VANCOUVER, April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TimberWest Forest Corp. is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert J. Holmes to the Board of Directors. Based on the Board's desire for specialized expertise in the area of real estate and land development, last year we commenced a search for a new Director who could bring such expertise to the Board.
Mr. Holmes lives in Seattle, Washington and is the founder and manager of THG, LLC, a real estate advisory firm. Robert brings twenty-five years of real estate development experience to the Board. From 1994 to 2005, he served as President and CEO of Harbor Properties, Inc., a full-service real estate development and property management company with properties in downtown Seattle, and as President and Manager of Harbor Mountain Company, which owns and manages two resort areas in Washington state and Idaho.
From 1986 to 1996, Robert was President, CEO and then Chairman of Intrawest USA. He also served as an executive in the company's Resort Development Group, where he focused on the company's village real estate development activities and resort acquisitions.
Robert has also served as the head of two public sector agencies, most recently as Executive Director of the Portland Development Commission.
"Robert's appointment to the Board will be immediate," said Ed Daughney, Chairman of the Board of Directors. "We look forward to Robert's insights and guidance to ensure our landholdings and values are optimized and that lands are being put to their highest and best economic use, be it commercial forestry or real estate development."
Corporate Profile
TimberWest Forest Corp. is uniquely positioned as the largest owner of private forest lands in western Canada. The Company owns in fee simple approximately 334,000 hectares or 825,000 acres of private timberland that, over the previous five years, have provided an annual average harvest of 2.594 million m3 of logs and have an approximate annual growth rate of 8.0 m3 per hectare per year on the productive land base. These timberlands are located on Vancouver Island and the majority of the land base supports the growth of Douglas fir, a premium tree species sought after for structural purposes. TimberWest runs fully-contracted harvesting operations. With almost 80% of the Company's annual private land logging now being done in second-growth stands, TimberWest leads the Coastal industry in the growing and harvesting of second-growth timber.
The Company's independent auditor, KPMG Performance Registrar Inc., periodically certifies that the forest management practices on the Company's private timberland continue to meet all Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI(R)) requirements. SFI requirements specify that forest harvesting is integrated with environmental and conservation goals for soil, wildlife, water quality protection, conservation of biodiversity, protection of special sites and aesthetics in a manner that ensures a sustainable harvest over the long-term.
TimberWest also owns renewable Crown harvest rights to 0.7 million m3 of logs per year and operates a sawmill located near Campbell River, BC.
In addition, approximately 38,000 hectares or 94,000 acres of the Company's private forest lands have been identified as having greater value as real estate properties and will progressively be made available for higher uses over the next ten to fifteen years. The Company reviews its land base on a periodic basis to update the size of its portfolio of higher use properties.
Additional Information
TimberWest Stapled Units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "TWF.UN".
CONTACT: Bev Park, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Telephone: (604) 654-4600, Facsimile: (604) 654-4662, Email:
