is sorter operator Jim Smylie.

The report reverses CORE recommendations which would have likely eliminated two sawmills. Pictured at Lignum mill

Workers hope jobs are protected with a ‘Made
in the Cariboo’ plan that replaces CORE report

Woodworkers in the Cariboo region
of British Columbia are a whole lot
happier after hearing that the provin-
cial government will allow a new
“Made in the Cariboo” land-use plan
to go ahead, thereby replacing the rec-
ommendations of the Commission on
Resources and Environment (CORE).

In July of this year CORE commis-
sioner Stephen Owen released a re-
port to the government which called
for further huge set asides in the Cari-
boo region. Following the release of
the report, there was a huge outcry
from the communities in the Cariboo,
who banded together to get the Owen
Report’s recommendations changed.
Under Owen’s recommendations
there would have been harvest reduc-
tions of nearly 900,000 cubic meters a
year. That would have cost the likely
closure of two sawmills and direct job
losses of about 4-500 workers.

Rather than accept the CORE pro-
posal the communities banded togeth-
er under the auspices of an
organization call the Cariboo Commu-
nities Coalition. As part of that Coali-
tion, IWA-CANADA Local 1-425
played a constructive role in seeking a
new plan which should balance the
needs of workers and protection of
the environment.

On October 24 provincial Premier
Mike Harcourt announced the “Made
in the Cariboo” plan which, most im-
portantly, vows that no jobs will be
lost as a result of this plan. The plan
also vows that targets will be set to
ensure that annual allowable cuts can
be maintained.

Eighty percent of the land is to be
used for sustainable resource use in
forestry, mining, ranching and tourism
industries. Forty percent of the region
will be classified as the Enhanced De-
velopment Zone, 26 percent as the
Special Resource Development Zone
and 14 percent as the Integrated Re-
source Management Zone.

The Enhanced Development Zone
will be geared to intensive resource
management and development. All re-
source users must work with the gov-
ernment to set resource extraction
and development targets.

In the Special Resource Develop-
ment Zone forestry, mining, and
ranching activity will be done in a way
that takes care of wildlife, fish,

ecosystems, recreation, heritage and
tourism values.

In the Integrated Resource Manage-
ment Zone there are areas that “will
be dedicated for sustained integrated
resource use.”,

There is a doubling of protected ar-
eas in the region to a total of 12 per-
cent, which meets the overall
objectives of the government.

If the plan succeeds there should be
steady employment for IWA millwork-
ers and loggers in the Williams Lake,
Quesnel and 100 Mile House areas of
the province.

The current rate of annual harvest
in these regions is set at about 7 mil-
lion cubic meters.

“When we lose the bug kill licence,
we'll lose some jobs and we’ve know
that all along,” says Wade Fisher, fi-
nancial secretary of the local union.
“But over and above that there
shouldn't be any job loss.”

“We know that there is enough
wood out there to maintain the cut at
its present level for the next 100
years,” says Brother Fisher. “There
will some downturn over an 80 year
period but that downturn can be more
that made-up for by enhanced silvicul-
ture.”

The “Made in the Cariboo” land-use
plan will set harvesting targets which
must not exceed the lands’ ability to
sustain, adds Fisher, and there will be
processes put into place to ensure
that this happens.

For the first three months a “90 Day
Committee” has been formed to put
into practice what has been agreed to
in principle. In early 1995 a permanent
implementation and planning commit-
tee, which will include input from the
IWA, will be set up to set targets to
ensure the sustainability of resources
and ensure that wildlife, ranching,
tourism and recreation values are pro-
tected.

Brother Fisher says that over the
long-term there has to be a lot of
thought go into the process to ensure
that there is meaningful employment.

By March of 1995 the government,
through funding from Forest Renewal
B.C.(FRBC), vows to create 150 direct.
jobs in the Cariboo area. Eventually
there will be about $3 million a year in
FRBC funding for job creating activity
in the region.

“If the planning is done right then
we will be able to create a number of
jobs in the bush,” add Fisher. “We
may see a change in the types of jobs
that are done in the forests.”

Those changes, he says will proba-
bly see a transition from large equip-
ment with fewer workers to smaller
equipment that requires more workers
and more intensive labour. Fisher

says that the Forest Practices Code,
which will go into effect next year,
will likely add to these changes.

To ensure that there will be job cre-
ation and a proper employment strate-
gy put into place, the government also
announced that there will be a new
Jobs and Environment Commissioner
appointed. In addition there will be a
job strategy and community skills
centre which will be funded by the
Ministry of Labour's “Skill Now” ini-
tiative.

So what will happen to displaced
workers?

Brother Fisher says that skills up-
grading can go a long way into helping
workers seek new jobs.

He says that there may be educa-
tional upgrading courses offered so
that an equipment operator can oper-
ate a more sophisticated piece of
equipment or a worker may get re-
training to operate in a different way.
Or perhaps workers will receive edu-
cation in the scientific aspects (i.e. sil-
viculture) of forestry.

The whole “Made in the Cariboo”
land-use plan should serve as an ex-
ample of what can happen when peo-
ple can cooperate and work together,
says Fisher.

“When the CORE report was re-
leased we just couldn't accept its rec-
ommendations. The communities in
the Cariboo just would not put up
with it,” says the local union officer.
“CORE was something that we saw
coming down the pipe several years
ago and I'll admit that we bought into
ni?

But what did come out of the
Stephen Owen document did unite the
communities.

“Our ‘Made in the Cariboo’ plan is a
positive document,” says Fisher. “We
don’t need the negativity and careless
approach given in the CORE report.”

Harvey Arcand, National Fourth
Vice President, says that the land-use
deal is a good one if it is lived up to
and can be a showcase for the
province.

“It's going to take a lot of political
will on behalf of the politicians in the
province to make the bureacracy hold
this deal up,” says Brother Arcand.

e If the plan succeeds there should harvesting plans which will keep mills in
Williams Lake operating. Pictured is Local 1-425 member Frank Young strap-
ping a lumber load for the kiln at the Lignum mill.

a —————
6/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1994

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