_ go to auction to pay his bills.

Stewart loggers want shot
at Buffalo Head timber

The resurrection of Skeena Cellulose won’t help Stewart. Contractors there

say the wood that nourished the town threatens

By JEFF NAGEL
LOGGERS in Stewart say their
beleaguered town is ending up
the forgotten victim in the sale
of Skeena Cellulose.

For upwards of five years
the forests have been virtually
silent.

Logging contractor Garry
Belcher has watched his neigh-
bours leave and his equipment

His last truck left last month.

“I've lost every piece of equip-
ment I. had: and millions of
dollars,” says the 63-year-old log-
ger who heads Tru-Grit Logging.
“'m-getting too ald to-start over
again,”

Belcher says the loggers in the
area have had ‘almost no work
since Skeena Cellulose collapsed
in 1997 and was taken over and
run by the government.

to remain tied in knots.

STEWART contractors Don Hartford, Don Nelson and Garry Belcher say their town can’t wait for
months or years while the province decides what to do with the Buffalo Head forest licence.

The economic chaos has driven

a steady stream of workers and fa-
milies out of the town.

The. 200! Census showed Ste-
warl’s population dove 23 per cent
in the previous five years to 661.
Locals estimate the -population
has fallen further, to below 500, in
the year since the count.

Now Belcher and others say
they’re about to be left in the
lurch again.

Buffalo Head Forest Products,

a subsidiary of SCI, is being cut
loose because new owners NWBC

Timber and Pulp don’t want it.

It’s heading into bankruptcy
and ‘its 300,000 cubic metre a
year:forest licence is expected to
revert back to the crown.

But Stewart loggers who once

* depended on the licence for work

want the province to give it to
them instead and fend off the total
devastation of the town.

Don Nelson, one of five ever-
green contractors who once
worked the licence, argue they
should have right of first refusal
on.a. sale of it.

ai.Hej says :they -couldtcutsthe :Landdisseventuallysreassigned -or! vowed.

wood-and:have the licence: run’ by

foresters. That is stressed because
a past effort by Stewart loggers to
work together collapsed in law-
suits:

- “We've fallen through the

cracks,” adds contractor Don
Hartford. “We're into the sixth

Hartford says millions of dol-
lars in government money has
been spent on infrastructure in
Stewart.

His list includes $28 million to
connect the town to the provincial
power grid, an $11 million hospi-
tal and $8 million RCMP detach-
ment.

It makes no sense, he says, not
to make an all-out effort to have
the woad cut by local people who
are part of the communily.

“How can you just forget a
town and throw it in’ the
garbage?” he demands.

“The whole infrastructure of a
town is sitting there dormant, built

could be bought up eventually by
a richer, perhaps Terrace-based
contractor. Few jobs might then
be based in Stewart, they says,
and the remaining Stewart con-
tractors would be starved of work.

The Stewart loggers also want
the province to forgive Forest Re-
newal B.C,-backed loans that

were extended to them as part of:

the previous collapse of Skeena
Cellulose in 1997.

There’s been virtually no tog-
ging on the Buffalo Head licence
since then. .

The province has okayed a ser-
ies of payment “skips” that have
extended the repayment of the

“We've fallen through the cracks. We're into the
sixth year of being cast away.”

with taxpayers’ money, and they loans, but they remain on the

can throw away this licence?
Taxpayers’ money is just going
down the tubes.”

If. the. licence, goes bankrupt

vbrokensup - forismalt'“business

the town deesn’t have.

The contractors also say their
replaceable contracts ~ which
give them essentially perpetual

rights lo cut the timber on the li- -

cence — will disappear in that pro-
cess.
They also fear the ficence

books.

The loans were to bridge oper-
ators over until they could work
again and work off what they

Beléher said’ it’s! unreasonable

when they never got any work
from SCI in the past five years.
And if Buffalo Head goes bank-
rupt there may be no prospect for
work in the future. .
“How can you look me in the
eye and tell me to pay off a For-
est Renewal loan when you won't

coftud nivveg tcc

ty

outside professional managers‘and “sales, that will-take time — time’? lo"expect repayment’ of the ‘loaii'

let my loggers work,” Hartford
suys,

Up to 200 people could be
working in the forest industry in
Stewart if Buffalo Head is locally
operated, they say.

Up to $7 million worth of re-
planting is required on the Buffalo
Head licence, Belcher and Nelson
say the loggers would work off
that liability over several years.

Skeena MLA Roger Harris is
pushing for another series of loan
payment skips that would push the
next payments out until the end of
September,

All the timber can be exported
from the Buffalo Head licence.

