It is a pleasure to report that your Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation has had yet another successful and profitable year of operation. This is remarkable given the overall BC forest industry losses of a billion dollars in the past year. 

Rather than dwell on the economics of the Corporation, it is appropriate to consider the many other beneficial spinoffs. Perhaps the most important is the confidence given the private side of the industry to expand and upgrade their plants because of the community's obvious commitment to the industry through the T.F.L. purchase.

The whole woods industry is better coordinated and forest workers no longer experience the annual 5-6 month layoffs that were commonplace here previously and still happen in other areas of the province. Some contractors enjoy a full 12 months of work due to the coordination of logging activities by the various players, including R.C.F.C.

R.C.F.C. and the local industry have a flexibility to try new things and there is an openness to change. We do innovative harvesting to accommodate other interests while maintaining the cut level.

R.C.F.C.'s establishment of a log sort served to debunk all kinds of old forest industry positions like "It'll cost you more to sort it than you'll recover in increased value!" The ability to tailor your sorts to maximize log revenues in accordance with changing market conditions has been key to our good financial results.

Our T.F.L. has been used as a site for co-operative training projects so that forest workers can broaden their range of skills and be more employable for longer periods of time.

The receivership of a large forest company in 1997 demonstrated our capacity to help our community in a crisis. With the cooperation of the B.C. Forest Service we were able to fast track some cutting permit approvals and put out of work contractors back to work.

The road building and management expertise in R.C.F.C. was key to the community's ability to have 4 km of road built quickly and well in the fall of 1998 in order to insure continued successful operation of the Mount MacKenzie ski area.

There are many other positive non-monetary aspects to R.C.F.C. and all Revelstokians can take pride in their ownership of the Corporation.

This next year the full implications of the M.A.C.'s recommendations will come to bear. The A.A.C. will be reduced by a lesser amount than originally anticipated but the costs in achieving that cut will escalate. I am confident that our staff will meet the challenges presented.

In closing, I want to thank my fellow Board of Directors, our very competent staff, our Industry Partners and all our contractors. Their efforts on your behalf are responsible for R.C.F.C.'s remarkable track record. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Geoffrey S. Battersby,
Chairman