Ce itil ieee” ta Se ~ Pulpwood offer ri iddied with problems Hazelton, asks, ‘‘Is the MoF — beyond the jurisdiction of the Letter to the Editor To the Editor; . Lam writing on behalf of the North Coast Woodlot Associa- tion, a new organization which ‘Tepresents people in the north- west who believe that an impor- tant aspect of the future sus- tainability of our forests is in the increased use of woodlots. Our members generally own and . This letter is a response from our group, citizens who all make their living from the forests of the northwest, to the proposed Pulpwood Agreement #17. Victoria has made a decision to increase the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) in our area. Head office has handed over the plan to the local Ministry of Forests District Of- fices and directed them to ‘‘go find the wood’’. What sort of. planning is this? This action short-circuits the credibility of manage small parcels of forested | all of the efforts of local Ministry of Forests employees to land. —~ --Forestry commission here next week Three members of the province’s Forest Resources Commission will preside over a day-long public hearing April 17 in Terrace, The commission, with a total of 13 members, was struck last year by the B.C, government with the intent of achieving a _ degree of cooperation between special interest factions warring over the use of forests. It is an independent body that has invited submissions from the public on forestry issues and is empowered to make recommendations to the B.C. Ministry of | Forests. Panels made up of commission members are currently touring the province to hear further representations on more than 1,500 written position papers received to date. Chairman Sandy Peel says that after the round of public hearing the commission will develop an options paper which will be issued and then subjected to further public hearings in the fall of this year. Final recommendations to the ministry will be made in the winter, Peel says. The Terrace hearing will take place in the Sandman Inn April 17 from 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. A statement issued by the commission says most of the hearing time will be taken up by people who have submitted written bricfs and have been invited to address the hearing. There will be a limited amount of time available for other presentations. Anyone ' interested in being listed on the agenda is advised to call the commission’s executive director, Derrick Curtis, in Victoria at 356-7885. 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It appears that this move to increase the cut would only increase corporate concentration .in the forest industry. If this pulpwood agreement is realized it would leave little or no access to timber for small community- based operators! There is strong public senti- ment amongst most British Col- umbians that no more public forest land should be concen- trated solely in the hands of large corporations. This was demonstrated through an over- whelming rejection of the MoF’s plan last summer to roll over more public forest lands into bigger TFLs (Tree Farm Licenses). Ownership of forest tenure should be diversified by providing more opportunity for | small-scale logging contracting operators and through the estab- lishment of more woodlot licences. We are not attacking the value of large forest corporations; their contribution to our local economies through providing jobs, professional expertise, large-scale processing facilities, and providing an elaborate in- Terrace Review — Wednesday,.April 11, 1990, A9 ternational marketing in- frastructure, is invaluable. But when decisions are made in boardrooms far removed from actual logging sites, the local community’s sensitivity to economic and social values is sacrificed, and its very existence is threatened. To date the forests have not been successfully - managed for water quality, fisheries, wildlife, and various other ecological values, nor for tourism and recreation. ’ Community-based local con- trol of our surrounding resources (primarily this means forests in northwestern B.C.) has been proposed by a number of communities and organiza- tions. We strongly support this concept! Such control would not only insure resource sustainabili- -ty, but would also provide a sympathetic forum for all forest users. Another concern that arises is the native land claim question. What right does our provincial government have in allocating rights of ownership to a resource, when the land claim settlement for much of the area that this pulpwood covers, is, or is about to be, debated in court? Actions such as this could effec- tively shutdown parts of the forest industry, causing widespread unemployment and increased tensions in many northwest communities, As Alice Maitland, Mayor of B.C. judicial system?’’ Considering that the approved Annual Allowable Cut for the entire Prince Rupert Forest Region is 100 percent com- mitted, additional volumes of timber will have to come from | areas outside of what is con- sidered to be the operable pro- ductive forests. These will in- clude deciduous stands, low wet- land stands, but mostly high elevation stands, many of which are on steep slopes. Given these conditions, how could the government tender a pulpwood agreement for millions of cubic meters without ever having con- ducted an environmental impact assessment? It is evident from our view- point that Pulpwood Agreement — #17 has been imposed on us from Victoria without consulta- tion and without thoughtfully — considering the consequences of such an agreement, Rather than concentration of wood supply to a single large corporation and an increase in the Annual Allowable Cut, we should be looking toward diver- sifying the existing industry through such measures as in- creasing the amount of crown woodlots in our area. Lars Reese-Hansen, President, N.C.W.A., Terrace, B.C, _ FINANCING UP TO 48 Months OR $750 CASH BACK Tempo/Topaz Expires: June 6, , 1990 TERRACE ) We listen better... and act! 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