FORESTRY BACK IN BIG RIVER
The forest industry is growing in Big River, Sask. with an announcement this week that Prince George, B.C.-based Carrier Lumber will operate a sawmill and planer mill complex in the region.
Carrier already has a stud mill in Prince Albert, Sask. with an annual production capacity of 45 million BF. Big River has been without a sawmill since Weyerhaeuser pulled out of the area and closed its Prince Albert and Big River operations.
Carrier has not said if they will be operating the former Weyerhaeuser mill in Big River, or if they will be building a new facility. However, they have said they expect to employ upwards of 110 people directly.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall was on hand in Big River for the announcement. He said the company has been awarded an allocation from the Prince Albert Forest Management Area and that the move was another piece of good news for the province’s forestry sector.
“It’s getting better,” he said, referring to Saskatchewan’s recovering forest industry. “The forestry sector in the province today is a lot stronger than it was even a couple of weeks ago and certainly a year ago.”
Carrier’s fibre allocation from the province is around 200,000 cubic metres. Saskatchewan energy and resource minister Bill Boyd said Carrier was given the allocation because it met the right criteria.
“We wanted to have a co-managed agreement, we wanted to make sure there were First Nations involvement … and we wanted to make it such that we’d have opportunities for communities like Big River,” he said. “Now that has been looked after and this is a very positive day for Big River.”
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