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“A BC. tree in the Orient is |

-worth a lot more than a B.C, tree
~-More jobs. and higher profits
- Because ‘manufacturers in the

in British Columbia. Why?

Orient turn almost the whole tree
into lumber products; very little is

_ wasted. Truc, this drives up

manufacturing costs — but profits
and the number of jobs created

- follow closely behind.

Last week, we presented an
example of what a similar stratetgy
could mean: here. If we were to
manufacture marketable wood
products as small as a half-inch
square and six inches long free

-from knots and imperfections, as

they do in Japan, we could drive
the average market price of our
manufactured wood products from
around $450 per 1,000 board feet
to about $1,350 per 1,000 board

_ feet. At the same time, we would
begin using about 85 percent of a

VICTORIA — Between now
and. the Throne Speech on
April 5 to open the B.C.
Legislature, one topic is likely
to dominate: the news in British

‘Columbia above all others...

the environment.
With the three federal and

_-the two major provincial par-
ties all acknowledging that en-

vironmental concerns lead the
parade of vaters’ interests, two

_ significant events in March take

on even more importance. _
First up is Globe ‘90, an in-

ternational conference in Van-
“couver next week, which aims

to promote practical solutions

.to achieve “‘sustainable de-

velopment” (SD).
Ever since Norway's former

~ Prime Minister, Dr. Gro Brunt-

land, coined the SD phrase in
her report on the need to ad-
dress envirnonmental concerns
within a framework of some
growth and development, it has
been adopted by politicians of

ace ot tree in the manufacture of wood
products instead: of only about 50
"percent as we are now.

There,.are:a number of obvious
advantages to this type of thinking.

among them. But the greatest
impact in changing our marketing
strategies would be to the
longevity of our forest resource.

Think about it: more than half.

again as much in wood. products
from the same number of trees
we're cutting now. Or, another
way to look at it, the same volume

of wood products by cutting only

about two-thirds the number of
trees we are now.

The truth is, though, we hear an
awful lot of talk but sce very little
action in the direction of change.
Why? Because our forest industry
is trapped in a commodity-based
market.

Our forest industry began carly
this century by providing the
domestic and American markets

'.. Terrace Review — Wednesday, March 14, 1990 AZ

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with construction materials. The
U.S. market was convenient and
we didn’t need any highly
specialized equipment to supply it.
There was an insatiable appetite
for 2x4’s, 2x6’s and other common
dimensions of umber... and
nothing else. And from around
1930 to about 1982 this was a
great market. We had an
inexhaustible supply of trees (so

‘we thought) and the market for

basic cuts of lumber was such that
it seemed we could never produce
enough. If a tree didn’t fit the end
product specifications it didn’t

_ Teally matter; it was simple enough

to junk it and go get a better tree.
As a result, our forest companies,
financial institutions and the

_ The view from
Victoria —

_by John Pifer

@

all stripes.

Not surprisingly, the inter-
pretations of what SD really
means are as varied as are |
those politicians’ ideals and
policies.

Globe ‘90 has attracted
world-renowned academics,
-business people, politicians and
environmentalists who will im-
merse themselves in discussions

and workshops on everything

from urban development to in- .
dustrial applications of the SD
theme.

The federal environment
ministry is coordinator of the
conference with some B.C, in-
put, and a huge trade show at
B.C. Place which will run in
conjunction with the event is
being handled by Major Event
Management Inc.

The combination should
result in the conference dele-
gates and the public being able
to review the growth industry
that is the environment, while

Weather permitting |

| “ater Terrace Centennial Lions
Freeh Shrimp - $3.00 per Ib.
| Limited Quantity

_ Saturday, March 17

—~ starting at 10 a.m.

ae ‘Beside Petro Canada on
__Lakelse Avenue

” the politicians and decision

makers sort out ways to imple-
ment the theories through
legislation and policies.

And if you don’t believe that
the environment is Big Busi-
ness, wait until you get a look
under the Dome at the excep-
tional advancements in tech-
nology in the field. From noise '
abatement to recycling, or deal-
ing with toxic wastes, this
aspect of the event may be
viewed by some as crass com-
mercialism, cashing in on the
greening of the world.

They would be right, of
course. For every cause, there's
a profit to be made, right?

Besides the heavy Canadian,

provincial government built policy
upon policy to provide more and
more of the same 2x4’s and 2x6’s
we had been cutting for decades,
We developed our stumpage and
tenure systems, developed forest
and mill management systems,
formed a commodity-sensitive
financial system... and everything
was great. There were plenty of
trees, lots of jobs, and everyone
had plenty of money to spend.
But, as it turned out, we were all
headed down the same track with
our eyes closed. In the early
1980's the crunch came -- and
with it a rude awakening. All of a
sudden there weren't so many
jobs. In Terrace, for example, both
sawmills were closed for several

Gna

‘months. The basic lumber we were

geared to cut combined with the
cost of shipping it to market was
too high.

Could this have been avoided?
Could we have utilized our trees to
better advantage? The industry had
already tried to diversify in a way
with an interior pulp industry that
grew basically from our excessive
waste. Pulp. is also a commodity

market, though, and we were no

farther ahead. Next week, we'll
take a closer look at the utilization
for our forests.

Forestry Insights is a weekly
feature of the Terrace Review
prepared by staff reporter Tod
Strachan in consultation with
Registered Professional Foresters
Rod Arnold and Doug Davies.

B.C, and American contin-
gents, nations of the Pacific
Rim and Europe are sending
their top experts and politi-
cians. There are more than 80
confirmed guest ‘speakers —
from Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney and the Premiers of
B.C., Saskatchewan and.
Manitoba to Bruntland herself
and a Thai princess, to United
Nations gurus and Vancowver’s
own Dr. Tomorrow, Frank
Ogden.

If the spirit of seriously try-
ing to preserve this planet is
sustained despite the presence
of so many politicians, the con-
ference will be a welcome suc- —
cess.

Without that spirit, it would
be seen as an abysmal failure ©
which only lines the pockets of
international environmental op-
portunists.

It will indeed be fascinating
to see how it evolves.

The only other major en- —
vironmental issue as far as
British Columbians are con-
cerned is the fate of the Car-

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Entry forms and criteria at Government Agents offices
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800 Hornby St. Lower Plaza
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Services, and Minister Responsible for - -

Women's Programs... ”
_ The Hon. Carol Gran; inate '

manah Valley.

There is no doubt at all that
the core of the valley, with the
giant ancient Sitka spruce trees
will be preserved, but how
much of the surrounding area
will be opened to logging is
uncertain. .

If the government is going to
preserve all or almost ail of it,
Globe ‘90. would be a natural
platform from which to an-
nounce that, now wouldn’t it?

However, if the intention is
to allow MacMillan Bloedel
some rights to harvest a por-
tion of the area, the Socreds

would be wise to delay such an -

announcement until after the
conference.
- This scribe believes the deci-

-sion will come down at the end

of March, after Globe ‘90, and
that neither Mac-Blo nor. the

. environmental extremists will

be pleased or appeased by it.

When you think about that,
such a result would probably
mean that the vast majority of
people would find that to be
fair and reasonable. Stay
tuned.

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