Northern Rockies to meet with Ministry of Forests in Victoria

FORT NELSON, B.C. — A delegation of Northern Rockies Regional Municipality members will meet with the Minister of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resources Steve Thomson in Victoria next week.

The delegation, led by Mayor Bill Streeper and Councillor Danny Soles, will be discussing efforts to re-establish a sustainable forest industry in the municipal district.

This follows eight years after the closure of the Canfor OSB and plywood mills in Fort Nelson.

The municipality initiated the Forestry Rejuvenation Project in 2013. It focused on enlisting the interest of the province and potential forest sector investors, and also hoping to forge a new forestry governance model for the region.

The mill closures occurred in 2008, when the Northeast BC oil and gas industry was on the upswing, and it managed to take much of the job loss sting out of the closures.

Now, the downturn in the oil and gas industry has the municipality hoping to reverse that process. At the same time, it hopes to establish a sustainable plan, which would see the two industries support each other through boom-and-bust cycles.