>Still no political category in here. Hint hint.
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>http://www.partnershipforgrowth.org/default.asp?id=fpbrswnynwsi1022bb11281026
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>This lumber dispute, this is the first I've heard of it. Is this a major thing in Canada right now?
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>In what ways that Canadians can stick it to the Bush Administration? And what, if anything, should people on this side of the border be doing to help?
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>I've been thinking a bit about the border between Canada and the US. I'm interested in knowing if Canadian's would be open to the idea of becoming states in the United States of America. If the answer is no, what would we have to do to make you change your mind?


Mike;

There is more to this issue then presented in the brief article. You have to go back a few years when environmentalists influenced the federal government to effectively reduce the amount of wood that could be harvested in the United States. This has been done for a number of reasons one of which is to “protect animal/insect life”.

The resulting reduction in lumber produced by the United States drove up the price of all wood products including paper. The laws that were imposed have hit many towns and areas hard. Entire communities that depended upon lumber have been devastated. I can speak from personal observation and knowledge from the lumber industry in Northern California and Oregon.

There are responsible lumber companies (Georgia Pacific is but one) that harvest trees and plant new ones to take their place to be harvested in the future. Dramatic reductions of cutting have been imposed regardless of the quality of forest management of these private lands as well as government land.

With the reduction of lumber harvesting the price of lumber went up dramatically. Many are unemployed and mills have been shut down. Entire communities have been hurt as well as consumer’s pocket books.

Enter Canadian lumber! Wood is bountiful in Canada as it once was here. So the price of lumber in Canada is about 30% less then charged here. The old story of supply and demand is at work in this case. The remaining industries associated with lumber are using protectionist-lobbing techniques to prevent destruction of their industries. Many of the lumber jacks and mill workers are gone – just like .COM programmers. However, the lumber yards, drayage and builders are greatly affected by all this as well as what logging still remains.

If Canadian lumber was sold in this country for a fair price the remaining United States logging industry would be destroyed. The lumberyards, drayage and builders are not concerned with the source of the lumber. In the end the customer suffers with high prices.

During the last two years I have traveled through Northern California and Oregon and seen first hand what has happened to the logging industry in those areas. I would presume it is similar throughout the country where there was and is logging as an industry.

As long as there is a need for lumber and federal laws protect environmental concerns this problem will exist. One solution is to not use lumber or to greatly reduce our usage. That would drive down the price of wood products and then stabilize the market price between the United States and Canada. That will require Canada to not change its harvesting policies and use of lumber. There are many dependencies at work here.

By the way both sides of my family have been a part of the lumber industry for over one hundred years.

Now to pose another question, how many citizens of the United States would like their area to become a part of Canada or Mexico?

Tom