by Tod Strachan ee

‘A. three-member panel of F the:
Resources Commission.

Forest
appeared in Tertace April 17 to
hear local views on the future of
our forests. Chairing the panel was

former Skeena MLA Cyril Shel-.

ford, assisted by commissioners
John Szauer, a professional for-
ester from Williams Lake, and
David Haywood-Farmer, a Savona

rancher who holds a bachelor of.

science in agriculture. In total, the
panel received 17 submissions in
Terrace that will be added to about
1,500 they already have for con-
sideration.

As a "concerned citizen", Ms. S,
Rosang called for integrated mana-
gement: "Forestry shouldn’t be an
island unto itself," she told the
panel. "There are more than profits
fo the forests." Also, Indian land
claims should be settled before any
more logging takes place, and as a
continuing practice wildlife, fish
stocks and community watersheds
must be protected. Tourists come
to our area, she said, and find huge
clear-cuts, silty rivers and few fish.
And to preserve our resource, we
must start using recycled paper.
"The loggers and forest companies
will just have to adjust," Rosang
said.

In what Shelford described as,
"Some very important comments,"

professional forester Robert Ross

calied for Regionalized Resource
Management . (RRM). Involving
everything from the management
of forest and range lands to pro-
tecting and enhancing differing
values and improving public part-
icipation, Ross outlined the details
of the RRM concept. He pointed
out that. his comments only
addressed two of the primary
industry concerns, but said, "If
answers are found to those, the
others will resolve themselves,"
Rod Arnold of RJA Forestry Ltd,
agreed. "The present system is not
adequate,” he told the panel, "We

need more regional input." And in |

that regional input, we need to
complete the research and inven-
tory that the province has never
done. We need to develop a
regional land use policy and learn
to manage the land; not just the
forests alone. "Once we have that
and know where we are, we will
know where to go," he explained.
"Once we have a land inventory,
then management decisions can be
made."

Maureen Bostock focused on the
settlement of recycling issues, like
collection and market development,
and offered her view on a number
of issues such as local lumber
sales versus off-shore sales, the
export of raw logs, the develop-
ment of secondary industries, the
province’s role in the settlement of
Native land claims and the rights
of all land users. "We are looking
into the 21st century and we have
to look at our survival," Bostock
said. "We should be able to pre-
serve our forests for all users."

Don and Kaeleen Bruce of Frame
Logging Lid. offered a more busi-
ness-oriented view of the current
situation, but a critical view none-
theless... They operate an A-frame

"” Jogging: operation on the west

' ; QOast between Portland Canal and
Rivers Inlet 50 miles south of .
Bella Bella. And according to Don

Bruce “the Small Business Pro-
gtam is severely restricted by a
small timber supply". Bruce also
spoke out against environmentalists
who want all logging on the Inside
Passage stopped by saying the
“entire coast has been logged" and
today most people can’t even tell
the difference.

Ross Jewell of Terrace told the
commission that land claims need

to be settled, saying, "We can’t | ;
afford to become entrenched in §f

stand offs and confrontation," and

we need better management and 3

fewer clear-cuts, "The nature of the
forest crop demands a long-term
outlook,” he said. "Good manage-
ment means good business."

Professional forester Sonny Jay
made several points on the need
for a sustainable resource which
insures the quality and quantity of
both timber and environment while
at the same time maintains econ-
omic stability within logging com-
munities in the province. In mak-
ing his points, Jay told the panel
that our forests should be a locally
managed resource governed in part
through public input. At the pres-
ent time, "The government is con-
doning substandard practices due
to a lack of funding.” A lack of
funding, he charged, that has
resulted in "insufficient monitoring
and policing".

Tenace logger Bill Penner repre-
sented the North Coast Woodlot
Association and told the panel that
half the provincial Timber Supply
Area should be converted to pri-
vate woodlots. "There are going to
have to be more people involved in
the industry and one way is by
Creating more woodlots," he said.
But what’s needed first, he said, is
a more competitive market for
woodlot operators,

Under the present system, he
explained, he pays stumpage on his
Kitselas woodlot at a rate of about
$15 per cubic meter while adjacent
industrial licencees pay only 43
cents. Because of this, many
woodlot operators take what they
can, then simply abandon the site.
Even the members of the panel
didn’t seem able to explain this
range in stumpage fees. Another
point made by Penner was that
woodlot operators are not allowed
to operate any sort of processing
facility and this has resulted in a
lack of incentive, he said.

Kitsumkalum chief counsellor
Cliff Bolton made a presentation
on behalf of the Tsimshian Tribal
Council. He told the panel that the
Native community is an important

‘part of the logging industry, are

aware of what is happening, and
there is a need to change the way
the system operates now, A voice
in resource development in all
tribal territories was a major item
on his list.

He made it clear that they don’t
want to shut the industry down. At
the sanie time, he said, we have to
question some of what we're
doing. For example, “We need to
take a look at serious alternatives |
to clear-cuts." His list of concerns

Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 2, 1990. Bo .

_ Forest panel gets local views —

FOREST RESOURCES COMMISSION: Now they’ve got 1,517 briefs.

also included herbicides and the
appeal process, salmon enhance-
_ ment and preservation of the wild-
life habit in order to insure the
future of the natural food chain,

Skeena Cellulose representative
Dan Tuomi told the panel they
have four primary concerns:
resource management, public in-
volvement, forest tenures and
harvesting practices. On resource
management he called for a truly
integrated approach and said it can
only start with a comprehensive
resource inventory and financial
backing for other players like the
Ministry of Environment.

Public involvement, he said,
means listening to local govern-
ment, economic development com-
missions, local associations and
advisory groups, unions and Native
bands. "The public wants to be
involved in the initial stage of
planning,” Tuomi said. "People
want to feel that they can contri-
bute to a plan, not just ‘rubber
Stamp’ a completed plan."

On forest tenure, Tuomi said,
"Very few regulations under the
Forest Act are in place to ensure
an equal level of forest manige-

‘ment performance by all licence

holders. The Ministry of Forests
needs to improve its efforts to
monitor license holder operations,
coupled with appropriate enforce-
ment regulations." Some of the
solutions recommended by Tuomi
included the division of TFL’s into
Separate geographic units, each
with its own annual allowable cut,
and incentives to promote intensive
and innovative management by
licence holders.

Harvesting practices, he con-
cluded, must be designed to suit
local and regional forests and not
be dictated by Victoria; those
practices, he argued, must accom-
modate the influence of other users
and be site specific. And in our
area of decadent forests, had
added, clear-cutting is the best
system to obtain healthy forest
regeneration. After questioning,
Shelford thanked Tuomi for his
forthright presentation. «

Jim Culp told the panel that
government leadership was crucial
in defining the term "Integrated
Management", He indicated that
the Ministry of Environment needs
more financial backing; currently
there is only one officer io patrol
our entire area and this is a task

that is "nearly impossible". Culp
also called for local research and
more public invovlement. He
added that if the government ‘had
provided leadership in these mat-
ters, "We would not be having the
kind of unhappiness we have
now."

Bill Hayes said that the concept
of sustainability was an impossible
goal but told the board that plant-
ing several species on one site
rather than one species as they
have in the past would get the
industry closer to their goal. Hayes
also outlined habitat and environ-
mental damage that has been
caused by a variety of logging
practices.

Robert Brown appeared as a
concerned citizen and his first
comments criticized the hearing
itself. Brown told the panel that
the 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. time frame
scheduled for hearing presentations
was not in the best interest of the

working public and favored busi-
hess owners and forest companies.
He suggested a night-time meeting
would have been more favorable.

With this out of ihe way, Brown
suggested that environmental prob-
lems were much larger than our
own region and the commission
should be more concerned with
more larger issues such as global
warming. He then criticized Pulp-
wood Agreement 17, saying the
area was non-sustainable, and
echoed Hayes comments on
monoculture planting.

Three other submissions were
made but their writers didn’t
address the board. These came
from Joan Munson of Terrace, Ray
Morgan of Kitwanga and Rick
Slater of Atlin,

Anyone still wishing to make a
submission can do so by mailing it
to the B.C. Forest Resources Com-
mission, 700-747 Fort St., Victoria,

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