A2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 29, 2000 Muzzling of scientist protested + te Bear hunt critic suspended By JEFF NAGEL AN ENVIRONMENT ministry biologist here has heen suspended without pay for twe weeks for wri- ting and circulating an- other report questioning the province's manage- ment of bears. Dionys de: Leeuw; who- has twice before gotlen in hot water with superiors for his ideas, this time ‘circu- Jailed a paper within the: ministry that. questioned the current method of esti- mating grizzly. bear popu- lations, according to’ Ter- race-based Sierra’. Club campaigner Bruce Hill. -. If bear populations are lower than currently esti-’ mated, the ministry would be under pressure to re- duce the current level -of grizzly hunting. | Hill said word. of -the: suspension and the exis- tence of the paper has leaked out of the ministry and has angered. environ- mental groups and suppor- ters in the scientific com- munity, “We're poing to be fighting it,” Hill said. “It’s censorship. And it’s abso- lutely irresponsible on the part of this government to be doing it or condoning it.” “They have a lot to an- swer for on ‘this,” -he added. De Leeuw got the sus- pension and reprimand in a meeting with regional manager Jim Yardley March 22, Hill said. Ministry officials are tefusing to talk about it. “This is an internal per- sonnel matter within the From front ministry,” responded spokesman Alex Dabrows- ki. “We don’t comment on matters invalving internal personne! matters.” In 1997. de Leeuw wrote and circulated a report that Suggested the ministry's wildlife branch, . which controls bear hunting po- — licy, isin a. conflict-of-in- terest because 60 to 85 per | cent of ‘its employees are hunters. In 1998 he -wrote an- other report recommending fewer grizzly hunting per- mils be. issued and that en- “vironmentalists also be -al- _ lowed to bid against -hun- ters for those permits as a way {o protect the- bears. In both reports he ar- gued grizzly population estimates used to justify: the hunt level are exag- , gerated and based on in- "adequate evidence. Although ministry offi- cials retrieved all copies of his 1998 report, wildlife management director Nancy Bircher at that time promised de Leeuw’s fu- ture ideas would still be accepted by the ministry. “If he has an idea he’s certainly welcome to share: it,” she told the Standard back then. Hill said last week’s Suspension amounts to the latest attempt to muzzle de Leeuw and should alarm anyone who be- lieves scientific research shouldn’t be suppressed. He said he believes de Leeuw’s treatment is poli- tically motivated because his earlier reports embar- rassed the environment Mill sale eyed Rigsby worries West Fraser might sacrifice its north- west operations here to environmental demands if it can * emerge free of eco-pressure in ils more lucrative interior ” operations, “Tt appears they’re looking at mortgaging this area for the sake of the interior,” he said. That strategy might make sense for West Fraser tight now, he said, but would mean permanently abandoning forests that a different operator might be able to use down the road, “With the level their mills are running at here they don’t need that timber,” Rigsby said. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean somebody else can’t make a go of that timber.” “But once you give it up it’s gone. That’s a grave concern,” MacNicol said West Fraser is serious about these operations. He said the company’s innovative measures to deal with the challenges here have dramatically improved the bottom line in the last two years. “We lost over $23 million there in one year,” Mac- Nicol said, “That is.a big concern for any company.” “We withdrew and we retrenched and the way our operations are running there right now Terrace is doing very well,” he said. “We've basically turned that operation around from a $23 million loss to better than break even,” es KERMODEI TRADING Bulbs are popping, it’s time for Spring Shopping Stop in and check out ' ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS Knives on sale ? The Yellow Gift House. on. Highwoy 16 cone aa 638-1 808. ) ~~ issues,” “Scientists feeling they . minister. “It’s an extremely dan- gerous. thing to muzzle. scientists,” Hill said. “If scientists don’t have the freedom to make fair comment on government “policy how do you-avoid making mistakes?” he de- manded. “The public expects scientists ‘to be able to. speak “out ‘freely .on he - added. couldn't do ‘that led to a lot of ednfusion around the “Kemano Completion Pro-- ject, and withthe decline of Atlantic cod and: the Pacific salmon :fishery.” Federal fisheries -biolo- 4 apa pie oe } SAFEWAY FOOD & DRUG gists studying the Kemano project in the early 1990s later said they’d been pressured by bureaucrats to conclude the’ project's risks were acceptable. ~ Federal cabinet exemp- ted-.the hydroelectric pro- ject from an federal envir- onmeatal ‘réview, ‘bul. the province. tater ordered con- struction’: halted after Alcan had already spent — “more than.$600 million. Ministry staff have again been -fetrieving all ‘the copies’ of the new paper de Leeuw - circula- , ted, Hill added. -Hersaid de Leeuw has tefused.-to-release the paper or speak about it. SAFEWAY CLUB and yoo wif ane ATE! © With your. Safeway. ‘Club Gard. CF Fill it up and SAVE! Over 600 items to choose from! Abbett Meat etd Look in your mailbox or at your local Safeway Store for a 20% bag-it saie bag. Bring your bag to your neighbourhood Safeway Store and fill it with as many Meat & Seafood Items or Safeway SELECT Products’ as you can ee: ri Meat & Seafood Products" in the bag with your Safeway Club Card. ae APRIL SPECIALS 7 For the month of April, enjoy Cajun Cod | For Only $13" ala Carle Saturday Nite Special 6 oz Sirloin wihLobster Tail Veggie. 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