By Susannah Banks, Chair of Canadian Forest Owners
(and Executive Director, New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners)
In the face of the unjustified economic attack by the leader of our U.S. neighbours, Canadian Forest Owners (CFO) stand fast as your good neighbours, who are committed to sustainable forest management for resilient, thriving communities coast to coast.
Last week’s announced tariffs on Canada’s wood products by U.S. President Trump will harm not just forest landowners but local mills, workers and their families, communities, especially rural ones, and customers on both sides of the border. Together we stand firm with our colleagues in industry and the federal and provincial governments to strengthen the Canadian forest sector and work to bolster family woodlots and the economies of rural communities.
For many of these communities, forestry is still the biggest employer. Tariffs on wood products erode competitiveness and put mills under financial strain, leading to curtailments and closures, harvesting reductions, job losses, and economic harm to families and these communities.
No one escapes the impact. When mills close loggers stop logging. Heavy equipment isn’t leased or sold, and trucks and other forms of transportation are stalled. Woodlot owners delay harvesting as market access dwindles. Seedlings aren’t ordered. The economic impact trickles down to local businesses where customers spend less, and local and provincial tax coffers that pay for our schools, hospitals and recreation facilities are reduced.
Private forest land is a significant economic contributor to Canada’s economy. CFO’s membership is made up of 450,000 woodlot owners, large and small, who own a tenth of Canada’s managed forests, supporting every mill across the country, and accounting for nearly 20 per cent of Canada’s total forest production. In 2020, silviculture and wood manufacturing activities from these private forests created 38,500 jobs and generated $14.5 billion in revenue. With the right help from government, forest owners could achieve so much more.
Part of the solution to the economic impacts of these tariffs lies in strengthening our forest sector by expanding markets, creating jobs and economic stability, increasing forest resilience and making our communities safer from extreme weather events.
Expand Markets
The Canadian forest sector has shown strong support for governments to promote building with wood for industrial projects and for solving the housing crisis to help mitigate the impacts of this economic war. By prioritizing the use of Canadian wood in infrastructure and housing projects and accelerating the building of more affordable units across the country, the domestic market for wood will expand. But to ensure long-term sustainability and to support rural communities, it is important to include privately managed forests, large and small, in these plans. At the same time, it is important to continue working to increase market access opportunities for the Canadian forest sector in other markets, such as Europe and Asia, as well as expand opportunities for bioproducts. CFO would argue that wood products made from private forests should be exempt from all tariffs and private landowners should be compensated when they are negatively impacted by trade agreements, including the Softwood Lumber Agreement.
Cut Red Tape and Regulatory Barriers
CFO members supply fresh drinking water, important fish, wildlife and plant habitats, clean air, greenhouse gas pumps, as well as forest products and other social and ecological services that support local businesses and communities. We must work together to ensure environmental and land-use policies recognize private landowner rights, are science-based, and do not impose unnecessary restrictions that undermine jobs, investment, and sustainable forestry operations.
Improve Forest Economics
The creation of a Personal Silvicultural Savings and Investment Plan (PSSIP) for private forest landowners will boost economic activity in rural communities and create additional sustainable jobs in the forest sector. By supporting the creation of a PSSIP the federal government ensures Canadian forest owners can put aside part of their harvest income for future management investments in their forest. At this crucial time, it will help unlock private capital to reduce uncertainty and enhance investment, create innovative tools to contribute to a low-carbon economy and improve the value of forest stands, their products, and ecological contributions.
Implement Best Practices on Private Lands for Disaster Response
As your neighbours in thousands of communities across Canada, CFO members are often the closest and fastest line of defense when wildfires threaten a community. Many private forest owners interface rural and urban communities and are ready with firefighting equipment to protect forestland from wildfires. They are also positioned to assist with land restoration projects. CFO looks forward to working with government to increase understanding of the current contributions of private forestland management in natural disaster mitigation and further implement best practices on private lands across the country.
Maximize the Value of our Private Forest Resource
Family woodlot owners are uniquely qualified and in the best position to sustainably manage our natural resources in rural communities, because they have an intimate knowledge of the land, which often is passed down from generation to generation. We must work together to help improve the evidence base for private forestland’s contribution to the state of Canada’s forests and future.
CFO members do this for hard-hit rural communities, woodlot owners, large and small, employees and families, who know our forests hold the promise of a sustainable future for all Canadians, because this is what good neighbours do.