One timber company which owns major sawmills at Cranbrook and Elko and a pulpmill in Skookumchuck dominates the timber industry in the Cranbrook Timber Supply Area. Although the pulpmill is outside the Cranbrook Timber Supply Area, most of the employees live within the timber supply area in Cranbrook or Kimberley, and much of its chip supply comes from mills within the timber supply area. Other firms operate a sawmill, a wood preserving plant and a cedar pole operation. A number of small wood products plants are located in the area. It is estimated that the major sawmills consume 1.254 million cubic metres of timber annually, 62 per cent of which comes from the Cranbrook Timber Supply Area. (SEA page 58)
Harvesting and processing the current allowable annual cut in the Cranbrook Timber Supply Area generates approximately 968 person-years of direct forestry employment within the timber supply area based on the estimate that 1.08 person-years of direct forestry employment are created from every 1,000 cubic metres of timber harvested. Figure 6 illustrates the types of forestry employment that are generated. This direct employment is estimated to generate an additional 563 person-years in spin-off employment (0.58 person-years for each direct person-year) in the area, for a total of 1,531 person-years of employment within the timber supply area. (SEA page 60)
Figure 6 Types of forestry employment generated
