Alberta forestry grows while oil and gas shrinks

While pink slips are being handed out in the oil patch, the resumes are rolling in for the province'sforestry industry.

A combination of new markets and a recovering U.S. economy are providing an injection of activity to the industry at the same time that many peoplelaid off from the oil and gas sectorare looking for work.

Dalton Labine, a certified autoand heavy duty mechanic, found it appealing to geta stable job in forestry,sheltered from the ebb and flow of the oil market.

"You're coming to work everyday, you know in six months time you're still working, in two years time you're still working. They have employees that have been here 35 to 40 years," he said from Whitecourt, where he has worked since July2014.

The upsurge in forestry isnt a surprise to Paul Whitaker, president of the Alberta Forest Products Association.

For the past two years he has watched the industry growor reboundat a rate of about 10 per cent a year, growth he expects will continue.

• Alberta forestry industry on the upswing
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He contrasts the forestry industry's future prospects withAlbertasoil patch sectorand the billions it generates in revenue.

We are the ultimate renewable resource. We harvest trees, we replant them, we harvest them again many years later. This is an industry that's here for the long run. We know that we'll be here 100 years from now, said Whittaker.

People hungry for work

The growth hasbeen felt on the front-lines of the forestry sector.

"I'd say we're probably getting 25 to 50 per cent more resumes on a weekly basis," said Jane Lockinger, a human resources manager with Millar Western Forest Products, with offices throughout Albertaincluding Whitecourt.

Labine left what he called an uncertain industry, mining, for the stability of forestry.

It (forestry) seems to be quite alive and just keeps on truckin, he said.

Labine said the decision torelocate from Flin Flon inManitobato Whitecourt was easy.

If you look at the trains and the trucks that are coming in here and taking out the finished product out daily, it doesnt show any signs of slowing down at all. It'sjust go, go, go 24 hours a day.