Worse news may be on the way--BC forest industry in 2005 had a bad year (i.e. profits were down drastically and lots of mill closures in the Coastal Districts) so the government is bending over backwards to remedy the situation. Conveniently, these strategies ignore the record profits made in 2004. And the illegal US softweood tarrif on Canadian lumber ($3 billion and counting) hasn't helped either.

To compound the problems, the pine beetle infestation continues unchecked and massive tracts of pine forest (areas bigger than some European countries) have been killed. The stumpage fee (what industry pays to the govt. for taking a tree) has been dropped drastically on these trees, but not many foerst companies seem to be lining up to remove the wood (the wood is stained denim-blue by a fungus carried by the beetle).

These areas are not the same as the old growth that sustains the spotted owl. But old growth trees are monsterously large and relatively easy to get at, hence the foresters' lack of respect for the wildlife therein.

Forestry in BC is the number one industry. My question is why didn't the logging companies pump the 2004 profits into value added manufacturing instead of exporting raw logs to the US? Why, in a province like British Columbia, is there an Ikea store?