Houston residents have expressed concern over timber being transported from the Canfor Houston mill to the Canfor Plateau mill located in Vanderhoof.
The reasoning, according to Canfor, is due to a shortage of logs at Plateau.
“From time to time we move logs from one facility to another to support continued operations. Currently our Plateau facility requires some additional logs and we have volume available from our Houston facility. The transfer will not impact Houston’s operations and it provides extra employment for our logging contractors and trucking workforce in the Houston area,” Canfor Senior Director of Communications Michelle Ward told Houston Today.
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As for the total volume of the logs currently being moved from Houston to Vanderhoof, Ward could not specify.
“The volume depends on the needs at the mills. We expect logs to be transported to Plateau throughout breakup season,” she said.
In the summer of 2021, both mills experienced temporary closures due to railroad transportation issues caused by the wildfire situation. Production cuts lasted at the Houston mill until Jan. 3, 2022 when the mill returned to full operations.
READ MORE: Houston sawmill to close
In the spring of 2014 the Houston Forest Products mill closed permanently after being transferred to Canfor from West Fraser as part of a large scale exchange of mills and licenses in order to strengthen timber supply to remaining mills.
At the time, the exchanges and mill shutdowns were blamed on low of timber supply following the mountain pine beetle epidemic.
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Eddie Huband
Multimedia Reporter
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