Jun 19, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Western Forest Products said that it plans to more than halve harvesting operations on Canada's West Coast this summer, amid weak demand for lumber products, a move that will affect almost 1,900 hourly and contract workers, Reuters informed. The company said it would reduce selected timber harvesting operations in July and August on Vancouver Island, the Queen Charlotte Islands and the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. Western said the reduced production "represents slightly more than half the normal timber harvesting undertaken during this period." The curtailments affect about 650 of Western's hourly employees and 1,200 contract employees. The company also plans to shut down its sawmill at Duke Point during the same two-month period. "These actions have been taken in the face of the unusually depressed market for forest products, particularly the home construction lumber industry in the United States and in Japan," the company said.