Island hopping: little about Alliford Bay Logging's operation on BC's Queen Charlotte Islands is typical. Whether it's the remote location, pioneer spirit, varied techniques or larger than life scenery and trees, each day is a learning experience

Canadian Forest Industries, Jan/Feb 2003 by Tice, Bill

The Queen Charlotte Islands are one of the most isolated places in all of British Columbia. Located 120 km west of the outer islands of the northern BC coastline and 75 km south of Alaska, this archipelago of approximately 150 islands stretches 300 km from north to south. The two main islands are Graham Island and Moresby Island. The southern half of Moresby Island is also known by the First Nations name of Haida Gwaii, which means Islands of the People.

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Getting to the Queen Charlottes requires either a six to seven hour ferry trip or a 45 minute flight from Prince Rupert, or a two hour flight from Vancouver which is 770 km to the south. Both air and sea routes are often hampered by the high winds, dense fog and heavy rain that have become a trademark of the Islands. The eastside of the Queen Charlottes receives moderate annual rainfall, amounts that are similar to Vancouver, due to the rain shadow created by the mountains on the west side of the Islands. However, the west side of the Queen Charlottes gets hit with 450 cm annually, for one of the highest rainfalls in Canada.

The heavy precipitation, coupled with mild temperatures that are created by Japanese ocean currents, make the Charlottes an ideal environment for growing trees, particularly western red cedar, yellow cedar, spruce and hemlock.

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Island of Success

Not that the Charlottes are a logger's Garden of Eden. Timber chances may be good, but the location and adverse weather can make the islands an expensive place to log. Over the past century, companies have come and gone like the tides.

For the past 14 years, one of the most stable logging companies on the Queen Charlottes has been Alliford Bay Logging, a contract logging company owned by Lyle Newton. It is named after the Queen Charlotte Islands location of Alliford Bay, on Moresby Island and the southern shore of Skidegate Inlet.

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Newton first experienced the Queen Charlottes in 1980 while working for Frank Beban Logging on Lyle Island. In 1987 Newton was asked to train a grapple yarder operator working for Harding and Wagenstein Logging on the Queen Charlottes how to run a Madill 044. Randy Harding was impressed with Newton's skills and asked him if he would be interested in buying a share of the company, an offer Newton accepted in 1988. Three years later, Newton purchased Harding's share, took full ownership, and changed the name to Alliford Bay Logging.

In 1993, Newton moved the Alliford Bay Logging office to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, and today the company harvests and manages in excess of 940 000 m[Symbol Not Transcribed] annually for a number of companies including the Teal Jones Group, Interfor, Weyerhaeuser, Western Forest Products, Long Hoh Enterprises and others. The company also operates the Duke Point Custom Log Sort on Vancouver Island, where they custom sort and package for many different company's as well as dewater high grade logs for custom cut mills, and pulp logs for whole log chipping for the Harmac pulp mill near Nanaimo. In addition, Alliford Bay Transport operates 50 highway trucks and low beds for hauling logs and heavy equipment.

On Site Management

Alliford Bay's assets go beyond iron, however, and include industry expertise and management skills. On the Charlottes, for example, the company manages the operations of The Teal Jones Group. All logging production, forestry, engineering and administrative staff are directly employed by the Teal Jones Group, while Dave Summers, general manager for the Alliford Bay group and Keith Husband, a foreman, are both employed by Alliford Bay and manage the day-to-day operations.

Summers says the Alliford Bay management crew and the Teal Jones Group employees work seamlessly as a team at the Queen Charlottes operation, which is based in Sandspit, the only town on Moresby Island.

"Whether we are trying new and innovative logging techniques or looking at purchasing new equipment, we get everyone involved," explains Summers when talking about the Sandspit operation. "We work as a unified team, where all employees contribute to that team, and our success is dependent on each and every member of the team."

Summers, who has been with Alliford Bay for two years after spending 20 plus years with Canfor's Englewood Logging Division on Vancouver Island, says the attitude of the people on the Charlottes makes his job much easier.

"When you are looking at the people who call the Charlottes home, you are looking at people with a pioneer spirit, and these people have a willingness to change and to try new things."

One of the new techniques that Alliford Bay/Teal Jones Group is using in the Queen Charlottes is variable retention logging. Alliford Bay has become an expert in the technique and has gained invaluable experience in the environmentally sensitive Clayoquot Sound, where they extensively apply variable retention logging for Interfor (see CFI Nov/Dec 2002 for that story).