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Out of the woods?

A new beginning, a fresh start, a second chance, and so on. Human nature being what it is, we tend to be optimistic at Square 1 and lose energy and faith along the way when reality falls short of expectation.

Perhaps there is a logical basis for this.

After all, whether it is an idea, a TV show, a winery, or a stove pellet plant, the longer it has existed, the more time there is for something to go wrong.

On the other hand, something that has never been can do no wrong.

Of course, in this universe, things are constantly going wrong and time only travels in one direction (to the best of our knowledge).

So no harm done can truly be reversed.

However, we (humans, that is) came up with the next best thing: a fresh start. If time is constantly marching forward, leaving us unable to rewind and correct, starting over and leaving the past behind is the most we can do.

The sale of Ainsworth Lumber's specialty plywood division, which consists of plants in Savona and Lillooet and attendant timber licences, has renewed hope for our future.

In years past, the company was a major contributor to life here. Ainsworth donated money and material to the REC Centre, food banks, scholarships, and did all the other things good corporate citizens do.

Most importantly, the company had long been the largest employer in town, providing solid jobs with wages to raise a family on. Those solid jobs led to more work in Lillooet because those families needed food, entertainment, health care, etc., and they wanted them close.

The fate of Lillooet did not rest solely on the shoulders of Ainsworth, but it was clearly a vital part of the community, in both tangible and subtle ways. When the plant shut down last June, the mill's importance was further underlined.

The closure, coupled with the earlier layoffs at Bridgeside, and then compounded with the Mount McLean fire, it looked like Lillooet was on its deathbed. Fate would ensure an almost novelistic, devastatingly complete destruction, with maximum sorrow for residents.

That was the summer.

Now, after six months in purgatory, Aspen Planers of Merritt is taking over Ainsworth's mills in Lillooet and Savona.

Perhaps after looking down for so long, locals have been careful not to get too optimistic too fast, lest their hopes soon be dashed again.

Still, in these early stages, we cannot help but believe in Lillooet's revival.

Until further notice, we welcome Aspen to our community and invite the company to stay for a very long time. In a perfect world, the good people of Aspen will be just as active in Lillooet as their Ainsworth predecessors.

But we have a caveat, too, for newly hopeful Lillooet residents.

This is a fresh start, but one of our creation, insofar that the lumber industry already has a long and checkered past here.

We must continue to diversify and consider truly new economic engines for the inevitable downtimes.

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