| Community Futures
Beaver River
A&A Logging Partnership Switches to Mechanical
Tree Harvesters
Ten years ago, Art Laliberte was busy harvesting
timber in the Green Lake area, but not making much money at it.
He was using line skidders to harvest trees, but "skyrocketing"
workers compensation premiums were taking ever-larger bites out
of any profits.
Following the advice of the people at the Beaver
River Community Futures Development Corporation, Laliberte partnered
with another forestry contractor – Allan Lafond –
to form A&A Logging. "By putting our contracts together,
that gave us enough volume to invest in other harvesting methods,"
says Laliberte.
Again with advice from the Beaver River CF,
the partners had their accountant prepare a business plan that
included switching to mechanical tree harvesters. Because the
machine operator works within an enclosed cab, the mechanical
harvester is much safer than the line skidder, and this is reflected
in much lower workers compensation rates. As a bonus, Laliberte
adds, the cab of the mechanical harvester is a more comfortable
place to work during the extremes of Saskatchewan's heat and cold.
Mechanical harvesters are not cheap, and financing
sources typically have a limit for any single loan. This was the
case for A&A Logging. The company received financing from
four organizations: Beaver River CF, the SaskNative Economic Development
Corporation, the Northern Enterprise Fund and the provincial government's
Northern Development Fund. The company is currently (Summer 2007)
contracted to harvest 120,000 cubic metres of timber in an 80-kilometre
radius of Green Lake. However, that's not enough to keep all the
equipment busy. Three machines are idle, the result of the downturn
in the North American forest industry generally, and in particular,
mills closing in Saskatchewan.
"We're steadily dealing with the people
at Beaver River," says Laliberte, who began working in a
sawmill at age 15. "We went to them for information and advice
about whether to start moving machinery out, or let it sit for
a while until the industry recovers. We decided to hold on for
a bit longer. Even if we have to downsize, I'm grateful for the
support we received from Beaver River CF and our other lenders,
and for the chance to continue working in the forest."
« Back to the Recent
Success Stories page
|
