A day of Forestry for the Team

Day 3 in Whitecourt was once again an absolute blast thanks to the great bunch of rotarians at Whitecourt and Katrina from the chamber of commerce. Our day commenced at the Miller Western Pulp Mill and Saw Mill. Once again we were blown away by a massive pile of logs in the millyard, stored there for the spring close down of harvest operations. The Pulp mill was a first for all of us anywhere and we learnt about the process of converting a log into pulp. Pulp is then exported all over Canada and the US to various paper manufacturers. The Miller Western sawmill, on the same site was a real eye opener for me. This mill was seriously high tech and automated and was geared up to produce lumber from what I would call small sawlogs. Some of the logs I saw coming into mill would struggle to make grade for our chip specifications let alone sawlog! The maximum diameter for sawlogs taken into the mill is about 50mm and the minimum is an astounding 10cm and from what I saw they didn't need to be particularly straight. Internal defect is not nearly the issue it is back home so that makes life a a little more simple here. This mill chews it's way through 600-800 thousand cubic m of timber per year and there are 3 processing lines running simultaneously. "Large", medium and small logs are seperated and split across through these lines seperately to maximise efficiency.

Logs being loaded onto the conveyer belt form the stack via and overhead crane

Logs on their way into the scanner after being debarked

Lunchtime came and we were whisked off to the roadhouse for the local rotary meeting where we were treated to a delicous Ukranian feast followed by our presentation to the club and a banner exchange.

Next was a visit to the Alberta Newsprint Company where we were given a "customised" tour of the processing plant. It was certainly the first pulp and paper mill we all had seen including us forestry folks so it was really interesting. The mill produces newsprint for domestic markets and American markets. Fibre is sourced from local mill waste and ANC's woodlands operations. What surprised me was the speed the whole plant operates at. Rolls run at at 1600m / minute and the plant runs continuously at this speed. That's a whole lot of paper being produced in this small town and this plant is no doubt a very important economic asset to the town. It is also very important to the local timber industry as waste/ residue material can be utilised close to where it is grown-Something we sure need in NSW. The team really enjoyed the tours for the day and for Kate and I it was a bonus vocational day. Big thanks again to Katrina from the local chamber office and rotarians Holly, Nevis and Gwen for taking us around