million | to finance every. piece: cof : ederal: ‘industrial aid. to. all of... “the proposal. for "the « federal - ‘government’ S. $350 ‘million to “FRDA II: tee . So: what has FRDA done i in. he Northwest: so. far? “Inthe Prince Rupert Forest Region, which includes the Ka- lum‘ Timber ‘Supply’ Area sur- “rounding? Terrace,’ $11 million November 1988. ‘That expendi- ture’ created 50,000 person-days of employment, according tothe - "Ministry of: Forests, ° with: silvi- ~ ‘cultural treatment being carried : 7 out: on'68,000 hectares. = - “ Thé activities financed by the “agreement include 45,000 hec- ‘ tares - ‘surveyed, juvenile spacing -. Jon§,000 hectares and fertilizing “on 2,600 hectares. es Under” FRDA, . six ' million. a trees. have been’ planted in the _. Tegion, -. DAVE. PARKER: it’s In-the -. ‘hands-of the Treasury Board. : “was. spent under. FRDA as. of - ‘vances in a understanding of forest ecology and evaluation of silvicultural. { ‘the B.C. Ministry. of Forests is . » Northwest Community College - -more than half a‘million dollars’ - forést industry is: going: take in . future - decades. thrust -would management of forests to grow. the tree species and fiber quality , .to ‘feed - today’s. sawmills and Et ap aL, Revere Fi “4, an Freee ER ange LD eI e aly PROSE Cela a EA PONE et tag wierd TEE OR ry rece dands:left over from the. period. prior to: October : 11988, -whe ameridments .to ‘ ‘the, Forest’ Act made: reforestation the. respon- sibility of: the licensee: —_ «The: impact of: FRDA Tis dif- ficult: to assess: Over the five - “year period-of the agreement the Ministry has issued ‘a’ series of ‘figures-for. the ‘number of -hec- ° -tares surveyed,’ ‘jected ‘to site’ preparation; the area réplanted“and the number | '-Of s¢edlings planted and the‘area - Of growing forest given brushing the’ area. sub- and-weeding treatments. During the same period; however, -ad- ‘in the’ Ministry’s methods has resulted in a widespread reclassification - of | land aréas suitable for reforesta- tion;-‘NSR: lands, classified. as good; medium or poor growing sites, include both-clear cuts and areas denuded by wildfire: The @ Ministry’s’. concept of site classification has: evolved -over the past five years, with the result that target areas have shifted and the. figures . have blurred. In the Prince. Rupert Forest Region (which ‘includes the Kalum Timber Supply Area), for example, the 1984 Forest and Range Resource Report shows that in 1979 the combined NSR, DSD (Decadent and Standing Dead) and NCBr lands at 98,500 hectares for good and medium sites. By 1984 that area had - grown to 120,300 hectares. For _ the province as a whole the com- bined good and medium. site NSR went from 600,000 to 700,000 during the same period, but the Ministry researchers note that part of that increase is due to the inclusion of remote north- ern areas that had not previously been included in the surveys. There is also a time-lag factor involved because in coastal areas like the. Kalum TSA harvested “areas are not classified-as NSR | until three years after cutting. This allows time for evaluation |}; ‘of natural regeneration -—. there’s-no point in replanting ‘a forest if it will replant itself. It’s a gamble, though, Once things - | “begin to: grow on a- “clear-cut. area, if- those things don’t have - the. makings of a commercial - forest it’s far more expensive,to apply silvicultural treatments. _ At the heart of FRDA lies the question of what form the B. Cc. The major thrust behind the current form of reforestation is preserving the industry as it is now, by assuring that the allowable cut and sus- tairied yield goals match the cur- rent industry’s. production machinery and markets. That see intensive pulp plants for an indefinite period of time. Whether or not that goal: is realistic depends on toa large degree. on.who you're: talking: to. Posifions range. from “wishful “thinking to alarmist ~ pessimism: ‘two’ years’. ago- statemients and studies issued by- . the B, C. Ministry of Forests and . Dr. Peter Pearse, the head of the - Forestry Department ‘at UBC, ‘asserted respectively that the” available timber : resource in the. ‘goastal areas of B, Cc. would. last: 70 years or: 417 years. - ; a eae On Oe - Part of that factor depends on what’s .being viewed as.a com- mercially viable forest..The trees are certainly out there, but from the companies’ perspective, are ‘ they worth going after? Access to forest areas has to be costed ‘out, along with transportation _and the value of the wood, and that has to be compared with current market values for pulp and ‘dimension lumber, There - are several areas within a few miles of ‘Terrace where anyone can witness the power of market forces: dozens of hectares of clear cut with stumps no larger than six inches in diameter, good -growing sites on benches... juvenile forests, replanted 15 or 20 years previously, that were cut because of their proximity to tills. At that time the market value of timber didn’t justify to ‘cost-versus-benefit of cutting: mature forests hundreds of kilometers away, Those forests, being closer to ports than mills, we also cut at 4 record rate in the late 1970's and:early 1980's ‘and ‘shipped out as exported raw logs, Recent restrictions on raw “Jog exports will- not affect ‘the noe North Kalum TSAi over the last - ~Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 5, 1989 ‘several years the seasonal flow through the port of Stewart has- at times exceeded 400 truckloads per day. In terms of the way the timber . . over a 60-70 year cycle required is used, this area has been a marginal commercial proposi- - tion. Much of the forest is old- growth, and for prime commer- cial purposes the ideal age for- fir, spruce and hemlock is about 150 years. Much of this forest is in excess of 200 years old. As Forest Minister Dave Parker pointed out: recently, decadent forests in most other areas of B.C. are frequently killed off - and renewed by fire. But, in the damp and stable areas of the coast, ‘‘even a volcanic eruption {the Aiyansh Volcano) didn’t set it on fire." The driving philosophy on the "part of the Ministry of Forests is ‘to cut down and eliminate the existing, decadent forests which, under the current processing and: marketing systems, have marginal commercial value, and replace those forests over a period of decades with con- iferous softwoods — through reforestation — with the right .degree of size and maturity for ‘we ‘understanding of forest ecology. federal Treasury Board, -the markets and processing facilities that were initially established in this area and are expected to remain here... ‘Is. this objective sustainable for sustained yield? Is this type of assistance going to pay off: politically for the federal government? Are the Quebec and Ontario: Torys going to ‘perceive this as a political return | - worth going for when govern- - ‘ments seek four-year. plans... father than 70-year plans? Do have the intricate to- make the best use of this in- vestment? .Can we develop that understanding without this” in- vestment? FRDA I expires in March 1990. Forest Minister Dave Parker said recently that if there is no FRDA II by that time it may be possible to get an interim extension of the original agree» ment. When asked what the chances of attaining a second agreement are, Parker replied. that it’s in. the hands. of the.