Rare rte eS kt Seg ere Pa?

This week: — ~
High grading -
at a lower rate

Herby Squish pondered
several maps laid out on his
desk.. He had spent far too
much time in the office try-
ing to convince Milton Jovial
of the follies of bottom line,
high grade logging. But his
efforts hadn’t been totally
lost; he had reached a rea-
sonably fair compromise
with Jovial.

In actual fact, though, this
had really only bought a few
more years in which to con-
vince the New York investor
with the Milwaukee plastics
plant that the forest industry
was much different than
most other manufacturing
enterprises.

The forest industry deals
with a natural, renewable
resource. Therefore, the
entire industry has to work
according to nature’s clock.
Cut the forest faster than it
is renewed, and your
resource base is lost. A pret-
ty simple concept, mused
Squish. Why is it so difficult
for some people to under-
stand?

Still, that part of his job
was out of the way for the

-mMoment and it was time to

concentrate on other impor-
tant matters. He had spent
several weeks in his office
and it was time to get back
out into the field. He hadn’t
visited a single logging site
in weeks. Of particular con-
cern to Herby was the phase
logging operation. |

Since Herby Squish had
accepted a job as Milton
Jovial’s resident forester,
woods manager was his offi-
cial title. The phase logging
operation had been complet-

ed, and he had only Jack |

Block’s word that everything
had gone as planned.

Squish had always had
doubts about the company’s
ability to maintain a phase
contracting operation. But
Jovial had wanted to try it as
a comparison with the effi-
ciency of contracting out
entire cut blocks.

“{ hear you were a pretty
happy sailer the other day.”

The spirited voice of Syd
Silver startled Squish.

“When are you going to
learn to knock? Aren’t you
supposed to be out selling
lumber somewhere? In
Lebanon maybe?”

4.

“A little touchy aren’t
we?” Silver smiled. “Thought

--you beat up the boss pretty

good the other day and
would be feeling pretty good
about the future of Oz.”
“Enough already. We won
a bit of a battle but we're

- still fighting the war. We’re

not out of the woods yet... So
to speak.”

Silver laughed. “But
your sense of humour
lives.” | SO
“Sorry Syd. But I do get a
little depressed from time to
time. Even with a battle won
it seems a pointless war.”

In spite of Silver's perma-
nent state of good cheer, he
was a sensitive man, and it

was becoming very clear

that this was an appropriate
time to pocket the smile and

open a caring ear. “Okay

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor;

I am writing in opposition
to Orenda’s chosen site for
their proposed pulp and
paper mill. There are thou-
sands of square miles in the

area to choose from, so why

_. choose a site already 10-20

years into forestry regrowth,
- that when originally harvest-

- ed produced the highest

yield per hectare in the
whole region? It only stands
to reason that with ever-
improving forest manage-

ment and silviculture tech- .
‘niques, this area will pro-
’ duce an even higher yield

next time it is harvested.
” Tt doesn’t take a scientist

to réalize that if you con-

dense 1,644 cubic metres of

Pifer——= continued trom page 6

Or have the corporations
‘already come to terms with
living with an apparently
moderate NDP administra-
tion? Have some of their
leaders even acknowledged
the need for Social Credit to
undergo a cleansing, and to
spend some time in the

~ wilderness of the Opposition

benches?

This crystal-ball gazing
correspondent thinks that —
Yes is the answer to the last
two questions.

Parting Thought: it is easy

water daily and release it
into the air over the Onion
Lake Flats in the Kitimat
Terrace corridor, an area
already prone to long inver-
sion air patterns, particular-
ly in the fall and spring
months when fog is already
a problem in this area, it will
compound that problem.
This is not acceptable at our.
airport, considering that
many flights are already
diverted or cancelled due to
fog. Most truckers, or any-
one that drives a lot will also
realize that black ice goes
hand in hand with fog. The

- hills in the area of Onion

Lake, the closest section of
the highway to the proposed

‘mill site, are the stretches of |

road that most people, even
the very experienced truck-
ers, find most difficult in the
winter. At.the present time
this is a multi-use area,
sponsoring a wide variety of
uses including hiking, cross
country skiing, skidoo-ing,

-four-wheeling, dirt biking,

hunting and fishing as well
as fish spawning, swimming
and canoeing. It attracts
many tourists from around
the world to this area, Let’s
leave this area to do what it

already does best: grow

trees, rejuvenate fish stocks,
and entice tourists to return
here, year after year.

