ice dreams Stephanie Leong prepares for provincial figure skating a competition\SPORTS B4 iiying to sell? Real estate prices have fallen so low, some people can’t leave\NEWS A13 i Job shadowing? | Two kids find out what 7 it’s like being the boss . at the Terrace Fire ‘ Hall\COMMUNITY B1 $1.00 Pius 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) - ANDARD ““Porvane id H.C. 'S 2007 Forestry Capital’ Neliiesday, October 31, 2001 7 _— ee y | Se oe) | TS 95 | ——ee | ———-————= 6] | 7 Loggers told to seek protection LOCAL LOGGING contractors and other businesses owed money by Skeena Cellulose are being urged to also seck protection from their credi- lors, Contractors were told last week they may be able to follow in SCI’s footsteps and try to reach court-gov- emed arrangements to reduce or delay payment of their own debts, and po- tentially stave off bankruptcy. More than 25 local contractors met three KPMG financial advisors Oct. 24 to learn more about their options, said Northwest Loggers Association Bill Sauer, Troubled firms can make either for- mal proposals — that get voted on by creditors ~ or informal ones with their agreement to extend payment of debts and often reduce debts to what's more achievable, said KPMG's Sandy Bud- gen. He said the logic is that creditors will get more money by reducing their demands and keeping their customer in business than they would if the company fails. Paying off the debts isn’t easy, they say, but it can be done and is better than the alternative, Budgen added. “It’s important for people to realize there are solutions,” he said, Large debts are often handled under the Companies Creditors Arrange- ments Act (CCAA) —the law SCI is using — while proposals to settle smai- ler ones can be made under the Bank- ruptcy and Insolvency Act. Filing a nolice under the act gives a business an instant time-out from its creditors, Budgen said. It must file a proposal to creditors within 30 days or seek to extend thal deadline. Taking that action also sends a sig- nal to all creditors that they’re all going to be dealt with equally. Budgen said that can eliminate much of the pressure from some credi- tors who think they can get their money first if they. can outmanoeuvre other creditors and talk the business into paying. KPMG’s Cecil Cheveldave said time is of the essence for many alfec- ted businesses. If they wait for a final resolution of Skeena Cellulose’s situation, it may be too late, he added. The watchwords for such arrange- ments are fairness to creditors and via- bility for the affected business. "If creditors are getting a fair shake and if they feel there’s a reasonable chance of success, they're generally very receptive to proposals,” Budgen said. KPMG officials are to continue to work, through the Northwest Logpers Association, to provide free initial counselling sessions to businesses that want it. Skeena Cellulose is nearing the end of its second 30-day protected status. = igen ioe agg ROE t ehh A KITSUMKALUM totem By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN ONE OF two towering totem poles at Kit- sumkalum which toppled after a heavy wind- storm Oct. 26 will stay where it is, members of the community have decided. Tradition dictates that when a pole falls, it shouid remain where it lands out of respect for its spirit. But with the tip of the 11-metre pole pro- truding into the parking lot of the Kitsumka- jum administration building, community members gathered for a feast to discuss what to do with it. “We had a number of options that came forward, including moving if to another rest- ing place,” said Kitsumkalum chief council- lor Diane Collins. “The elders pave the dir- ection that the pole is not to be touched.” The decision was made (to build up a patch of green space under the tip, fence the area in and create a shelter for the fallen pole, Collins said. “The younger generation echoed that if week will stay where it is according to tradition. It and a neigh- that is what tradition says then that’s what they wanted done,” she added. A rollen support log at the base of the pole couldn’t withstand the force of the windstorm, causing it to fall over. Though the cedar pole is no longer stand- ing, its spirit remains within it, explained Collins. “It’s very disrespectful not to allow it to lay in its own resting place,” Collins said. “The elders say that if you don’t treat it well it could bring a tremendous amount of bad luck,” The fallen pole is a replica of an ancient pole that was believed to have once stood in Kitsumkalum, said Freda Diesing, a lead carver on the project which created the pole in 1986-1987. Called the Bear-mother pole, it tells the story of a woman who was captured by bears and who lived in a cave with her bear hus- band. The pole depicts a large bear, the woman wilh her cub, another bear and a 1987 ceremony attended by about 2,000 people. Toppled pole will stay where it is a Ai man. It also has a hole three quarters up the pole which represents the cave in which they lived. Finally, at the top of the pole is a robin which signifies “The Peaple of the Robin” — the people of Kitsumkalum. The pole, along with a second one featur- ing the crests of Kitsumkalum families, was raised on Aug. 1, 1987. It was the first time totem poles ~ more accurately called crest poles - had been raised in Kitsumkalum for over 150 years. The pote raising ceremony was called Su-Sit’aatk — anew beginning. “Raising poles and even owning your own ceremonial gear was against the law for a long time,” explained Diesing. Nearly 2,000 people attended the pole raising and potlateh which followed. “It was kind of an awesome thing to sce,” recalled Diesing. The fallen pole is a replica of an ancient pole that was believed to have once stocd in Kitsumkalum, she said. ug a Oil dri Study says dangers here would drive up the costs By JEFF NAGEL THERE ARE no insurmountable technical pro- blems that preclude oil and gas exploration off B.C.’s coast, a new study indicates, The report prepared for the province by Jac- ques Whitford and Associates concludes some risks — notably of earthquakes - are higher here than in other offshore oil producing re- gions. But it says the dangers can be minimized through new technology to more safely extract offshore oil. “There are no unique fatal flaw issues that would. rule out.exploration and development activities,” the report says. Whitford was. hired to analyze the issue and update an earlier report prepared for the NDP in 1998. ee oo Government officials say that report also concluded environmental concerns were. man- ageable, but it:was-never. released by. the NDP. And while managing the risks with state-of- the-art technology may be possible, the report says, it will be costly, and could threaten the viability of drilling. “The cost of facilities required to protect the environment may make the economic jus- tification af exploration and development questionable, depending on the reserves avail- able at a given location,” the study says. Fear and greed | li See page A5 for part two of our special report on offshore oil. The report also suggests the province nat over-regulate the industry and place unneces- saary costs on companies. “There is significant opportunity to use a results-oriented review and approval process to ensure the highest economic benefit while. en- suring that the potential for environmental and. safely risks are adequately controlled,” the re- port sald. a cs : ooeThe study highlights earthquakes as a major ling risks not ‘fatal’ risk area, noting the Queen Charlotte Islands are “one of the most scismically active areas of the world.” The Queen Charlotte fault has been the epi- centre of some of the Canada’s largest earth- quakes, Quakes of more than magnitude 8 have struck. the fault twice, and magnitude 7 or higher quakes have hit several times. The seabed has moved 25 to 50 feet in the jargest quakes, the report said. “Investigations would be undertaken to identify and avaid the locations of potentially active faults for locating offshore oil and gas ” facilities,” it said. Tsunamis, or earthquake-generated waves, are also a threat. , The giant waves could reach offshore plat- forms in Hecate Strait “within minutes” in the event of a major quake in the Aleutian islands. And tsunamis could be triggered’ lpcally by an earihquake-generated jandstide into the. “sea, even though regular tsunamis are unlikely off the notth coast. - Continued Page AS Silviculture workers return to the bush SILVICULTURE contractors headed back to the bush last week in forests under licence to Skeena Cellulose. The return to work came after government officials gave the go-ahead for Forest Renewal B.C. to release close to $2 million it had withheid from SCL FRBC regional director Butch Morningstar said West Fraser will administer FRBC-paid silviculture and in- ventory work on behalf of Skeena Cellulose, while the Kitsumkalum band will handle SCI’s watershed restora- tion work. ; He said FRBC needed temporary new partners to take over SCI's work, because any money that SCI handles would get embroiled in legal proceedings since the co- pany was granted protection from its creditors, He said West Fraser has a substantial silviculture program of its own and Kitsumkalum already has water- shed! restoration contract experience. “This is a whole teamwork thing of all the players in that Terrace area to get this work done,” Morningstar said. “I’m quite happy with the way everybody pulled to- gether on this.” He said the amount of work ~ brushing, juvenile spa- cing and pruning that will get done will depend on weather. The work spans three forest districts fram Ter- race to Smithers. Skeena MLA Roger Harris although the Kitsumkalum band hoped to administer all the work, it is making a substantial contribution. “The goal here is to put people back to work and we've begun to positively accomplish that,” Harris said. “This gives the band an opportunity to positively demon- strate the degree of capacity that they have.” FRBC falling to gov't axe FIVE PEOPLE in Smithers are to be laid off by early next year when the Forest Renewal B.C. regional office , there closes its doors. An end to the provincial crown corporation, charged with replanting foresis and adding value to wood pro-- ducts with money from an extra stumpage fee, was an- nounced last week by pravincial forests minister Mike de Jong. Although FRBC at one time did run a surplus, il is now spending more than it takes in. De Jong said FRBC would be replaced by a new creature called the Forest Investment Account, which will be ted by government and delivered by industry. “Community leaders, companies and workers told us FREC was too process-oriented and inflexible, resulting in high administrative costs at the expense of on-the-. ground funding,” said de Jong. The account’s first budget will be about $134 million — less than half of the FRBC budget this year, which is aboul $293 million, Forest investment dollars will be directed to activities on public land, including enhanced forestry, watershed -Testoralion, and resource inventories - along with mar- keting and research that supports sustainable forest man- agement and increased allowable annual cuts, The Forest Investment Account will get its money out of regular ministry revenue rather than from extra stump- age formerly collected to fund FRBC, FRBC had a significant impact in this area, pumping in millions of dollars over the years to forest companies and groups for various reforestation and other projects, Last year, for instance, FRBC signed a long term sil- viculture watershed restoration agreement with Kitsum- kalum baad. And it provided loans to local companies hurt by the -Skeena Cellulose financial crisis of 1997 and 1998. “We're very pleased, and fully supportive of the changes,” said Greg Jadrzyk, President of the Northern Forest Products Association in Prince George of the end of FRBC, : oS _