SAYWARD, B.C. — Here at MacMil- lan Bloedel’s Kelsey Bay Division, about 100 km. north of Campbell River on Vancouver Island a group of union fallers has been persuading the company not to log a small stand of prime timber. A falling crew of three Courtenay, Local 1-363 members decided to put down their saws and avoid falling a 25 acre patch of timber along the main- line in the White Creek watershed. In late May the fallers worked about half a day before walking through the standing trees to dis- cover a spectacular setting of old growth timber. The stand in question contains a breathtaking mixture of all the major softwood timber species on the B.C. Coast including Douglas fir, balsam, hemlock, spruce, red cedar and cottonwood. Faller Dave Luoma, who has worked in the bush for over 25 years says it is the single most spectacular bunch of trees he's ever witnessed. “Everything that’s there is in its prime,” says Brother Luoma. “It would be a waste to log such a fantas- tic area when the place has so much potential.” The area in question is a 1.2 kilo- metre long tract of land down on the bottom side of a road by the White River which is only a 20 minute drive from Sayward. It snakes along the riverbed with various widths of 300-100 metres. Dave Morrison, who is also the union chairman at Kelsey Bay, says in another 10 years it could be the only patch of prime timber left down in the White River watershed. MacMillan Bloedel has left a num- ber of old growth firebreaks along White River and is strategically log- ging them off as adjacent second growth areas are greening up. The fallers don’t consider them- selves preservationists by any means. They've all seen bigger timber in parts of Kelsey Bay, but in never such a concentrated and accessible area. However, there is one giant fir, which is more than 6 foot at the butt and was measured to be 285 feet tall by a forestry engineer. The Carmanah giant, in the well-published valley on southwestern Vancouver Island, is the tallest known tree (Sitka spruce) in the province at 312 feet. * Local 1-363 members (I. to r.) Dave Luoma, Don Zapp and Dave Morrison pose for picture by huge Douglas Fir trees. In late May the fallers decided not to cut a 25 acre area down in the White River watershed near Sayward. The union crew is sticking behind the decision to leave the area untouched. Brother Morrison says the com- pany is to study the area in dispute. Ten years ago, MacMillan Bloedel had scheduled to log the area but plans to do so were twice postponed. It was then slated for harvesting in the latest 5 year cutting plan. MacMillan cuts over 640,000 cubic metres in Kelsey Bay Division per year. The area in question is about 10 acres, or 1% of the area of the annual cut. The timber could be quickly felled and buck and harvested without any additional roadbuilding by the use of “hoe chuckers’” and super crane grapples. Don Zapp, a member of the falling crew, says that “as soon as we walked back in and saw the stand, we just couldn’t do it, that was it right then and there.” In early June the Lumberworker visited the area to see first-hand what all the fuss was about. The area is a primary foraging area for deer and elk. It has little under- brush and has a very thick canopy. Most noticeably there are few wind- falls in the timber patch as the area is not susceptible to storm winds. The area is easily accessible to all generations of people for walking and exploration purposes. It is flat with- out any rock bluffs or pitfalls and provides easy access to the White River. To log the area would be to deprive future generation access to a close area of pristine forests. Brother Morrison says the entire falling crew at Kelsey is sticking together to not log the area. Local President Sy Pederson says such a move by the crew goes a long way into countering some of the pub- lic’s perception that loggers don’t care about preserving wilderness areas. early © Retiring Union President Bill Schumaker (1.) who served as Kelowna Local 1-423 President for 30 years, got together with Vancouver Local 1-217's Doug Evans in May. Brother Evans who was his Local’s President since 1980, also announced his retirement in May. Both will be remaining quite active in their retirements and on-call to give out advice, no doubt. Photo by Larry Jmaiff Alberta gets new mill cert COCHRANE, ALBERTA — Local 1-207 reports the successful certifica- tion of almost 100 sawmill workers on July 10, in this small town of 6,000 people, 15 miles west of Calgary. National Organizer Lyle Pona worked to certify workers at the Spray Lake Ltd. Sawmill during a quick 3 day campaign that resulted in a 41-38 vote in favour of the IWA. It was the fourth time the union tried to certify the operation, the last drive of which was in October, 1989. During that drive the union received blatant inference from the town's Chamber of Commerce which took out local newpapaer ads to dis- credit trade unions. “This kind of win can do no end of good for organizing in Alberta,” says national organizing director John Smithies. Earlier this year Brother Pona organized a 240 member mill Weyer- haeuser mill in Drayton Valley to give the local a big boost. A collective agreement was reached with that com- pany on June 3. Brother Pona says job security was the major factor in getting the work- ers to join the union. Since the last drive several employees were indis- criminately fired, some for very ques- tionable reasons. Wages in the plant at the time of certification were $10-$12 hour for production workers. Most of the lumber produced goes exclusively to European markets. The company enjoys a long term timber licence and its productive capacity is presently less than its annual allow- able cut. The plant puts out about 190,000 board feet a day on 2 shifts. Local president Mike Pisak says the plant is the only union mill in the Calgary area. He says the mill estab- lishes a much needed presence in that part of the province. Brother Pisak says that organizer Pona did an excellent job in keeping the lines of communication open with the crew and monitored the situation until the time was right. . : a LUMBERWORKER/JULY, 1990/15