Audit reveals damage to fish hearing streams by major licensees Five of B.C.’s major forest compa- nies on the coast have been caught in outright violation of environmen- tal guidelines on their logging claims. On July 30th Forests Minister, Dan Miller, in conjunction with B.C. Environment Minister John Cashore and Federal Fisheries Minister John Crosbie released the results of an audit called The Application and Effectiveness of the Coastal Fisheries and Forestry Guidelines in Selected Cut Blocks on Vancouver Island. The audit which took place by a consulting firm in March revealed that the industry is in gross viola- tion of B.C. Coastal Fisheries Forest Guidelines (CFFG) which it helped develop prior to 1988. An audit of 21 cut blocks which had been logged on Vancouver Island since January 1, 1988 when the CFFG’s were put into place, revealed damage to 34 of 53 fish streams. Twelve of the 53 streams were reported to have severe damage and 90% of that damage was deemed avoidable. Fletcher Challenge Canada, International Forest Products, MacMillan Bloedel, Canadian Pacific Forest Products and Western Forest Products were among the companies given 30 days to come up with an action plan to clean up and rehabilitate the streams. Then they will have anoth- Ge days to complete the clean up job. 7 “This government wants to make it very clear that we will not allow environmental standards to be ignored in our forests,” said Dan Miller. “My message is this, if you want to continue harvesting the timber you must obey the rules.” The Forests Minister will use the hammer to get the companies to clean up. He has directed the B.C. Forest Service to work with the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks and the Attorney General to ensure that the clean up is done properly. The Ministry is expanding the audit to include cut block areas on Vancouver Island, the Queen Charlotte Islands and the mid mainland coast area. “If we detect more non-compli- ance, we will take tough action,” said Miller. For many decades forest compa- nies have been ruining fish streams near logging claims and have escaped prosecution because of weak kneed governments. Mr. Miller stated that he is “absolutely appalled” by the audit reports findings. He said he “is deeply concerned about the non- compliance. This is completely unacceptable.” Federal Fisheries Minister John Crosbie expressed dismay with the high degree of non-compliance by the forest companies. “This careless activity, close to fish rearing and spawning habitat by an industry that helped develop these guidelines, cannot go un- checked,” said Crosbie in a state- ment. “Consequently my depart- ment will be undertaking an assess- whet The B.C. forest industry has broken the province’s Coastal Fisheries Forest guidelines which it helped develop to protect fish habitat. ment of the fish-bearing streams to determine what remedial action is required or if changes are warrant- ed under the Fisheries Act and will be working with B.C. agencies to increase the effectiveness of the guidelines.” Under Section 40 of the Fisheries Act, the DFO can impose maximum penalties of $1 million and 3 years in prison to violators of the Act which cause fish habitat destruc- tion. Unfortunately the Act, under the Mulroney government, has remained dormant while there have been numerous violations of its pro- visions. The 21 cut blocks examined were dispersed between companies oper- ating under Tree Farm Licenses, Forest Licences and the Small Business Forestry Enterprise Program. The Auditor looked at Class I and II fish bearing streams and Class III and IV streams with an impact on fish bearing streams. In nearly 62% of the cases observed, poor gully management ‘was a major cause of damage. Other causes included poor harvesting practices and poor drainage controls on roads. The CFFG’s were developed and introduced with industry’s input after 15 years of study ante research based on the Pacific Northwest Coast. The Council of Forest Industries joined the DFO, the B.C. Forest Service and the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks to get the guidelines into place. The guidelines were designed to help in environmentally friendly logging practices which would protect fist eries values. It is ironic that the forest indus- try, which helped make the guide- lines, has to be brought to task to ensure their enforcement. Forests Minister Continued from page one As for Native land claims, Miller says, I don’t fundamentally believe that most Natives in the province want to shut the industry down. My view is that Natives have been economically alienated.” He also said that most aborigi- nals want to be more involved in the forest