Vancouver convention focuses on forest industry challenges

The challenge of producing lumber from B.C.’s mountain-pine-beetle and wildfire-ravaged forests will be a top topic at the Council of Forest Industries’ annual convention in Vancouver on Thursday and Friday.
For producers such as Canfor Corp. and West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd, adjusting has meant reducing mill capacity in B.C. while continuing to buy and build mills where trees are more plentiful, such as the U.S. south and even Scandinavia.
“Fibre availability is obviously critic