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natural |

and man-made

In.which intrepid but confused —

forester Herby Squish continues
to wrestle with the great philo-
sophical issues of our region
‘and our time...

. aggers of sunlight
D forced Squish to screw
up his face. Lost in

thought, he had wandered out of

the secure environment of the
tiny forest surrounding Gearbox
Lake, .ill-prepared for what he
knew was there... seedlings
Struggling for a hold on life, in

_ & recent clear cut that offered no
- protection at all.

“"No. I’m not a fool," he
decided. "This problem facing
the forest industry is not mine
alone. It’s universal."

And this turned his mind back
to the wisdom of professor Rees.
Sustainable development
involved a lot more than just a
few trees, It was man’s link
back to a world he had tried to
ignore.

"I think it is very important in

the connection of this world:

‘approach to reforestation," Rees
had told the Standing Committee
on Environment, "that we recog-

| ‘nize that it is only an interim

step, that we can only use refor-
estation in an attempt to control
carbon dioxide increase during a
brief period while we phase out
the use of carbon fuels al-
together.”

Another good point, Squish

~ concluded. He wondered if man-

kind Teally knew what they were
doing.

"Are we simply forging ahead
in ignorance with a desire to
know everything about every-
thing except the truth?" he won-
dered. "If Rees was right, and
we need to plant 472 million

“acres of trees by the year 2000
just to maintain our environ- .

ment, can we afford to harvest a
single tree?"

Squish remembered Rees’ 8
answer: "In order simply to

compensate for the current levels

of carbon. dioxide emissions
from carbon fuels, you would
have to plant every year, and not
harvest it, an area equivalent in
size to the continent of Austra-
lia." | .

He knew this was silly. Mother
Earth doesn’t possess the real
estate to follow Rees’s direction.
But he understood the message.
Planting what little we can, and
not harvesting any of it, will
only buy us another few years or

decades to replace carbon fuels.

With what? As yet undeveloped
methods of mass energy gener-
ation like hydrogen fuel cells or
solar energy? Rees, he recalled,
didn’t include nuclear energy as
an option.

One committee member had

been sceptical. He“ had visited
B.C. a short time before and had

been told B.C. was planting 800
million trees a year. An impres-
sive number.

"Is that a correct figure... Or
within reason?" he had asked
Rees. "Or is it not nearly
‘enough?"

Rees’s answer was simple. He

Terrace Review —— Wednesday, January 8, 1992 : 7

by Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Amold and Doug Davies

said, "No." And qualified that
terse answer at length by saying,
"B.C. is chronically insufficient-
ly restocked.’ The number of
trees that are planted is a
measure of nothing, because we

do not even monitor the survival

rate of new replantings." -

"Many people who actually do
the replanting can tell you of
areas that they have replanted
three and four times in which
the new plantings have never
taken because of the severe soil
erosion and other problems that
have resulted from clearcut
logging.

"The reality is that we are a
long way from having a sus-
tained yield from the forests of
B.C. I gather the situation is
similar elsewhere in Canada,
because we have never managed
them as ecosystems. We have

‘managed them simply as stocks

of a valuable resource called
wood. fibfe“There has been. no
concept of the soil as a ‘Part of
that system."

Herby’s right boot ‘suddenly
skidded off to the south,
"Damn," he cursed, The moose
droppings he had so artfully
avoided on his walk to the lake
had caught him by surprise,

"He who walks blindly through

‘Cadets dined and promoted

To the Editor;

The 747 Squadron, Terrace, of
the Royal Canadian Air Cadets
were treated to a lovely dinner
in mid-December by the Legion.
ladies of Branch 13, In atten-

- dance were 117 parents, cadets

and their brothers and sisters,

president Howard Cromarty of
the Legion Branch 13 and presi-
dent Marj Cromarty of Ladies’
Auxiliary, along with Theresa
Brinkac, representing Big
Brothers and Sisters of Terrace.
She presented chairperson Lissi

Seniors’ Games gives
some of it back

To the Editor;

We are pleased to announced
the "400 Club" winners to date
from the B.C. Seniors’. Games
Zone 10 (Terrace-Kitimat-Prince
Rupert): June, #205, Barry Mc-
Kenzie; July, #186, Reg Badge;
August, #211, Glen Thomsen;
September, #166, Dave Bell;
October, #181, Michelle Zlokii-
kovits; November, #70, B. G.
O’Boyle.

These are our first $1, 000
recipients,

_to seniors’

Zone 10 has also given $500 to
the Lions’ Club Timmy’s Christ-
mas Telethon in aid of crippled
children.

