quote: August 9, 2006 (Forestweb) — Logging in Vancouver Island's Clayoquot Sound is on the verge of a unique restructuring that would help reassure environmentalists concerned that pristine valleys are being opened up to cutting, The Vancouver Sun reported

The fix is in

quote: Iisaak has seldom been profitable since it was founded in 1999 and has been harvesting higher timber volumes each year in a bid to make money.

No surprise here

quote:Triumph Timber, one of the province's top eco-system-based loggers, is to take over the operational side of Clayoquot logging under the plan.

Triumph Timber is one of the biggest clearcutters on the west coast.

quote: The deal, worked out over the last six months, would mark the first time one of B.C.'s struggling forest companies had been restructured not only for the bottom line but to make it ecologically sustainable as well.

Iisaak can be restructured to be either economically sustainable or ecologically sustainable but not both.

The provincial ministry of forests is geared to reaping revenues through industrial logging.

There is no way that Ecotrust or especially Triumph Timber is investing in Iisaak to improve the biodiversity of the area. They smell profit.

As I speculated above, the bands are walking away from both management and logging and handing everything over to industrial loggers for a set price per meter.

quote: The issue of logging the watersheds is intertwined with Iisaak's profitability. If it cannot make money by logging lower volumes of higher valued timber, then the watersheds offer a ready solution.

Making money by cutting less won't be a problem, said the man who will be charged with doing the actual logging.

"It can be done," said Thomas Olsen, of Triumph Timber, one of the province's top eco-system-based loggers.

Triumph is to take over the operational side of Clayoquot logging under the plan. Triumph pioneered new logging methods on the north coast, where it has developed relationships with first nations based on balancing ecological integrity, social well-being and the economic realities of the business, said Olsen.

He said it would be premature for him to comment on the watersheds until Triumph has a chance to develop short-term and long-term plans.

Thats Olson's story but others have a different perspective on Triumph Timber's committment to ecological integrity or social well being.Triumph's committment to"economic realities of the business" is not in doubt.

forgot link...Forestweb

[ 13 August 2006: Message edited by: jester ]

[ 13 August 2006: Message edited by: jester ]