British Columbia's remaining ancient forests felt a cold wind shudder through today as local newspapers announced that China has surpassed the USA as our largest lumber market. Their burgeoning economy and growing middle class are putting prized wood at a premium.
The Times Colonist reported:
"May’s B.C. softwood lumber shipments to China, including Hong Kong, were valued at $122 million compared to $119 million in shipments to the U.S.
Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell said that while more wood — roughly 1.2 million cubic metres compared to 1.1 million — was sent to the U.S. in May, the Chinese exports were more expensive.
“The Chinese are paying for high quality and they’re getting high quality,” Bell said.
Bell said most B.C. lumber sent to the U.S. is used in house construction, but in China it is used for apartment buildings, trusses, commercial buildings and furniture among other things.
From January to May this year, the province exported 2.8 million cubic metres of lumber to the world’s fastest growing economy, more than double the value and volume exported there during the same period last year." - source
I find it odd that all the snake experts seem ignorant of two species of snakes that are resident on vancouver island:
ReplyDeleteLarge black snake four feet to nine feet long #1
and
Small brown snake with unusually large head and a tail that tapers down at about a 45 degree angle from the full body width (about 1.4" in uniform width, very very round, not bulging like regular snake). The head is huge about 3" wide.... something you would expect to see on a snake six feet long not 14".