Log buyers from Korea, China
and the U.S. have visited Stewart
and are prepared to buy the wood
- if the government lets the con-
tractors log it.

Harris says he will push forests
minister Mike de Jong for action
to get Stewart loggers working on
the Buffalo Head licence.

“We've got to find a way to

free this up,” he said. uae
“Harris “said'%Sléwart) doesn’t

have, the luxury’ of’tiine. 4

“Hf tod nilich ‘Hime eldpses, he
says, many contractors will have
left the area for good, making it
more difficult to eventually rege-
nerate an operation there,

“I sense and understand their
frustration,” Harris said, “I don’t
think Stewart has ever seen a gap
of inactivity as long as this.”

year of being cast away.”

Cutting money for forestry

trails, rec sites to save $1m

Up to half of forest service road

By JEFF NAGEL

FOREST SERVICE recreation sites, trails
and roads all face possible elimination or
offloading as a result of forests ministry
budget cuts.

The ministry has decided recreation is not a
spending priority after going through a core
services review, That means an uncertain fu-

‘ture for popular local campsites such as Red

Sand Lake or Exstew, and for trails like Thorn-

Q hill Mountain and Sleeping Beauty.

- The forest service has developed about a

-dozen rec sites and nearly 20 trails within an
“hour's drive of Terrace.

“The forest service is not in the recreation

“-use.cbusiness,” said district manager Brian
Downie.
"The ministry plans ta cut off money for

1,000 forest service sites - more than 80 per
cent province wide ~ leaving 240, It also plans

_-to stop maintaining 600 trails province wide ~
about 92 per cent.

~The cuts will save $1 million a year, says
.. ministry spokesperson Kerry Readshaw.

-< Downie said it’s possible maintenance of
some trails may be taken over by local user

‘groups, such as skiers or hikers.
> ©",He said some rec sites may be closed while
others could: be handed off to other operators,
“That process is to be finished by March 2004.
-"[-suspect we won't have the funding for main-
- tenance or managing those sites,” he said.
“Downie said he’s hoping to keep most sites
-here open through at least the early summer.
..°"T don’t know how fast government wants to
“shut the sites down or transfer them,” he said.
\. “My intent would be to ensure we try to make
. anorderly transition.”

In an ironic twist, given the province's need

-toraise money, it has stopped charging fees
* for sites it is no longer maintaining. : we
“That's because the government doesn’t .
~ want to charge a fee if it isn’t providing a ser-
> _ vice,’ said-Readshaw.
“Rees will remain.in place in what the forest
-aservice calls enhanced. sites, such as: Red
Sand’ Lake/Hart Farm north’ of here, because
~ services ‘will still be offered there.

Readshaw said just because money Is ‘cut

t

fon! 7

Yaar ae ee ae woe :

s may end up accesible to 4x4s only

RED SAND LAKE is ‘among the forest service re

creation sites that will remain open for

now, but face an uncertain future. The forests ministry has cut the money that was

used to run 80 per cent of the sites province wide.

off, doesn’t mean the sites or trails will all be
closed. Many will remain accessible, while
some will be closed off for enviromental or
safety concerns.

People who take forest service roads to get
to favourite fishing, hiking or hunting spots
may find that more difficult as well.

“They'll be rough roads. We
won't be maintaining with access
being the key priority.”

The ministry plans to have forest companies
take over maintenance of roads they use.

‘But other roads — up to half of the network
of forest service roads in the province — are to

~ be converted into a lower “wilderness road”

standard or be deactivated altogether.
“We don't have the funding to. manage

those road systems,” Downie said.

Wilderness roads may be 4x4 access only
and maintenance money will generally only be
spent to prevent tandslides and other environ-
mental damage.

“They'll be rough roads,” Readshaw said.
“We won't be maintaining with access being
the key priority.”

Ministry documents say long-term access
along wilderness roads won't be guaranteed.

Tour operators or guide outfitters that want

to use a road the ministry no longer maintains

will have the opportunity to .get a permit so:

they can maintain it themselves, the ministry: |”

says.

The province will also no longer print forest
district recreation maps, which showed loca-
tions of trails, rec sites and logging roads.

