West Fraser Timber eliminating a shift at three of its north central B.C. mills

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. announced Tuesday it is cutting production at its sawmills at Fraser Lake and Williams Lake and at its plywood mill in Quesnel.

The curtailments will result in the elimination of one shift at each of the three West Fraser facilities.

The production cuts will amount to about 170 million board feet in the two sawmills – Fraser Lake Sawmill and Williams Lake Lumber - and an estimated 85 million square feet of plywood production at Quesnel Plywood.

Citing the challenge of access to available timber in the province and ongoing transportation restraints, the reduction will impact 77 positions at the Fraser Lake Sawmill, 15 positions at Williams Lake Lumber and 55 positions at Quesnel Plywood. All job cuts will occur in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The company says it will try to minimize the impact of the job losses by offering the affected employees work opportunities at other West Fraser operations. West Fraser says the reductions are necessary to better align operating capacity with the availability of timber and the logistics of transportation.