BRITISH COLUMBIA (News release) -- West Fraser says it will permanently curtail approximately 300 million board feet of combined lumber production at its Fraser Lake and Quesnel sawmills in British Columbia, Canada. The curtailment will be realized through the elimination of the third shift at each sawmill.

British Columbia faces a well-documented timber supply shortage owing to the devastating Mountain Pine Beetle infestation. In anticipation of this decline, West Fraser has invested in excess of $500 million in its B.C. assets to improve the safety and competitiveness of its mills to attain maximum value from the available timber resource. Today's decision better aligns West Fraser's production with current timber supply.