PORT McNEILL, BC. — Here at
MacMillan Bloedel’s Port McNeill
Division, some IWA - CANADA Local
1-71 loggers are anxiously awaiting
the word on whether or not they get
the go ahead to build a road into the
Lower Tahsish-Kwois Valley.

As this issue goes to press, the B.C.
Government is considering whether
or not, after years of study and plan-
ning, the Tahsish-Kwois should be set
aside for further study.

At stake are 25 direct IWA jobs, the
long-term harvesting of the Lower
Tahsish-Kwois by union loggers and

© Steelspar logging crew members at MB's Port McNeill Division are (J. to r.)
chokerman Dave Bruner, rigging slinger Scott Robinson, hook tender Don Riehl, spare
yarding engineer Kevin Carpentier, chokerman Cam Webb, landing bucker Ralph

Loggers await government
decision on Tahsish-Kwois

the economic activity annually in this
Northern Vancouver Island commu-
nity of 2,500.

The Tahsish-Kwois has been stud-
ied and examined in great detail and
an Integrated Resource Management
Option, which will see 53% of the
11,722 hectare valley set aside, has
been submitted to the Ministry.

The Tahsish-Kwois area is on the
northwest coast of Vancouver Island
about 200 km. northeast of Victoria,
and about 45 km. southwest of Port
McNeill (see map).

In 1981 the area was examined by
the government appointed Tahsish
Task Force, whose mandate was to
examine and report on the cost of
preserving the Tahsish-Kwois or rec-
ommending an Integrated Resource
Management Plan (IRM).

By 1986, the B.C. Government Wil-
derness Advisory Committee (WAC)
made a recommendation that an IRM
be submitted on the Tahsish-Kwois.
Significant areas sharing similar eco-
logical and recreational assets were
already set aside on Vancouver Island.

8/LUMBERWORKER/MAY, 1991

© Down at MB's dryland sort in Port McNeill is landing bucker Wes McPhail who is touching up his saw.

Newman and landingman Gord Wigman. Brothers Bruner, Robinson and Webb ar
among those who will lose their jobs if logging is not permitted in the Tahsish Kj

-was about to go

In 1987, the government estab-
lished 2 eco-reserves; one to protect
what was then thought of as the —
province's tallest sitka spruce, and
one to protect the Tahsish estuary.

In 1989 the Ministry set up
Tahsish-Kwois Follow-Up Committ
(TKFC) to evaluate environment
and technical aspects of logging in
the area and to submit a report to
proves Chief Forester John Cut

ert.

On the TKFC is Local 1-71 presi
dent Warren Ulley along with rey
sentatives of MB, Canfor, the Public,
and the Government.

The ten member committee s
two years preparing a five-year devel-
opment plan. The plan was success-
fully completed and was ready
public viewing, the final legal require-
ment prior to approval by the B
Forest Service.

Unfortunately, just as the TK
ublic with
plan, the Old Growth Strategy Revie
Team recommended that the area
once again set aside for further s
This time the mandate was to si
Old Growth related issues. 5

The Old Growth Working Grou
has 5 working teams. The first teal
mandated to study the Tahsish-Kwoi:
Was the ConsenanGy of Areas Team

t col not come to agrecmmeae
whether the area should be
from logging for two years becau:
the values proposed by those arguil
for deferral focused on the in
watershed issue and not Old Gro:
values. The Tahsish-Kwois the
ended up in front an additional
Growth Team — the Deferral Re
Team.

The Deferral Review Team
mandated to looked at those
posed areas over which there
significant dispute. They were not
mandated to review old informatio
or to establish new criteria. They wer
strictly mandated to review new info
mation. In the case of the Tah