gis all the new information pointed no deferral decision. ever, the deferral review com- ittee chose to recommend deferral of he area to the Inter-Ministerial Man- nent Committee. he Inter-Ministerial Management. mittee is a committee made up of uty ministers charged with rec- mending to Cabinet on the deferral tions. _ At the time of the Tahsish-Kwois ‘dispute, the IMC refused to hear , or submissions from affected ties. It has since changed its pol- IWA - CANADA and the ITFC were efore able to argue that the defer- review team exceeded their man- and also were able to show the ‘C the serious impacts that deferral of the area would have on at least one community. Recommendations of the IMC to ee are not public information. refore, at the time of writing we ‘still do not know what the IMC has recommended or what decision either Cabinet or the Forest Minister have reached. Brother Ulley is concerned that a deferral would be a disaster for the workers at Port McNeill Division. He says there is “no such thing as a 2 year deferral.” “We haven't to date had, in BC., any timber base replaced that’s been withdrawn from production,” says Ulley. “We have a number of government committees running around making decisions without considering com- munities and workers and without considering the planning processes that have taken place.” As a result of the recent concern over a logging deferral, the workers at the Port McNeill Division have joined an 11 member Tahsish-Kwois Steer- ing Committee along with community representatives in order to educate the public about the whole Tahsish- wois issue. operator Tim Hales has taken an active role as chairman of the T-K ‘committee. Along with other uniionists, Brother Hales has been trying to awareness about the issue. KYUQUOT So far the committee has been busy in keeping the crew informed and educating the public on the possible direct and side effects that would take place if the Tahsish-Kwois was taken out of production. Union road crew member Tim Hales, who sits on the committee, says that Port McNeill is slowly com- ing to the realization that up to 25 jobs could leave the community and have a spin-off effect for local ‘busi- nesses. The loss of timber to the Chamiss, Bay company’s manufacturing sector must also be included in the job loss scenario. In an early March meeting with Forest Minister Claude Richmond, Hales says Richmond didn’t give a yes or ano on the Tahsish-Kwois, but did say that there would be no net loss for any community. Just what that means is uncertain. Brother Hales says that a meeting has been held with town council and that the council sent letters of sup- port of the committee’s position to the government. The local Chamber of Commerce has come onside too. MB's five year IRM plan must get underway soon. Five kilometres of road must be built past difficult rock faces and a bridge must be built across the Kwois River to avoid fall fish runs. Z During the building of road the Federal Department of Fisheries and Ocean is scheduled to supervise the construction on several sensitive areas. “We're further under the microscope (in the Tahsish-Kwois) then any- body,” says Hales. MB Engineer John Foster, says that roads will be built into the side of .the Tahsish-Kwois in order to leave the estuary untouched. In the future, he says, the committee will consider building road access to the estuary for recreation. Road crew union member Dave Foden says that the roadbuilding will be done with special care and that there will be a great deal of end haul- ing of road blast. 5 Foster says that long line yarding systems will be introduced “where you don’t want to build roads in the first place.” Such areas include those with 70% slopes and greater. In the lower Tahsish-Kwois, MB plans to harvest an estimated 68,767 cubic meters of wood on a 76 year rotation. Most of the old growth is white wood species. A total of 5.2 million cubic meters is planned to be harvested over the first rotation. MB Forester Steve Chambers says that the company will likely replant many areas as opposed to waiting for natural regeneration and try to plant larger stock to avoid brush problems. As most of the lower Tahsish-Kwois is in the Strathcona Timber Supply Area, the responsibility for intensive silviculture remains the responsibil- ity of the Ministry of Forests. -TAHSISH KWOIS Map lilustration by Ingnd Rice © Carefully planned resource management in the shaded area will set aside 53% of the 11,722 hectare Valley. Other parts of the Tahsish-Kwois includes Timber Licenses owned by MB and a small piece of Crown grant at the mouth of the Tahsish-Kwois. Chambers says that the low eleva- tion sites in the lower Tahsish-Kwois will mean good growth capacity for future crops. Included in the prescriptions made by the TKFC are considerations for aesthetic values. There are 3 sites and special methods which will be intro- duced in order to insure that only 6-15% of the viewscapes may be changed at one time. The maximum size of clearcuts will be 40 hectares and the average size of clearcuts are 16.6 hectares in the first 5 year plan, dispersed over a large area to avoid progressive clearcutting. The TKFC’s prescriptions include protection of wildlife values as well. Critical areas for deer and elk winter- ing ranges will be provided. As the areas are susceptible to extreme winter snowfalls, some old growth areas will be held for at least 2 rotations to provide snow intercep- tion and thermal cover for game. Much planning and deliberation has gone into getting the 5 year devel- opment plan in place. It is important that the Minister of Forests has the courage to make a decision based on factual information. Further deferral would only cause more apprehension and uncertainty over job and commu- nity stability. Rigging man Cam Webb, amember of the Tahsish-Kwois Task Force, is among the 25 loggers who may per- manently lose their jobs at MB, Port McNeill Division. Webb is a 21 year old member of a rigging crew on a steel spar tower along with 21 year old Dave Bruner and 23 year old Scott Rushton who will be laid off if a deferral on the Lower Tahsish-Kwois is allowed. “We have a lot of members who don’t understand that the threat of losing their jobs really exists,” says local president Ulley. Brother Ulley also said it is ex- tremely important for workers to get involved in the Tahsish-Kwois Steer- ing Committee and get active in the community. As for the Ministry of Forests, and the Old Growth Strategy Project says Ulley: “We don’t expect everything our own way but we do expect to be treated fairly and that means that these people have a responsibility to go out and get the facts.” LUMBERWORKER/MAY, 1991/9