Zone 10 wishes everyone a
very happy and prosperous New
Year. We are deeply appre-
ciative for all the support given
activities by our
fellow northern citizens.

Bob Goodvin,
Terrace

Sorensen with a certificate of
appreciation for help the Big
Brothers and Sisters received
from the 747 Squadron.

The following promotions were
given at the dinner: N. -Papais,
Leading Air Cadet to Corporal;
M. Urbanowski, LAC to Cpl.;
S.R. Vanderwal, LAC to Cpl; R.
Boehm, Cpl. Sergeant; K.
Kreuger, Cpl. to Sgt.; A. Hill,
Sgt. to Flight Sgt.; Bergeron,
Warrant Officer 2nd Class to
Warrant Officer ist Class.

Two months ago Air Cadets
began selling raffle tickets, with
first prize being a one-ounce
gold wafer and second prize $50
in cash. At the dinner the raffle
winners were announced: first
prize went to Debbie Wright and
second to Matthew Janzen.

Many thanks and the best of
the new year to all who sup-
ported our cadet squadron by
buying tickets.

Lissi Sorensen, chairperson
747 Ait Cadet Squadron
Terrace

‘the forest,

‘mumbled.

doesn’t come. out
like a rose," he
"Wonder if anyone
ever said that?”

After scuffing the sole of his

smelling

boot clean on a nearby stump,
Squish continued his pace up the |

Shallow, barren hill, and his
thoughts returned to the words
of Rees.

To this point, Rees had been
doing nothing more than taking
careful aim. Now it was time to
fire the shot. Rees was obviously
a man far more interested in the
truth than in making influential
friends, Squish concluded. In
essence, Rees had told the com-
mittee we had allowed large
corporations to convert our for-
ests into cash and. then leave us
to foot the bill. —

"My kind of man," Squish said
aloud. "An inspiration to us all."

He retraced from memory
Rees’ words: "Traditional neo-

classical economics’ ‘Has ‘treated '

forests, fisheries, agricultural
soils as so-called ‘natural
capital’. Out philosophy has

been that it is perfectly all righ
to liquidate that natural capital,
provided you invest the funds
gained in that liquidation in at
least an equivalent amount of
man-made capital. This. is the
notion of substitutability _ (of
capital.

"If you look at the pattern of
investment by the B.C. forest
sector, they see the old-growth
forest as capital, which they
draw down, and rather than
te-investing in the rehabilitation
of the ecosystem there, they use
much of the proceeds to pur-
chase additional capital outside
the country... Everywhere from
Tasmania to the Philippines.”

"I guess that pretty well sums
up Jovial," Squish concluded.
"Get in, turn a profit, and get
out. He’s more interested in the
future of his corporation than he
is in the future of our resource.
And it’s going to take a lot of
professor Reeses* to make’ that
perfectly clear and then demand
of the Jovials in this world a
commitment for change." °

Fear of steep rise

in law enforcement

cost put to rest

TERRACE — In at least one

respect, city council can enter

the new year with a sigh of
relief. Late last summer mayor
Jack Talstra expressed concern
for the future level of policing in
the municipality — a 20-year
policing agreement had ended
and the federal government
threatened to reduce their contri-
bution of expenditures, a move
that would place a greater share
of policing costs on’ provinces
and municipalities.

A couple of suggestions from
Talstra: raise the rent on the
city-owned RCMP building in
Terrace, or cut the number of
RCMP officers stationed here by
two or three.

On Sept. 12 of last year, how-
ever, there was a glimmer of
hope. Federal, provincial and
territorial representatives reached
an agrecment-in-principle that
would have renewed contracts
for RCMP policing in 191 muni-
cipalities and all provinces and
territories except Ontario and
Quebec.

And in December that glimmer
of hope blossomed inlo some-
thing much more substantial.
Federal solicitor general Doug

Lewis announced in a press
release that he was working at
finalizing a new 20-year agree-
ment that would not raise the
cost of policing to Canadian
municipalities. The cost would
remain the same and ensure that
the red serge of the Mounties
would remain a familiar and
important symbol in commu-
nities from coast to coast.

"The bottom line for me is that
Canadians feel safe, secure and
confident in the ability of their
local police force to meet their
needs," said Lewis. "For mil-
lions of Canadians, that force is
the RCMP. The new agreement
reflects my absolute commitment
to ensuring that these commu-
nities benefit from an equitable,
long-term agreement."

The federal cabinet has
approved the agreement, and
most of the provinces and terri-
tories have also accepted the
federal offer. A number of
issues are still being discussed,
but Lewis says he expects all
provinces and territories to be
onside later this month. At that
time, says Lewis, a new agree-
ment will be drafted which will
take effect by March 31, 1992.