B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 20, 1999 CHRISTIANA WIENS Forest Follies eading the comics is a lot more fun than reading the obituaries. I've just finished Ben Parfitt's latest book, Forest Follies Adventures and Misadventures in the Great Cana- dian Forest (Harbour Publishing). As we used to say in the seventies — it was a downer, man. Parfitt, who wrote about the enviroment for The Vancouver Sun before the browning of Pacif- ic Press, then later contributed some fine work to B.C.’s finest newspaper, The Georgia Straight, is faced with the same dilemma all reporters on the environmental beat mect, namely how to report on the earth and it’s myriad of grim problems and not alienate readers. Many people would rather shoot messengers than face grim realities; pulped fiction and literary chicken soups for all kinds of souls will always outsell the books we should be reading so that we can make informed decisions on pressing matters. Still, for many the ostrich posture is simply unacceptable. Thankfully there are enough concerned citizens around make books that contribute to environmental awareness PROUD OF THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Kevin McDougall, Dan Fisher, Mitch Griffith and Andrew Simpson pose after winning the zone championships. On their way to the brier BEATING five-time zone curling guru Don Palmer at the zone playdowns in Prince Rupert Jan. 10 put a smile on the faces of Terrace’s newest champions. “It felt good,” said Mitch Griffith, laughing. His teammates —- Dan Fisher, Andrew Simpson and skip, Kevin McDougall, say the key to their game is pretty basic, ‘Is keeping it simple, not letting yourself get in trouble,’ McDougall said. The technique seems ta be working as McDougall’s rink stole four points in the first three ends, starling the rally off ina 1-2-1 run to win the zone championships. Their next match is in Smithers Friday, Jan. 29 for the Interior playdowns where McDougall expects a berth to the men’s provincials in Prince George, Feb. 11-14. __ 638-7283 Sports Scope Going to the games B.C, Senior Games Zone 10 team invite you to sign up for the 1999 Games held in the Etk Valley Aug. 25-28. Seniors are eligible to participate in i5 core sports and optional sports include archery, bocce, ice curling, one act plays and volleyball. There’s a sport for everyone, so sign up and enjoy the exercise and great fellowship. Mary McFarland, the membership chair, will be in the Skeena Mall Friday, Jan. 22 from 10 a.m, ta 4 p.n. She can be reached at 635-2875. 5 How’s your game? HEAD to Northwest Com- munily College Sat., Feb, 6, 1999 and see how your scrabble gaine rates na- tionally. Scrabble enthusiasts from across the northwest will meet here for the first possible. The clearcut is at the core of Forest Follies. Parfitt comes at clear cutting from all sorts of fas- cinaling augles. In a chapter about the state and fate of the woodland caribou, he deftly makes The team is hoping to beat their 1995 Interior results when they exited that tourney with two wins and three losses. But that was four years ago. It was their first year together, and four years later the original cast is still at it hoping they’ve gained enough experience to be in the top Sanctioned National Scrabble association tournament. Game results will be ranked by a GOOD AIM: Kevin McDougall practices his stuff while an opponent watches at the Terrace Curling club last week. McDougall and his team won the zone comiexions between the increase of moose browse as a result of clear cutting and spread in B.C.’s moose population together with its main had on the once abundant caribou, meal More access to. hunters atid suow machinery and, therefore, better access and improved preda- tion for the wolf, Where the larger more predator- tolerant moose may be able to withstand more ef- fective wolves, woodland caribou cannot. When the pursuit of moose leads the wolf into woodland caribou country, he soon shifts his attention to the tasty, more easily overcome, midsize model un- gulates with predictable results, As if all of this clear cut spawned adversity were not enough, Parfitt paints out that woodland caribou feed on lichen, a delicate plant/fungus combo that shrivels up and withers away after clear cutting and is almost non-existent in the densely-packed second growth that springs up after the liquidation of old