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Southwestern Nova Scotia sawmills are running out of logs and need truckloads of timber from the former Bowater timberlands. And the clock is ticking with winter snows followed by spring weight restrictions likely to close roads to heavy logging trucks.

“We have to have sufficient inventory in the yards,” said Jamie Lewis, general manager and part owner of Lewis Mouldings and Wood Specialties Ltd. in Weymouth.

Lewis Mouldings employs 75 people in Weymouth, sawing logs and drying them to make mouldings and other value added products. They use only locally sourced eastern white pine. But no timber has moved from the huge parcel of land since the province procured it in 2012 from Bowater.

“We…for years now have been getting 50 percent of our logs from those lands,” Lewis said. “Log supply has gotten to the point where it’s critical. We have 15 percent of the stock that normally we would like to have on hand right now. If something doesn’t change dramatically and quickly, business models will have to be altered.”

Currently, the Lewis mill is purchasing logs from private woodlots. Several mills have historically relied on the Bowater lands.

From The Chronicle Herald: http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1176989-mills-face-logjam