Boundary Waters Forest Management Corporation is responding to questions raised by Fort Frances town council about wood rights.
It was suggested two weeks ago that Resolute Forest Products was awarded a forest licence extending years through to 2032.
President Mike Willick says the licence is actually held by the Corporation.
“It’s a Boundary Waters Sustainable Forest Licence. It is not Resolute’s Sustainable Forest Licence. They have a commitment spelled out within our licence, but they don’t have a licence for that,” says Willick.
Willick notes that while the management of the forests was transferred to the Corporation, prior wood commitments were not altered.
“The wood directives could not be changed when we transferred the Sustainable Forest Licence from Resolute to Boundary Waters Forest. It was a condition of the negotiations that the minister’s commitments would move from one SFL to the other,” says Willick.
Willick still feels the new Corporation has been successful in protecting local interests.
He notes nearly all of the fibre is going to mills in the district.
“The forest produces a little over 1.2 million cubic metres per year, and the demands of the mills within our district is 1.1 million cubic metres a year. So we’re pretty close to balance.”
Willick adds a recent expansion to Resolute’s mill in Thunder Bay has not led to an increase of the area’s timber going to that mill.