growth forests, Ina chilling chapter on bears, Parfitt examines a grisly phenomenon that has been playing out all over {he provincial landscape and came to a head on Haida Gwaii where the world’s largest, and possibly least aggressive black bears, having lost the riches of so many of their. salmon streams thanks to logging carnage, have now lost their ac- cess (0 garbage dumps because of a wise, but dif- ficult, policy to fence off these places. With no place to go the blacks, like grizzlies in Fort St. John, went to town, and, in too many cases, wound up dead. Anyoue who lives in the northwest needs to read the chapter of Forest Follies entitled Pulp Fiction. In it, Parfitt digs deep into the issue of over capacity and the haywire ways of the pulp industry. Here is a clear analysis of why the north coast economy is on the ropes again. Here also is labour at Port Edward, as well as an important revelation of the plans MacBlo and the other forest giants have for our forests. The populace of B.C. needs ta know what Mac: and Bow have been doing in Alabama, y'all, and it needs desperately to understand that quantity-driven forest mining tends south to Chile and Brazil and to South East Asia, and it needs to know that our economic well-being lies in quatity-driven forestry. In quality-driven forestry, clearcuts are anathema. Air, water and dirt are our most precious com- modities. In Fores: Follies, Parfitt looks at the ef- segues into the nascent industry of water export. sought after resource in the next decade will be water; vicious wars will be waged over it. ‘In China there are huge burgeoning cities where who plan to export water from an unused water reservoir of a defunct pulp mill in Sitka Alaska, will find themselves in much the same position as the oil sheiks of the middle east do today. Parfitt and Wang. It’s fascinating reading. Forest Foilies begins on Haida Gwall and ends proved pathways leading away from ihe rotten forest practices that have been practiced here to give Ben Parfitt for there are plenty of sugges- authored with Michael McGonigte. - predator the wolf, and the impact all of this has Guide to the New Forest Economy, . which he co- - Road building attends clear cutting. More. roads. . a keen look at the bizarre bailout of banks and | fects of hard-core forestry on water quality then : The World Watch Institute predicts that the most - aa people haven't the luxury of drinking from the © tap. Itis not inconceivable that people, like thase - 5 examines the exploits of water merchants Paley - therc, With an examination of some new and im- - date. I would have liked more of this, but I for- | tions lo be found in Forestopia:..A Practical © four of six teams to advance. Ladies soccer on track for 1 999 SACTION Tuesday, Jan. 12 maiched or the Back Eddy Bullets against Artistic’ “faiiec (2° 7 “nt Hair Design. Everyone put in a good defensive effort in a fast-paced game but no one got the go-ahead goal, . RINGETTE players need more ice time. And Dan Smith, the presi- dent of the Terrace Ringette Association, hoped the city was willing to do something about it. Smith wrote a letter Nov. 30 asking the city to devel- op a policy that would guar- antee ice time is divided fairly between all users. Right now, he says, that isn't happening because ice time is simply allocated ac- cording to last year’s sched- ule unless there is a sig- nificant drop in registration. So every year the ringette ‘association asks for more time, and every year Smith says, they are denied, And they aren’t asking for /many hours. Just one extra “hour a week would allow yeach of Terrace’s ringette teams an hour of practice. a week, It's @ proposal Sinith says was met with a‘‘great deal of difficulty’’ at each 1998 ice user group meeting, Smith says other users “don’t want to give up any- thing?’ because ice time here is already limited, _. And while Smith says ad- ding another sheet of ice would certainly be nice, the issue now is to make what the city has more equitable, “You've gal to make sure you can give it out equita- bly,’” he said. He appreciates Parks and Recreation staff who call the ringette association when an hour occasionally frees up, but Smith says the 42 players between the ages of 6 and 16 need a regular booking to mn a proper ringette program in Terrace, “The city, which has no ice _ distribution policy, -asked championships in Prince Rupert on Jan. 10. FEGe any Mo Peer rare Also on Tuesday Night, Braid [nsur- ance took on Flower Power, The Insurance girls played hard but coulda’t get the ball past Flower Flower girls Jessie Sangha and Lara when they each netted one to make the final 2-0, Ringette association calls for equal ice time - ATEN NETO SCRAMBLE FOR THE SHOT: Terrace ringette players go for a goal during a 6:30 a.m, Saturday morning in December. Terrace's junior team travelled to Houston Jan. 9-19, The juniors (aged.13 and-under) beat Houston's tweens (aged 15 and under) in three games, split twa games against the Prince George Tweens, and lost two games to the Northern All Star Tween team who were preparing for their provincial tournament in Enderby on Feb. 5-6. ; . that Scott meet with ringette the Steve Scott at Terrace Parks and Recreation. on Jan. 11 to continue schedul- ing icc time as he has been and try to include the ringette association when- ever possible, They also recommended lt starts here SO HOW does ice time at Terrace’s heavily-booked arena get scheduled in the first place? According to Steve Scott, the superintendent of Parks and Recrea- tion, the process has five steps. 1, Parks and Recreation sends letters. The letters ask all user groups for written notice of the group’s preferred start date, time of day, days of week and hours per day, dates for special events such as towrna- ments and performances, and any exceptions to regu- larly scheduted-cvents, 2. The search for overlaps. Terrace’s facilities man- ager scans all requests and looks for conflicts. 3. The discussion. An user group meeting is held in Jate spring or early summer where users haggle for dates and times. After decisions ate made, the facilities manager adjusts a tentative schedule, 4. The second chance. If enrollment or schedules change, users regroup and talk about schedule adjust- ricuts, co ' 3. Confirmation. The facilities manager notifies cach group of their yearly schedule. The manager attempts to schedule youth before 9:00 p.m. but that doesn’t al. ways happeti. They also try to give as many people ice time as possible making everyone compromise. representatives to discuss the issue, That meeting date has not, as yct, deen set. Smith says it does not look as if the city is willing to seta policy to regulate the distribution of ice time. “Establishing a specific formula or policy — for determining ice allocation which satisfies all user groups would likely prove impossible,’’ writes Scatt in his Jan. 6 letter to city coun- cll, ; ice time in Terrace is now regularly booked from 5:00 or’ 5:30 am to midnight seven days a week, , erry Raldo made Mag’s job a bit easier - compuler-raling system and Milton-Bradley, the company that owns the Scrabble trademark, is contributing a prize pack- “There was'no;score-at thejend of the -Power’s keeper Magali Fleming, who age for the winner. ioe Jeo soles the played to-her second shut out of 19992 &.. _ Organizers expect 20 novice and serious players to allend the tournament. Everyone will meet at the college in room 2001. Players must pre-register . by calling Walter Raedeke at 638-0433, Gymnastics registration TERRACE Peaks Gym- nastic club is planning two registrations sessions at the Skeena Mall. The sessions will be held Jan. 29 from 6 pn. to 8 _ pan. aud Jan. 30 from 10 am. to 4 pm. Recrea- tional gymnastics classes are aimed at Kids two and | up and fees vary. Call Susan at 635-0912 or Maria at 638-0447 for more information. Lake skiing SNOW, rain, more snow and great grooming makes for great skiing at Onion Lake’s cross country trails. Use waxless skis or kKlister for maximum ef- fect. A waxing clinic will be helt 7:00 pan, tonight at All Seasons Sports here and in Kitimat at Action Sports. The next event, the Women's Fest, is Satur- day, Jan. 23. The fest-is a chance for women to ski a5 4 group, learn ucw skills and enjoy a whole day of fun on the trails, Call 798-2227 or 632- 2004 to register. Snow report SHAMES MOUNTAIN celebrated clear blue skies Sat. Jan 16 for excellent Skiing on all groomed and packed-powder runs, The hill received five centimetres of new snow last week for 278 centi- metres of snow at the t-bar and 158 centimetres at the lodge base. For up-to-date snow reports check out the Shames mountain. stiow phone at 638-8ski, line is updated at 6 a.m, and 10 am. daily. Mibnbeetbee ss The