Duncan, British Columbia, Canada, 19 July 2007 -- Western Forest Products Inc. (TSX: WEF) today announced that Forest Industrial Relations Ltd., the association bargaining with the United Steelworkers Union on behalf of 31 coastal forestry companies including Western, has received notification from the Union that strike action will commence at midnight on 20 July 2007.

Most of Western’s timberlands and manufacturing operations would be on strike other than one sawmill, certain of the smaller logging operations, and the remanufacturing plants, whose workers are not covered by the Coast Master agreement. The company is not able to determine the duration of the strike or the effect of this labor disruption on its operations at this time.

Western Forest Products

Western is an integrated Canadian forest products company and the largest coastal British Columbia woodland operator and lumber producer with an annual available harvest of approximately 7.5 million cubic meters of timber of which 7.3 million cubic meters is from Crown lands and 0.2 million cubic meters from private timberlands and lumber capacity in excess of 1.5 billion board feet from eight sawmills and four remanufacturing plants. Principal activities
conducted by the company and its subsidiaries include timber harvesting, reforestation, sawmilling logs into lumber and wood chips, and value-added remanufacturing. Substantially all of Western’s operations, employees and corporate facilities are located in the coastal region of British Columbia while its products are sold in over 20 countries worldwide.