We wanted to respond to Rick Berry's letter of January 19 entitled "Forests being railroaded".
To our knowledge, at this time Dunkley is the only company operating a rail reload for logs in Mackenzie. As Rick points out, because there is a current surplus of timber in the Mackenzie area, we are able to access some of this surplus to provide supply for our mill south of Hixon and help maintain jobs for the 250 people who work for us. We have a good working relationship with Canfor, Conifex and Mackenzie Fibre in Mackenzie and are working with them to exchange logs to assist in getting the right log to the right mill.
Where Rick is incorrect is regarding his comment that these logs might be destined for overseas shipment. Our mill has only a small percentage of secured wood supply. Most of our requirements come from buying logs on the open market. The logs that we are accessing in Mackenzie and elsewhere come directly to Dunkley for our use. Our Mackenzie reload will ship about 15 railcars per day, not the "hundreds of cars a day" that Rick's letter states.
Dunkley is available at any time to provide information about our log yard in Mackenzie.
Blair Mayes
Dunkley Lumber Ltd.