Although that's no longer a priority, Downie

_ predicted some private enterprise will be able
to make money publishing the maps. *

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - AS

CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

The Mail Bag

Missed by that much

Dear Sir:

In “it's about debt, Helmut,” letter to the editor,
May 8, Lorne Sexton uses a typical Liberal tactic in
his response. First he misses the point of my letter,
then uses some false information he got from the
Liberals, leaves out the other side of the whole debt
issuc and misses the whole ‘point of the irony
described in my letter. an

Perhaps Sexton. could tell. us, while we ail. wait for
the new era in health care and. prosperily, what the.
asset value of the province in 1991 and what it is
today. Anyone can understand the difference between
debt which increases the asset value (roads, bridges,
hospitals, schools, housing, etc.) and the debt from
aperating costs exceeding revenue. The Liberals are
now doing the latter. They admit that their deficit,
which becomes part of debt will be something like 36
billion dollars in a few years.

Lorne sees only debt. Pity he was not around with
the same views when the Socreds (now Liberals)
were running the show. Pity he has not read B.C.’s
Auditor General’s reports and comments. [guess he
just missed the report last March in which the Auditor
General said the provincial economy fared quite well |
in the last five years of NDP government and he said
“the economy in B.C. grew more than did the
government’s net liabilities.”

He also found that in the same five-year period,
the province’s revenues increased by 37 per cent,
while provincial expenses grew by 31 per cent.

It is ironic that it is easier to just tout the party line
than it is to look at the facts.

Helmut Giesbrecht,
Terrace, B.C.

A true net loss
Dear Sir:

- To the net thieves— our family would like to thank
you for the theft of our son’s hockey net; he was
having too much fun with it anyway. For you to have-
come slinking around in the dark to take something.
fram a twelve-year-old boy must have been very
brave. I am sure that your friends will think highly of
you when you tell them of your great feat.

Have you ever watched the movie where the,
concept of “paying it forward” is illustrated, where
one person helps out another with no thought of a
reward or recognition? Well here, the opposite
happened and you dashed a child’s concept of
security and well being.

Hopefully this never has to happen to you. You will
not appreciate the feeling but yes you did get a
reward, the net. To the parents and or friends of the
thieves, did your child or friend come home Monday
night, May 6 with a red hockey net with blue spray
paint on the crossbar and right post? If so could you
please return it to 4912 Twedle Avenue.

a so Shawn Bucci,
os . -Terrace, B.C.

tat

Ban that junk food

Dear Sir:

I am amazed and appalled that the students of
Cassie Hail Elementary School are offered a junk
‘food canteen during their recess time (maybe their
lunch time too - I’m not sure).

My step-daughters says the line-ups for the canteen
last the entire recess time. Apparently they stand in
line all recess to buy things like skittles, pizza pops
and potato chips instead of exercising outside.

This might be an interesting story to follow, I
would like to see an informative article on childhood
obesity or healthy eating for kids, It is really hard as a
parent to hear the moans and groans when my girls
look at their cucumbers and carrots when the other
students are buying sugar and junk right at their own
school.

Shouldn't schools be promoting healthy living?
Perhaps the schools could save the money earned for
the future heart attacks of the children at the school

S. Benjamin,
Terrace, B.C.

eae MNdaY

Power to the people

Dear Sir:
I would like to commend the Mayor and Council of
Kitimat for strongly advocating against Alcan’s
wishes to further expand into the hydroelectric power
business. :

It should be made abundantly clear to the
community and to the rest of the population in the
northwest of British Columbia that CASAW and
currently CAW Local 2301 have formally adopted
positions opposing the selling of power by Alcan as
far back as the early 1980s.

In fact the union and its membership had the
foresight to challenge and oppose the Kemano
Completion Project even thought the union was at
odds with the mayor, council, the community and
many of the construction unions at the time. =~

The issue then and now for CASAW and CAW
was for Alcan to expand and create sustainable jobs,

I wholeheartedly encourage the mayor, council and
the community to continue their commitment to force
Alcan to once and for all commit to an expansion and
modernization for the Kitimat Works facility which
will keep Alcan in the forefront as an aluminum
producer,

By doing so sustainable, well-paid jobs both at |
Alcan and through subsidiary industries will remain

‘part of the Kitimat landscape for years to come.

Alcan must be held to the statement that
aluminum is number one and that power and water
.temain under the exclusive contral of the people of

' British Columbia.
Ross Slezak,
Terrace, B.C.

. About the Mail Bag

The Terrace Standard welcomes letters. Our.
address Is 3210 Clinton St, Terrace, B.C. VBG’
5A2, You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail
us at standard@kermode.net. No attachments,
please, We need your name, address and;
phone number for verification. Our deadline Is
noon Friday or noon Thursday if It’s a long
weekend. pe,