Ever wonder why there are so many dangerous floating logs and deadheads
in the waters off British Columbia?

Beachcombers (log salvors) are required by provincial regulation to
return all salvaged logs to a "licenced receiving station". Here's the
catch: since 1954 there has ever only been one licenced receiving
station. This monopoly situation has meant that beachcombers are paid
very little for the often quite valuable wood they recover from the
water. Incredibly, they are also charged $12 per cubic metre (about the
size of a telephone pole) for all the wood they deliver. Logs are left
to drift for the simple reason that beachcombers would lose money
picking them up.

We are working to change this situation. We are applying to the
provincial government to licence another "receiving station" to bring
in some much needed competition in the marketing of salvaged wood. Our
goal is to maximize the amount of stray logs being recovered, and put
this wood back in the marketplace.

We hope that the provincial government will say yes to proposal but
there is no guarantee. To learn more about this project please go to:
http://www.leas.ca/projects/woodnotwaste/index2.htm

To read the proposal and make a comment to the provincial government
please go to:
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hva/scale/proposalindex.htm

Here I thought all the Deadheads floating around British Columbia were
just hoping to score some BC Bud!

Seriously, good luck with the project.

Just out of curiousity, where is the current receiving station?

Mitch wrote:
Ever wonder why there are so many dangerous floating logs and
deadheads
in the waters off British Columbia?

Well...there are many reasons for that. But thanks for the info.

Just north of where I live, we have the same problem and many of the
logs are no longer salvageable, do to the length of time they have been
floating in salt water, as they have become infected with parasites.
And many of the boat dock owners and charter companies run ads for
people to come and get the "FREE FIREWOOD" which liters the shores and
the areas around the docks and it is a HUGE mess. But for firewood
(albeit salt water firewood) it's great. And if a person could utilize
a firewood mill, similar to this type
(http://www.multitekinc.com/products/...rocessors.html)
they could make a small fortune selling economy firewood off the shores
in this area. However, there is the Government to deal with here and
that could stop such an enterprise.

wrote:

Just out of curiousity, where is the current receiving station?

Legal, or illegal ;-)

There's BIG money in illegally gotten logs in BC, especially Western
Red Cedar, which is often made into roofing shingles. $3000.00 per cord
is not uncommon. Yes, it's big like BC Bud.

The existing receiving station is Gulf Log Salvage Co-op that has a
booming ground in North Arm of the Fraser and a dryland sort in Howe
Sound.

One of the reasons that so much wood is lost in the Fraser is that
companies want to store their logs in the fresh water of the river to
avoid parasites like terados. Some of these very large number of logs
wiggle out of booms and bundles and unless it gets picked up,it is
serious danger to boats and important fish habitat.

On 7 Mar 2005 16:30:57 -0800, "Mitch" wrote:

Ever wonder why there are so many dangerous floating logs and deadheads
in the waters off British Columbia?

I am the US Ambassador to British Columbia. I will that this problem
is addressed ASAP.