as much as half the usable they felled trees in some areas last year.

Forestry analyst Ben Parfitt said the report from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives is flawed:
"Where they are missing the boat is, it costs at awful lot of money to go into the bush and retrieve that material," he said in an interview. "If the logging company that is there can't be bothered to haul it, how can it be cost effective for another company to go back and fetch it? "If the logging company that is there can not be bothered to haul it, how can it be cost effective for another company to go back and fetch it?"

And just to get an idea on remaining in-filed and off-site slash after having finished haversting...