A new province-wide campaign is calling on British Columbians to publicly support the forestry sector as it faces ongoing job losses, trade challenges and mounting pressures from global markets and regulatory barriers.

Launched this week at the BC Natural Resources Forum in Prince George, “Forestry is a Solution” is a coalition-driven initiative aimed at giving residents a direct way to voice support for forestry workers, their families and the communities that rely on the industry.

The campaign website outlines the core problems facing the sector: increasing global competition, operating conditions in BC that limit the industry’s full potential, and damaging U.S. trade actions that hurt Canadian wood producers. Despite these headwinds, the platform says forestry remains one of the province’s greatest economic opportunities if homegrown solutions are implemented.

President & CEO Kim Haakstad of the BC Council of Forest Industries says the campaign was created in response to growing concern from the public about the sector’s future.

“Nearly every day people ask me how they can help support the sector in this incredibly challenging time,” Haakstad said. “We wanted to have a tangible way for people to voice their support.”

The campaign’s website allows users to sign a petition and send a letter directly to their local MLA, the Minister of Forests and the Premier, urging action to strengthen the industry.

Prince George a natural launch point

The announcement was made during the annual BC Natural Resources Forum, a major gathering of leaders from across the province’s resource sectors.

Prince George was a deliberate choice, according to Haakstad, given its role as a forestry hub and meeting place for industry, government and Indigenous leaders.

“We’re in this together,” she said. “Resource development in British Columbia has to be about ‘and,’ not ‘or.’ We want all sectors thriving while managing our environmental footprint, protecting workers and strengthening partnerships with First Nations.”

An industry under pressure — and a path forward

While Haakstad says there is still reason for optimism, she acknowledges the sector is under significant strain.

“We have the wood. We have world-leading expertise. We make the best forest products in the world,” she said. “But we’re facing growing global competition, damaging U.S. trade actions and increasingly complex regulatory systems.”

Those pressures have had real consequences. According to Haakstad, British Columbia has lost approximately 15,000 forestry jobs since 2022, hitting rural and northern communities particularly hard.

The Forestry is a Solution platform says the province needs better access to wood, markets and opportunity — and that faster movement of harvest-ready timber through the value chain will help keep people working, offset economic damage from trade actions, and create more value and jobs in secondary manufacturing.

Campaign priorities

The coalition’s campaign outlines several areas where government action could help stabilize and grow the sector, including:

• Speeding up access to economic wood by expediting permits and approvals
• Improving competitiveness and cost certainty by reducing administrative and regulatory burdens
• Fixing BC Timber Sales to provide a reliable supply of logs to mills
• Supporting First Nations partnerships with tools and capacity to expedite referrals and boost revenue sharing

“All of those things create opportunity,” Haakstad said. “They help us attract investment, keep mills running and make forestry a viable career again.”

A message to government

If provincial leaders are listening, Haakstad says the message from the campaign is simple. “The number one message is that people all across British Columbia support the forest industry,” she said. “They want to see a turnaround. They want us to stop managing the decline and get back to competitiveness.”

The coalition is encouraging British Columbians to visit forestryisasolution.com to add their voice. “It’s simple and easy to use,” Haakstad said. “Join us.”