Fire-Damaged Timber Flow Recovery Leader

The mandate

Wildfire left authorised salvage blocks beside fire roads and bridges with changing access, while felled material accumulated in roadside decks faster than scales and mills could accept it. Fibre condition deteriorates with time, yet dispatch records now mix green, charred, contaminated, wildlife-retention and investigation-held material. A senior supply executive departed after mill receipts, contractor tickets and tenure volumes diverged materially. The interim takes command of the company’s released timber flow; provincial agencies, First Nations, tenure holders, wildfire investigators and professional foresters keep every decision on land access, harvesting permission, ecological retention and timber classification.

The nine-month recovery is paced by fibre decay and mill windows rather than a generic monthly programme. In the opening twelve days, the leader freezes untraceable dispatches, reconciles high-risk decks and establishes safe capacity at scales, bridges and receiving yards. The next operating cycle pairs each released block with deck condition, haul permit, destination specification and lawful residue route. Before winter restrictions narrow the network, the interim clears priority decks through verified mill or pulp receipt. Spring thaw then becomes a live stress test of bridge limits, road closure, changing fibre grade and simultaneous mill outage while recruitment of a permanent leader proceeds.

Transfer occurs only after the successor personally closes ten weekly fibre cohorts from authorised block and contractor ticket through deck, truck, scale, mill acceptance, downgrade, residue and payment adjustment. Every open deck must have measured volume, condition, ownership, regulatory status, feasible destination and ageing consequence; no orphaned load may sit outside the control ledger. The incoming executive receives block-to-mill archetypes, bridge and seasonal constraints, contractor scorecards, downgrade economics, unbilled and disputed volumes, claims, unresolved Indigenous or tenure interfaces and a first-thaw operating playbook tested on an unannounced mill-capacity loss.

Within released volumes, the interim may sequence deck evacuation, allocate contracted trucks and scale slots, reserve mill intake, divert loads among approved product routes, quarantine disputed or contaminated timber, suspend contractors for custody failures and authorise temporary yard capacity within the approved recovery envelope. The role cannot release a salvage block, decide merchantability, alter retention requirements, waive road or axle restrictions, settle Aboriginal-rights questions, approve harvesting, direct wildfire investigation or sign environmental assurance. Property commitments, permanent supplier changes and cumulative recovery spend above CAD12 million remain with executives or the board.

Fire suppression, tree falling, silviculture prescriptions, ecological restoration, land-tenure adjudication and public salvage policy are outside scope. Recovery will not be declared by counting felled stems, roadside volume or trucks dispatched. Unsafe road use, undocumented mixing, retrospective ticket creation, dilution of contaminated fibre and quiet transfer of rejected loads to lower-spec buyers are prohibited. The mandate is to restore an auditable, capacity-realistic flow of already authorised material, preserve rejected and residual outcomes, and leave permanent leadership with control before the time-limited salvage network returns to ordinary mill supply.

Why this seat is open

The wildfire produced a perishable recovery network across organisations that normally optimise harvesting, transport and mills separately. Executive departure removed the authority to arbitrate which released deck moves when capacity cannot absorb all fibre. A leader with timber logistics and crisis custody experience is needed until block-to-mill truth and permanent control are restored.

What you will own

• Reconcile released block, felling ticket, deck identity, measured volume, fibre condition, haul order, scale result, mill receipt, downgrade, residue and settlement.
• Allocate approved trucks, scale appointments, temporary yards and mill windows against fibre deterioration, bridge limits, contractor readiness and destination specification.
• Establish separate controls for green, fire-affected, contaminated, investigation-held, retention and rejected material without making professional classification decisions.
• Close missing, duplicated, mixed, overweight, rejected, downgraded and unbilled loads through physical checks and counterparty evidence rather than ledger adjustment alone.
• Reset contractor and mill interfaces for custody, measurement tolerance, rejection notice, redirection authority, residue evidence, claims and payment consequence.
• Exercise a bridge restriction, scale outage, sudden mill curtailment, spring-thaw road closure and accelerated deterioration across the live recovery plan.
• Install the permanent executive through ten closed cohorts, an unannounced capacity-loss rehearsal and explicit transfer of decks, disputes, claims and authority boundaries.

Candidate qualifications

• Has held executive fibre-supply, forestry logistics or mill procurement authority through wildfire salvage, storm damage or another time-decaying timber recovery.
• Can evidence a recovery where roadside inventory, scaled volume and mill-accepted fibre initially presented three materially different truths.
• Understands log decks, haul permits, axle and bridge constraints, scaling, species and condition segregation, mill intake, downgrade, pulp routes and residues.
• Has redirected scarce haul and receiving capacity while preserving forester, tenure, First Nations, environmental, road and worker-safety authority.
• Can distinguish standing or felled timber, released fibre, measured deck, dispatched load, scaled receipt, accepted product, downgrade and lawful residue.
• Has transferred a multi-contractor salvage command after physical reconciliation and a live seasonal or receiving-capacity exercise.

Non-negotiables

• Can arrive in Vancouver within one week and sustain twice-weekly interior deck, scale and mill rotations during peak recovery.
• Will not release blocks, classify timber, waive retention or road controls, direct harvesting or represent Indigenous, regulatory or environmental consent.
• Brings direct timber-flow and mill-intake authority; commodity trading, forestry policy or carrier procurement alone is insufficient.
• Will preserve deterioration, quarantine, rejection, downgrade, residue, missing loads and disputed ownership in every recovery measure.

1. 49 words maximum. Which roadside-deck measure concealed the largest gap to mill-accepted fibre in your recovery?
2. 49 words maximum. How did you sequence time-decaying timber when haul, scale and mill capacity could not absorb every released block?
3. 49 words maximum. Confirm your Vancouver arrival date and largest wildfire or storm timber-flow perimeter.