‘ ' dimension lumber ‘rolls off the When fresh, export-quality end of the production line at the |Z a _- Starship sawmill in .Terrace,. wrapped, strapped and ready to - : . ship to the far:corners: of the globe, it’s just the final stage ina. q : ‘process that begins in a set of nondescript modular. buildings parked across Keith Ave. from the mill: . They. house the forest plan- ning division of: Skeena Cellulose. All the activity on the. company’s massive: tenures, Tree Farm Licence #1 and its “forest licence, from timber cruis-. ing to logging,. begins here as . ideas. The information. support base for- those ideas has been undergoing 4 gradual but radical change: over. the past-year. ‘The: instrament of change is’ called a Graphic Information © System. In assessing the. new. system, SCI’s forestry planning. manager - Dan. Tuomi ‘nounced “‘Toomey’’) ‘begins by looking at the system it is replac- - ing —‘a lot of maps and a warehouse of files. ‘It works, but there’s-a lot of things .you can’t do,” Tuomi © ‘says of the old system. The base of the system is a set of about — 200 maps scaled at 1:20,000, each covering 10,000 hectares. The process of planning uses for each area of forest involves a multitude of factors, far too” many to put on one map. “It just gets too busy,’” he explains. . That means digging into the files to develop a complete pic- ture: tree species mix, age, - average height, soil type, stream classification, terrain ‘profiles, other land uses.like traplines. In the end Tuomi wants to be able to decide what to do, if. anything, with what’s out there, what it will cost and what the company’s going to get out of it, while factoring in non- commercial, -non-forest values and a myriad of other con- siderations. With the development of the GIS, Tuomi now goes more and more to computer draftsperson Barb Hall for that multi- dimensional information. Hall sits in front of a large computer console, keyboard and two monitors — one for information. display, and another, bigger one, . for graphics. For a demonstra-' ~ tion run, Tuomi asks Hall to call. up the Skeena West forest area, - 80,000 hectares just north of-° Terrace on the west side of the , Skeena River. Skeena Cellulose recently obtained a forest licence ' to harvest the area and com-. pleted building a bridge into it” from Highway 16 across the river at St. Croix Creek last fall. Hall begins with a map over- view of the area. Ata command aseries of blue lines.trickle down the screen: the major rivers within the map. area, Another command and a series of red lines zip across it: roads,. Highway 16 and the CN line. Then a finer series of blue lines: tributary rivers, small creeks and streams. Tuomi asks for the operable timber areas and a set of irregular brown patches ap- pear. Fine lines through those patches indicate the commercial timber stands within. A change ‘(pro- | - Terrace Review — Wednesday, February 14, 1990 B7 - BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG FOREST. Barb Hall, computer draftsperson in the Skeena Cellulose forestry planning divi- - sion, probes for information linked to maps in the Graphic Information System’s data base. “inthe map and a network of -polygons: outlined in blue’ :gomes” on the screen. These’ are in- dividual logging settings, Tuomi explains. = = ‘Hall zooms in on one 7.5-hectare setting, the smaller area now occupying the entire screen. With the GIS, Tuomi points out, you can actually ask questions about the land base. ad ha links the data base to the maps.”” With the setting in view, Tuomi asks for — and gets — the species mix, average age, average height, and proportion of sawlogs to pulp logs. A fur- ther probe into the data base gives the percentage of trees that fall. into five-meter increments _of height from 20 to 65. meters. :-**Bet’s have an area , Summary, ”” Tuomi says. While’ it’s printing, he says, “This is ‘something. that... well, you just wouldn’t do it manually, It ‘would take weeks.” Seconds - later. a sheet of data comes out of the printer. , The vigual impact of clear cut’ ; logging has become an increas- . ‘ingly’ important factor in forestry planning, and the GIS offers the unprecedented ability to ‘see’? what a clear cut will look like from the surrounding area. Hall uses a map next to the graphics monitor to key in a viewpoint from Highway 16 with a mouse. A computer-art color line drawing forms on the screen, showing the view from the highway looking westward across the Skeena at the moun- tain slopes above the opposite bank. A data entry cuts an area: of trees off the lower and middle area of one slope; another entry puts part of the trees. “back, - “What. would it look like ‘from a_ helicopter?’ Tuomi _ wonders, ‘Flying at what height?*” Hail asks. ‘1,000 feet.’” The yiew reforms, now looking down ‘at the slope, more of the clear cut visible. Terrain profiles in the data- base can be used to determine how much land area is accessible for logging operations from specified road locations, Hall calls up a vertical slice of moun- tainside, and Tuomi tells her where to put the road, which ap- pears as a red dot on the ir- regular line showing the moun- tain’s profile. Another entry makes a tiny tower materialize next to the road, representing the bottom end of a cable log- ging system. To determine how far up the slope a cable system could go, Hall moves another tower upward along the line. At one point the cable droops onto an intervening knoll, showing Tuomi the upper limit for cable logging from that particular road location on that particular mountainside, Tuomi is careful to point out that the information he gets from the system is only as good ‘as the information that goes into it. The data entered comes from the same sources that the in- dustry has always used: timber cruisers, surveyors, other government agencies... direct research’ and observation by people who go. out in the bush. The information base is far from complete, and like the resource itself is in a state of continuous change. The GIS has ‘been in operation in Tuomi’s division for just over a year, the database is being fine-tuned with ~ . every new piece of information, and Tuomi says SCI is currently - in the process of re-evaluating Tree Farm Licence #1. The GIS i the marshalling point for bits of first-hand knowledge that come from every watershed, valley bottom and mountainside in SCI’s massive tenure, a stewardship that covers a huge proportion of this region’s land- base. In a. small modular building on Keith Ave. a group of people are gradually and carefully get- ting to know the GIS, making planning decisions. that will af- fect the entire region for years to come. Tuomi is cautious in his approach. ‘‘It’s a resource plan- ning tool, a way of organizing data,” & FEBRUARY SPECIAL anon PC=5SL SALE PRICE $1099.00 REGULAR PRICE $1325.00 - TOTAL SAVINGS $464.90. 1 BLACK TONER CARTRIDGE 1 GREEN TONER CARTRIDGE RETAIL VALUE OF $238.90 BUSINESS MACHINES TERRACE 638-8585 - 4552 Lakelse Ave. Terrace, B.C. V8G 1P8 PRINCE RUPERT 624-5714 737 Fraser St., Prince Rupert, B.C. V8J 1R1 KITIMAT. 632-5037 reg RMOTENS GP New design mini-cartridge lets you copy In five vibrant colours. All the features you need to make great copies. 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