Edwards and Associates, a Surrey-based logging company which employs almost 100 islanders, has filed for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. In a letter to employees, Edwards president Stan Schiller said the company took the step "with great regret and a heavy heart" on Aug. 24 due to a combination of circumstances, including volume shortages, continuous inability to obtain enough timber and cutting permits, and ownership transfers of Tree Farm Licence 39 (the owner has changed from Weyerhaeuser to Cascadia Forest Products to Western Forest Products). He also said he is working to restructure and refinance the company and is hoping to move forward. "We recognize that the filing will add to the already high anxiety and apprehension most of you already have," he wrote to the employees. "However, we saw no alternative." At the Edwards office in Juskatla, office manager Wally Cheer said the ongoing forest workers strike is also a factor. The sooner the strike is resolved the better for the company, he said. Mr. Cheer is the only person left working in the Edwards office. There are normally five people there, he said, but one is on strike and the other three have been laid off because of the lack of activity.