logging companies. Photo taken in Sulphur Passage, 1989.

Clayoquot Sound development plans
now in hands of provincial government

fter more than four years of

countless meetings and
amounting frustration, recom-

mendations concerning long

term logging in the Clay-
oquot Sound area of Vancouver Island
are sitting in front of the government
in Victoria. The recommendations are
part of a long term recommendations
agreed to by 10 of 13 groups who
were involved in the Clayoquot Sound
Development Task Force.

Now the future of Clayoquot Sound
which effects the employment of hun-
dreds of IWA members, will be decid-
ed upon by NDP politicians, after a
review of the recommendations by
the Clayoquot Sound Steering Com-
mittee.

Situated on the west coast of Van-
couver Island, Clayoquot Sound has
been studied carefully in order to
develop a plan that will develop the
area on a sustainable basis.

As outlined in a submission called
“Option 5”, ten of the thirteen inter-
ests recommended a plan which
would protect an additional 37,000
hectares of land in Clayoquot Sound
and reduce the working forest by
about 17,000 hectares. That would
reduce the annual allowable cut from
the area by 16%. That translates out to
an annual loss of 119,000 cubic metres
from the cut and a loss of 182 direct
jobs in the forest industry. The Steer-
ing Committee says another 455 indi-
rect jobs would be lost as well.

Dave Haggard, president of IWA-
CANADA Local 1-85 in Port Alberni
says that the union will only maintain
its endorsement of Option 5 if the dis-
placed workers will be looked after.
To the IWA that means that other
meaningful jobs, preferably within the
forest industry structure, must be pro-
vided to displaced workers. The union
does not want one time compensation
or social assistance payments at all.

“If we are going to lose 200 jobs in
Clayoquot Sound then we have to find
200 jobs in the forest industry,
whether it’s in silviculture or remanu-
facturing or value-added or whatev-
er,” said Brother Haggard in an inter-
view with the Lumberworker. “Before
we implement Option 5, we must find

alternate employment for people.”

“We have families of loggers that
have worked in Clayoquot Sound for 2
or 8 generations of logging and I don’t
think we can give them a few thou-
sand bucks and say thank you very
much - take off,” said Haggard. “Soon-
er or later the public and the govern-
ment have to realize that when there
are further set asides, what happens
to workers and their families is impor-
tant.”

Option 5 would double the amount
of protected area to 28% of the land
base. The working forest would be
only about 35% of the forested area in
Clayoquot Sound.

Clayoquot Sound has been targeted
by some groups as an area to be com-
pletely set aside for preservation with
the eliminating of forestry. Option 5 is
an attempt to strike a balance
between different interests in the
area,

The 10 members representing the
plan are from the following parties;
Labour, small business interests,
small business timber interests, fish-
eries interests, agriculture interests,
the Ucluelet Council, Port Alberni
Council, Alberni Clayoquot Regional
District, MacMillan Bloedel, and Inter-
for.

Those parties rejecting Option 5 are
the following; Tofino District Council,
Tourism interest, and the Mining
interest.

When the process began in 1988 the
groups were somehow supposed to
reach consensus on a development
strategy for Clayoquot Sound. That
consensus process was supposed to
take two years.

But it has dragged on over four
years without unanimous consensus.

Brother Haggard says it is impossi-
ble to reach consensus with groups
that want to stay steadfast in their
positions and not give anything up.

Brother Haggard says “I don’t think
complete consensus is every going to
be achievable when the groups that
are sitting at the table have such
diverse opinions.”

“If a certain group or party doesn’t
move toward consensus, then the
whole process is botched. It’s easy to

¢ The Clayoquot Sound area has, in recent years, been an area of confrontation between environmental blockaders and yemains in the hands of the govern-

sit there and hold to your position if
you're not going to lose anything.”

“| The IWA has come to consensus
and wants to see environmentally sen-
sitive logging practices carried out in
the Clayoquot Sound area. The union
wants to see fisheries values and
tourism protected as well.

Most of all it supports the sustain-
able development of the economy and
the environment.

With regards to logging practices
the Steering Committee recommends
that an enforced monitoring system
be put in place to increase the scruti-
ny of all forestry operations.

It is recommended that the Steering
Committee would continue to act as
an overseeing body to ensure that log-
ging is done properly.

“T think the industry is being put on
the line to show that the job it does is

years and an eventual transfer

ting into second growth a
Depending on the areas’ abilities te
grow timber the harvesting rotation
ages would vary.

‘The logging plans address questions
of viewscapes and activities of
forestry and their impacts on tourism.
The west coast of Vancouver Island
near Clayoquot Sound will largely
have its westward forests remain —
intact. :

Wilderness, tourism, bo; :
ing and sea kayaking are all imy
parts of the economy in Uch
Tofino but do not compare with rey-
enues from the forest industry.

Logging in MacMillan Bloedel’
Kennedy Lake Division has
improvements and experiments in the
last few years. In its logging plan lay-

outs MB has left wildlife trees and

leave strips along stream beds. :
Brother Haggard said the union
expects that future logging in the area _
.» Would use a variety of logging tech-
nique such as long-line machines, heli-
logging, and some grapple yarding. e
Haggard says that experimental

road blasting technique eliminated a_
3 lot of the shot rock from going over _
3 the bank and that both MacMillan
¢ Bloedel and Interfor have been end
2 hauling rock in sensitive areas.

Just what the future will bring

ment.

Employment in the forest industry
is declining. In the Alberni Valley,
Local 1-85 has lost over 2,500 direct
jobs in the past decade. One thousand
of them were lost in the past 2% years.

“We need to have some long-term
strategies with respect to employ- —
ment,” says Haggard.

“With the intelligence that is o
there I’m sure we can create w
producing jobs in the industry to pu
halt to the downward trend in emplo
ment levels.” 2

The Clayoquot Sound area has been
exempted from the current round of
deliberations by the province’s Com-
mittee and Resources and Environ-
ment (CORE). Struck in early 1992 by
the Ministries of Environment and —
Forests, CORE is presently conducting
a process where all interests are _
heard while formulating a sustainable
land use strategy for the province. It _
has begun this program on Vancouver
Island.

“We're happy that CORE has decid-
ed to not go into the Clayoquot Sound
area,” says Brother Haggard. “The
decision on Option 5 must now be
made by Cabinet.”

z
i
i
i

e “Option 5” would double the amount of protected area to 28%. The working

forest would be about 35% of the total

forested area.

6/LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1993