Marg Sullivan

. Lakelse Resident

to feel some empathy for
Rita Johnston as she stead-
fastly stumps along the elec-
tion trail. .

After all, she inherited a
bitter, fractured party, and
less than two months after
squeaking out victory in a
leadership campaign, was
forced to put it on the line in
an election It was ill-pre-
pared for.

With the wheols falling off
her campaign wagon, Mrs.
Johnston gamely presses on
to the next engagement,
aven if it is ane which makes

no sense, politically... such
as meeting school children
too young to vote.

She and too many others

in Social Credit propped up

the whacko style of Bill Van-
der Zalm for far too long.
They sat by and watched
him trample traditions,
ignore propriety, and lead
the lurch to the far right,
with little opposition and
some oncouragement.

. It looks as though the
chickens are packing their
bags to come home to roost.

é

Terrace Review — Wednesday, October 9, 1991 7

Forestry
Insights

by Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Amold and Doug Davies

Herb,” he said with an
understanding tone. “You
paint the picture... I'll listen
to what you have to say.” ~
Herby Squish leaned way
back in his chair. Planted his
feet squarely on his desk.
Pondered the ceiling for a
minute or more. And then
the words began to roll off
his tongue... Like the trees
once did off High Tower’s
cliff. Sometimes grinding,
scraping, digging up dirt.
Sometimes silent in the
plunge to an obvious end.

. Sometimes breaking in a
' thunderous roar as a pre-

dictable conclusion was
reached.

Listening to Herby’s story,
Silver learned there were
things to he done, and per-
haps he might help. Squish
described the saga of the
tables and charts.

_ “IL saved the most telling
scenario till the very end,”
Squish spoke into the air. “It
was painfully obvious to the
boss. He squirmed. I lec-
tured... And then we com-
promised on something that
was really less than this
industry needs. .

“He’s still going to high
grade. But over eight years
rather than five. Says he's
still not convinced, but he’s
willing to move slower to see
if I'm right.”

Silver interrupted: “Can
you explain this ‘scenario’ in
a little more detail?”

“Well... In a nutshell, high
grading will break this place.
You cut all your best trees
during your first five year
harvesting plan... Good lum-
ber. Big profits. And you pay
off your debt. Then, with
your debt retired, you har-
vest the poorer quality trees

‘for the next fifteen years at a

much smaller profit. Might

sound great... In theory. But

it won't work.”

“Why not?” Silver asked.

“There are three very
simple reasons,” Squish con-
tinued. “First, the timber
quality will decline at a rate
of about 11 percent per
year. Second, because of
declining timber quality,
your manufacturing costs
will climb at about four per-
cent a year. And third,
because your timber is more
difficult to aceess cach year,
your harvesting costs will
rise at about seven percent
each year.

“The hottom line?
According to my best guess

estimates, Jovial would -

make only about $450,000
profit in the sixth year.
Begin losing money in the
seventh. In the ninth year
his annual losses would
reach the one million mark.
And by the twentieth year, if
he is still in business, which
is pretty much impossible,
he loses about $5.5 million.”

“I'm convinced,” Silver
consoled Squish.

“The boss isn’t,” sighed
Squish. “Says he has a better
plan. High grade over eight
years instead of five. Start
buying high quality fibre
from other licensees and pri-
vate landowners in the fifth
year, in other words get
them to high grade, in order
to keep profits high and
ensure the debt is retired.
And then sell the operation
in the eighth year while it
still looks like a going con-
cern.

“But it's sheer folly. It’s a
lie. The buyer, if one is
found, wili inherit a planned
financial! disaster. Syd, I’ve
managed to buy us a few
more years. A few more
years in which to convince
the boss he’s wrong. And if
you can find a way to help, I

can use all the help.I can |

get.” |
“No problem,” Silver
agreed. “Just tell me what to

do, And in the meantime... -

Cheer up. If Jovial messes
up, you'll always have a
job... Somewhere.”
“You've only heard one
half of my problem,” Squish
replied. “I’ve spent so much
time trying to sell a respon-.
sible harvesting plan to

Jovial that I've been ignoring -

my. work in the field. And I
have this sick feeling there

are a few surprises waiting

out there that I would be
beiter off not knowing.”

“Like?”

“Like ‘Snatch’ Block's
phase contracting operation.
The job is complete. Snatch
claims all's well. But f don't
believe him. I’ve got to go
out and evaluate the site and
I'm not really sure that !

want to. If you're not doing

anything In the next few
days, perhaps you would like
to come along. | ean guaran-
tee you an education... But |

can't tell you what the

lessons might be.” @

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