FRBC scrapped and code to change

On October 24, 2001 the B.C.
government announced it is
corseping| Forest Renewal B.C. to
establish a new forest sector
investment account model controlled
by the government and delivered by
the forest industry.

Government will set the standards
and private industry will carry out
projects, subject to independent
auditing, said Minister of Forests
Mike de Jong.

Mr. de Jong says leaders from
communities, forest companies and
workers told the government that
funding for on-the-ground projects
was suffering due to high-
administrative costs as the result of
FRBC’s “process-oriented” and
“inflexible” operations.

Since FRBC began operations in
1994, it has spent over $2.5 billion
on seyeral major areas: They are
“Land and Resources,” “Environ-
ment,” “Communities,” “Workforce”
and “Value-Added.”

“There have been some problems
and there have been some
inefficiencies in bureaucracy and

rowing pains along the way but

‘RBC has done some pretty good
work in enhanced silviculture
through New Forest Opportunities,
fish stream restoration, in
stimulating the value-added sector
by training and retraining workers
and in worker transition programs,”
said national I.W.A. president Dave
Haggard.

“We urge the government to do
more work in these areas,” added
Brother Haggard. “They should put

an emphasis on on-the-ground
rojects which put more value into
‘uture forests and create real jobs
with decent-paying union wages.”
The government is getting rid of
NewForest Opportunities, which
has provided, in great part,
silviculture and land-base projects
certified to the I.W.A. on the coast.

“We agree with some reforms,
but, not with the eradication of
NewForest Opportunities. We don’t
want see the silviculture end of
things turn back to the days of
employment standards violations
and exploited workers working in
deplorable conditions for
unscrupulous contractors who are
forced into cutthroat bidding,” said
Haggard.

Brother Haggard also said there
must be measures to address the
looming skilled-worker shortage in

Photo by Ron Corbeil

° Forest Renewal B.C. claimed projects, like enhanced silviculture, that

will increase future timber volume in the province.

the industry.

He added that the B.C.
Incremental Silviculture Strategy
had laid out a strategy for
silviculture investments and that
this FRBC-initiated project must
keep working to counter future
harvest reductions.

In 2001 FRBC will spend about
$293 million. Next year it will spend
about $134 million.

A “rainy day” fund that had $234
million at the beginning of this year
has yet to ploughed back into the
industry.

Haggard, a member of the FRBC
board until it was disbanded by the
Liberals in July, said that he is very
concerned about where all the money
is going and how it will be spent.

‘We are flatly opposed to it all

and management, seen here in October 1994,

going back into general revenue,”
he said.

“When the FRBC board was
formed, the government of the day
put representatives on it from all
stakeholders, the industry, union,
communities, First Nations,
environmentalists, etc,” he said.
“That should continue. All voices
should be heard.”

Minister de Jong said the
government is getting rid of
additional stumpage fees that
funded FRBC. Money for the
investment account model will come
directly out of the industry.

The good work FRBC did should
be recognized, said Haggard. “It did
more good than bad and we should
capture those good things and move
on. Let’s not throw the baby out

¢ Pictured at a training session on the Forest Practices Code prior to its implementation were union members

with the bath water.”

Among its achievements, FRBC
claimed projects to increase potential
future timber volume by 25 million
cubic meters. Between 1994-1999 it
invested about $418 million in
intensive silviculture to add 12
million cubic meters to potential
future harvests. Its 1999-2003 plan
was designed to help over 30
communities with job loss in the
industry.

FOREST PRACTICES CODE TO CHANGE

On the same day the Liberal
cabinet announced that the Forest
Practices Code, which has been in
effect since 1995, will be changed to
become a streamlined, “results-
based” code. The current code will
be in place until new legislation or
a discussion paper will be put
together for the spring of 2002.
Legislation, said de Jong, will follow
in the fall of that year.

The government intends to give
companies greater control over forest
practices and levy fines for
violations.

“This isn’t a free-for all,” Chief
Forester Larry Pederson told the
media. “There will still be standards
of conduct for forest management.
It’s just a different way of attaining
these goals.”

Brother Haggard said that, much
like FRBC, the Forest Practices
Code, which consists of an act,
regulations, and guidebooks, has
done much good to ensure
environmentally-friendly forest
practices in the province.

The code combined technical work
from various provincial ministries

including forests, lands and parks,
energy, mines and petroleum
resources and the federal
department of fisheries and oceans.

“Most Beppe in the industry and
a lot of workers think the Forest
Practices Code became too
bureaucratic and cumbersome to
deal with, adding unnecessary costs
to harvesting wood,” said Haggard.
“But at the same time the code made
real changes that protected
environmentally-sensitive areas,
made road building less damaging,
eliminated runaway clearcuts, and

rotected fish streams and wildlife
abitat.

“Many of our rank and file
members took courses and trained
other workers to help put the code
into practice. The I.W.A. made a
real commitment to see that the
code worked. We have a lot of very
knowledgeable people out there who
can work with the companies and
the government to see standards
are kept up,” said Haggard.

“The code helped the industry
make real changes on the ground
and assisted the industry with its
image internationally,” he said.

The union president said I.W.A.
Canada will be keeping a close eye
on forest practices in B.C.

“We don’t want to see forest
pEsciices turned back to the old
s ‘ocred (Social Credit Party) days of
sympathetic administration,” he
said. “That would reverse all the
Rrogress the industry has made to

ate.

Haggard said the union will also

remain vigilant in protecting the
health and safety of workers as new
forest practices are introduced.
__ The results-based code will likely
involve government standards to
which companies will be expected to
manage. Review will be by periodic
audit as is now the case with various
forest certification schemes.

Sweden and other major
competitors already have a similar
regime. The Swedish code has been
in place since 1994. m

LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER 2001/9