Environmentalists Worry Lumber Merger Will Cost Them
6/28/99
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Title: Environmentalists Worry Lumber Merger Will Cost Them
Source: Reuters in the LA Times
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: June 28, 1999
Byline: ALLAN DOWD
VANCOUVER--Environmentalists are worried a hard-won victory in the
towering rainforests along Canada's Pacific Coast will fall victim to
an international corporate takeover.
They want to know if MacMillan Bloedel Ltd.'s pledge last year to
phase out clear-cut logging in coastal British Columbia will be
honored by the big Canadian logger's proposed new owner, U.S. forest
products giant Weyerhaeuser Co.
Industry analysts are also watching for Weyerhaeuser's decision, and
wonder if it will reignite a battle that has been waged both in the
forests and in the international marketplace.
"Politically, MacBlo's decision to reevaluate the way they conducted
(logging) was hugely significant," said Catherine Stewart, a forest
campaigner with Greenpeace, arguing it has forced other companies to
rethink their practices.
The Canadian logging industry -- and many environmentalists -- were
stunned when MacBlo announced last summer it would phase out the use
of clear-cut logging practices in coastal forests over the next five
years.
In clear-cutting, loggers remove all trees from a large area similar
to how a farmer harvests a field of grass. MacBlo agreed to switch to
logging methods that target trees either individually or in smaller
groups.
Critics contend it causes excessive environmental damage and does not
allow the forest to be logged on a sustainable basis. Supporters
dispute the damage claims, and argue it is the most economical cutting
method and safer for loggers working in the rugged coastal terrain.
Weyerhaeuser, which agreed this month to buy MacMillan Bloedel for
$2.45 billion, already had substantial logging operations in western
Canada but none in forests of cedar and towering softwood trees along
the rainy Pacific coastline.
Officials at the Seattle-area headquartered company have said they
interested in MacBlo's environmental policies, but need to study the
details before they can sign on to a similar agreements.
"Weyerhaeuser has no intention of moving backwards, nor of turning
back the clock to a period of polarized debate and confrontation,"
spokesman Dave Larsen said.
In recent years, the battle between environmentalists and logging
companies has been waged in the marketplace. Greenpeace has organized
high-profile international boycotts against coastal lumber products
from British Columbia.
Analysts have credited MacMillan Bloedel chief executive Tom Stephens
with identifying the marketing potential of ending the long-running
battle and breaking with had been a united industry position on the
issue.
"He was the one who said this is what the market doesn't want (wood
from clearcuts). The people who buy our products and pay our wages, if
they don't want it, we aren't going to make it," said Russell Taylor,
who publishes Wood Markets Quarterly in Vancouver.
TimberWest Forest Co. announced earlier this year it would also phase
out coastal clear-cutting, and has been working with MacMillan Bloedel
on developing alternative logging methods.
Environmentalists have used MacBlo's action as they target companies
such as Slocan Forest Products Ltd. and International Forest Products
that have indicated they will not change their logging methods.