In the town of Golden, B.C., the main sources of income are the railroad, tourism and logging. Although people may not want to admit it, logging is the largest provider, due to the numerous jobs it creates. If logging were to disappear, the town would suffer greatly. The town would lose many of its citizens due to the massive layoffs. In 2022, the industry contributed $33.4 billion to the nominal GDP, which was 1.2% of the country’s total GDP. In BC, forestry contributed $17.4 billion to BC’s GDP each year. 24% of all exports in BC come from forestry; until recently, it was the province’s #1 export. The forestry sector supports $9 billion in wages, salaries, and benefits for British Columbians.

They’re closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks Foreman says “These jobs are going, boys, and they ain’t coming back” (My Hometown by Bruce Springsteen)

In Golden, BC, the mill employs approximately 400 people when it’s running at full capacity and countless others in supporting industries. This means if forestry were to disappear, well over 425 people would be out of a job. To put these losses in a personal context this loss would included kid sports organizers, coaches, volunteer first responders with the local fire departments and search and rescue. Then the town has no search and rescue team, that’s also volunteer coaches, which means no more sports for your kids. Pacific Woodtech also sponsors clubs in town, so if they leave, that puts a large stress to the various non profit clubs in town. Pacific Woodtech brings over $80 million in direct economic impact to the town. The forest industry also creates logging roads, which are publicly accessible for free. If the industry disappeared, almost all logging roads would be decommissioned, tourism businesses would be allowed to maintain them, as many businesses use them for backcountry skiing and other recreational activities. But as experience has shown, they do not do year-round maintenance. Logging also protects us from natural disasters like fires, for example, the forest fires in 2024, you could see the fire from town if there was no fire guard, we wouldn’t have a town, and the only people that has the machinery and experience to make fire guards are foresters. If logging weren’t a thing in town, we would end up like Jasper with half our town burned down.