From the Archives: Harrison Makes A Comeback

Dec 18, 2025 - 5 months ago

With their backs squarely against the wall, Harrison employees knuckled down and proved they can compete with anybody for cost-efficient logging.

From the Archives: Harrison Makes A Comeback — One of Harrisons more productive machines, the cherry picker uses its tracks and a long reach to good advantage. Here operator Doug Buker loads a truck driven by his son Les on the Fleetwood right-of-way. The landing man is Doc Halliday.

For Harrison, the last remaining camp in Canfor’s Mainland Logging Division, 1985 was a make or break year. Facing rising costs and a rapidly declining supply of timber, the camp needed a big improvement in productivity just to stay in business.

In fact, the company has considered converting Harrison to a contractor operation, as had been done before with the Mcnab and Spring Creek camps. But the crew wanted to stay Canfor employees — and vowed to do whatever it took to make Harrison competitive.

As the 1985 logging season wraps up, the bottom line shows they were true to their word. The turnaround at Harrison has been remarkable.

Despite the disruption of a bad fire season (which shut down logging for a record 31 operating days), the camp has produced at the rate of 10.8 cubic metres per main-day well above a target that seemed ambitious at the start of the season. As well, costs were 12 percent below forecast.

To cap off an impressive performance, the crew has worked one full year without a lost-time accident, proving that a good crew can achieve both productivity and safety.

Camp superintendent John Murray warns that Harrison can’t afford to rest on its laurels yet, but adds, “I’m really proud of the crew for what they’ve done this year. They really turned it around.”

The challenge that faced Harrison this time last year was a tough one. The depletion of several old temporary timber tenures meant the annual cut of about 205,000 cubic metres could no longer be kept up. Big changes were inevitable.

So one morning last fall, John and Cecil Salmon, general manager Coast logging, met with the entire crew to discuss the problem. Cecil told the group that the company simply could not afford to continue losing money at Harrison. All options had to be considered – from down-sizing to contracting out.

“We realized then that we would have to be as cost effective as any contractor,” says John. “So we started to put together a working plan, based on reducing the annual cut to 125,000 cubic metres. We had to pretend we were contract loggers — how many mechanics would we need then? How many supervisors?”

“The hourly employees were involved in the planning too. They came to us, unasked, and said ‘We want to make the operation go. Whatever it takes, we’re willing.’”

Several cost-cutting alternatives were kicked around, until the employees agreed on a plan that would keep Harrison in business. It was not an easy solution — five supervisors and about 60 hourly workers were laid off, many supervisory positions were combined, and other measures taken to cut costs and improve efficiency. But morale never sagged.

“No one was happy about the layoffs, but overall they took it well,” says John. “We have a very stable crew here, a lot of family units — fathers and sons, brothers — and people who have farms and are committed to staying here. They want to keep working, preferably for Canfor.”

So, having set aggressive productivity goals, the Harrison crew went out this year and beat all forecasts.

“The attitude of the crew is what has make the difference,” he adds. “They’re easy to motivate, and they don’t need a lot of supervision.”

Still, timber supply is a long-term worry. Bert Gayle, vice-president coastal operations, says Harrison can keep logging at its current rate for a long time, if it can hang on to its existing interest area. “The Fraser Timber Supply Area is very tight for timber,” says Bert. “Although we’ve been assured of a certain quota, I’m concerned about encroachment by the Small Business Program in particular.”

In the meantime, Harrison employees are doing what they can. Teamwork and communication have never been better. For its part, management is keeping workers fully informed on how the camp is doing and what the prospects are. And employees are coming forward with ideas on how to save money or do a better job.

“Lots of people have suggested ways to improve our profitability — good, workable ideas,” John says. “People now feel they’re a part of things. They’re using their heads, putting a little more initiative into their jobs. It’s meant greater job satisfaction, better productivity.”

“I don’t know if we have the best loggers on the Coast, but their attitude has to be the best anywhere.”

But despite the crew’s enthusiasm, despite the innovations and the cost savings, John knows the battle is far from over.

“This is a borderline operation, and it’s going to take extra effort, year in and year out, to keep it going. We face longer truck hauls, higher elevations, lower value wood … but what encourages me is that the crew is telling me that, not vice versa. They know what we have to do, they’re a mature group that just needs a little leadership.”

“They’re our biggest asset.”

This article first appeared 40 years ago in the January 1986 issue of The Supply Post.