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QUESNEL – The B.C. government and Ainsworth Lumber Co.
Ltd. today signed a forest licence agreement to salvage up to 10.5 million
cubic metres of mountain pine beetle-attacked timber for oriented strand board
production.
The non-replaceable forest licence allows annual
harvesting of 700,000 cubic metres from the Quesnel timber supply area for 15
years, and requires the company to construct or expand a timber-processing
facility that produces something other than dimensional softwood lumber.
With this new licence, Ainsworth can increase its
production of oriented strand board, an innovative new use for beetle wood,
which will result in significant job creation and long-term investment in the
Central Interior. Oriented strand board (OSB) is a structural panel widely used
in the home-building and construction industries.
Ainsworth intends to invest nearly $300 million in
the first phase of its Central Interior Oriented Strand Board initiative. The
initiative involves constructing a single-line facility that will create up to
175 new jobs in OSB production and 200 jobs in woodlands operations. Once the
plant is operational, Ainsworth will consider expanding to a second line,
subject to market conditions and timber availability.
Through a competitive process, Ainsworth was
offered a similar forest licence for beetle-attacked timber in the Vanderhoof
forest district of the Prince George timber supply area. The company has
decided not to proceed with that licence.
The amount of beetle-wood available for large-scale
salvage operations in the Prince George timber supply area is currently being
reassessed and different options for allocating the timber are being
considered.
Developing major forest licences to recover maximum economic value from beetle-attacked forests in the Quesnel and Prince George timber supply areas is part of the provincial Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan. Visit www.gov.bc.ca/pinebeetle for more information on the Action Plan.
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Communications Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-5728 |
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