industry economically. “To me that’s a good sign because it says they don’t want to shut it down, they want to be part of it.” However both the forest industry and Natives will have less timber to work with in the future. Miller said the B.C. Forest Service is reviewing the annual allowable cuts around the province and that we are looking at harvest- ing reductions of about 15%. “You can’t await it, we can’t cover our eyes and say we don’t want to do it (or that) we won’t deal with the issues,” said Miller. “We can’t wait until the day when the Forest District says that it can’t find more timber.” “T don’t think anybody should try to gloss this over. These are very tough issues and we have to face them and face reality.” Miller says he will continue to look at every opportunity to provide wood for harvesting, including the speeding up of commercial thinning in second growth stands and inten- sive silviculture methods. In late June the Ministry announced a comprehensive research project program that will investigate alternatives to clear cut harvesting. The program is, according to Miller, a commitment to the pursuant of new information and technology. Perhaps some of the new tech- ° Forests Minister Dan Miller nologies discovered will assist in the commercial thinnings of second growth stands. Miller said the Ministry is inter- ested in particularly in Southern Vancouver Island, speeding up sec- ond growth thinnings using small machinery, which could create opportunities for loggers who are going to lose their jobs. Right now those types of jobs are not going to IWA members. “We don’t have a good structure, because we essentially contract all of those things out,” said Miller. To introduce new technology tra- ditional loggers will need re-train- ing. “It’s my view that the forest industry in B.C. has never trained enough people and they never trained for our requirements,” said Miller. “I think we should be demanding much more of particu- lary large employers in this province to set some targets in terms of apprentices or other types of skills training.” Politics continue to dominate lumber war The results are in and Canada’s softwood sawmilling industry has once again been caught in an enor- mous political fight with its major trading partner, the United States. In a 4 to 2 vote closed on June 25, 1992 a panel of the U.S. International Trade Commission (.T.C.) found that Canadian lum- ber shipments to the U.S. have caused injury to U.S. producers and that a 6.51% tariff should be assessed against Canadian lumber import. The I.T.C.’s decision was the sec- ond phase in a two-part counter- vailing duty investigation that was launched by the U.S. government, on October, 1991. Under American trade law duties or tariffs can be assessed against a foreign import, if the production of that import is shown to involve a measure of sub- sidy and also injures U.S. produc- ers. _ The U.S. countervail action was initiated 30 days after the Canadian federal government announced its intention to cancel the 1986 Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) which imposed a 15% export tax on soft- wood lumber shipments to the U.S. The export tax was agreed to by both countries as a negotiated set- tlement to a longstanding trade dis- pute between the two countries. In assessing the I.T.C.’s June 25, 1992 decision, IWA-CANADA presi- dent Gerry Stoney pointed out that “our major concern throughout this dispute has been the fact that poli- tics, not substance, is the overrid- ing force.” As an example of that problem, Brother Stoney noted that Canada’s share of the U.S. lumber market has been declining over the last five years, not increasing. “How any responsible and objective trade authority could interpret that fact to be us causing them injury is beyond me.” Despite the setback that the most recent decision represents for Canadian sawmillers and wood- workers, the IWA-CANADA has pushed for the industry to appeal the decision. Under the Canada - U.S. Free Trade Agreement, there are provisions for appealing a trade decision by either country to a bi- national trade disputes panel. In Brother Stoney’s view “the fed- eral government has made a lot of noise about the significance of the Free Trade Agreement and the value of the disputes panel process. The softwood issue, more than any other dispute, will be the ultimate acid-test of that agreement” said Mr. Stoney.” Unfortunately, the appeal process is lengthy. Once a trade panel is agreed to, the examination and assessment takes 315 days to com- plete. Under this schedule, an appeal decision will not be made until April - May, 1993. — Phillip Legg Assistant Research Director ee nn 2/LUMBERWORKER/AUGUST, 1992