Coast Forest Industry Welcomes Certainty Created in Land Use Agreements; Ten Years of Collaboration and Discussion Key to Success.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The four member companies of the Coast Forest Conservation Initiative (CFCI) today joined the provincial government, the environmental community, First Nations and coastal stakeholders in welcoming the finalization of the land use plans for the Central and North Coast of BC.

"Today's announcement is ten years in the making," says Western Forest Products President and Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hert. "It has been a tough process with many stakeholders and many tensions along the way. But our success shows that working together industry, communities, environmental interests, and First Nations can produce specific plans that give everyone the degree of certainty we all need to plan our futures.

"The certainty of knowing where we can operate, the certainty of knowing what areas are permanently protected, and the certainty for our customers that we will continue to produce forest products from the BC Coast free from the market campaigns of the past is important," Mr. Hert concluded.

The agreement protects one-third of the region's land base and introduces an adaptive approach to forestry and other forms of development called ecosystem-based management (EBM).

"EBM is a new and adaptive approach to managing forests and other resources in the region," says Shannon Janzen, CFCI EBM Implementation Manager. "It requires more detailed planning and puts responsibility on the industry to be more innovative and flexible in our planning and harvesting. We have committed to full implementation of EBM by 2009. But already the transition has begun, and we are starting to see smaller forest openings, more wildlife habitat left behind in harvest areas, fewer roads, and more protection of stream banks."

A key benefit that has emerged from the process of reaching these agreements is the strengthening of relationships between industry, environmental groups, First Nations, the Province and communities.

"Implementing these agreements, and in particular EBM planning and practices, requires a high degree of collaboration," says Bill Bourgeois, CFCI Project Manager. "The Province and First Nations have a lead role in implementation, but all parties have heavy lifting to do in the months and years ahead if collaboration is going to work."

The CFCI companies are: Canfor Corporation, Catalyst Paper Corporation, International Forest Products and Western Forest Products.

For a Backgrounder, more information on CFCI and access to downloadable photographs from the Central and North Coast please visit: www.coastforestconservationinitiative.com.

To view the backgrounder attached to this release please click on the following link; http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/0207cifi.pdf