7

| the Ministry of Forests’ revoke

' eompanies interested in the timber.

"But once again I will invoke the

. accepting questions from the press.

A number of board members,

“Tay-M licence, all he wanted was

Pats

apne ty am
7 at ~ : __ a

company wasn’t large enough to”

support a sawmill or pulp mill.
And the sale of the Tay-M tim-

ber to West Fraser is likely to

Tay-M’s licence and put the timber
up for competitive bid. This would
effectively halt. the private sale
now being processed. According to
Watmough, there are other logging happening in the future. West
Fraser will probably add that in-
ventory to the current supply of
their Terrace mill. This, then,
effectively reduces the inventory
available for any development in
Stewart by a third.

But that’s only a part of the
problem. Burton says that when
the harvesting licences were first
granted five years ago, the ministry
believed the best way to deal with
the abundance of decadent timber.
their was to clear cut the entire
block in the 20-year period of the
licences.

Now, however, the ministry has
‘changed its mind. Burton says the
clear-cut philosophy is a thing of
the past. The ministry now
believes the area is capable of
sustainable yield, meaning the
AAC wili be reduced, possibly by
as much as 30 percent.

The net effect of these changes
could be devastating for Stewart as
well as the rest of the region.
Originally, an AAC of one million
cubic metres of wood was avail-
able, and that promised something
the area north of Terrace has been
seeking for years: a second indus-
try to help them through mining
industry slumps. ;

But change that AAC from a
clear-cut philosophy to sustairiable
yield and the one’ million cubic
metres per year might drop to
something more like 667,000 cubic
metres per year. That may or may
not be enough to support a
Stewart-based industry, but add the
second factor and it’s definitely
not. Subtract something like

168,000 cubic metres, © the
sustainable Tay-M AAC that is |
probably going to be trucked out
of the area, and Stewart is left only
499,000 cubic metres per year.

And this is the basis of Burton’s
argument. If a single company had
been given the entire block — as
was the ministries original inten-
tion —- even with the reduced
AAC, the timber available for a
Stewart wood industry would still
be something close to 700,000
cubic metres a year. "But that’s
hindsight," says Burton. "We have

But John LeSage brought this
motion to a halt as weil. "Once
again I agree with everything
that’s been. said," LeSage noted.

24 hour rule."

This brought last weekend’s
regional district meeting to an
abrupt end. The chair didn’t even
extend the usual courtesy of

And LeSage left the building.

however, supported Watmough and
Button in a subsequent interview
in which the two explained again
their respective positions on the
pending sale of the Tay-M timber
harvesting licence.

Burton explained that it wasn’t
his motive to stop the sale of the

assurance that the stability of the
regional economy had been
addressed by the Ministry of
Forests prior to any change taking
place. He then further explained
the’ possible consequences of the
Tay-M sale.

First, a little history offered by
Burton. The annual allowable cut
in the North Kalum District is one
million cubic metres plus an addi-
tional 250,000 cubic metres under.
the Small Business Program. The
one million cubic metre AAC is
split between three forest com-
panies; Tay-M with an AAC of
280,000 cubic metres, Orenda with
360,000 cubic metres and Buffalo
Head with 320,000 cubic metres.
These are 20-year licences, renew-
able every five years.

The entire North Kalum block of
timber was initially offered five
years ago as a single unit. Orenda
applied for the entire block but
because two other companies had
applied for smaller portions it was
divided in three,

All three companies included
proposals for some form of pro-
cessing facility in Stewart on their
original application. But according
to Burton, nothing ever happened.
. Possibly because the third of the.
original block owned by cach

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Continued from page At

to deal with what’s happening
today."

For both Burton and Watmough, .
there’s much more to the -issue
than the sale of the Tay-M wood
to West Fraser or.a reduction in
the AAC. There are principles
involved and questions to be
answered that reflect on the forest
industry.as a whole.

Watmough doesn’t necessarily

blame the companies involved, but
asks, “In the first place, what
business does a ministry of forests
have in issuing a 20 year liquida-
tion licence when they are by
policy committed to sustained
yield?". This, both directors
believe, was where the problem
began.

Under a licence which basically
permitted the clearing of an entire.
region, Tay-M, at the point of their
first five-year review, is overcut
and three years behind in refores-
tation. This information, says
Burton, was offered to Stewart
council by a West Fraser manage-
ment official.

And this raises the second ques-
tion. If, in fact, Tay-M has overcut
and is behind in reforestation, why
do they still have a forest licence
at all, and the right to sell it?

And this brings Watmough .and
Burton back to the original ques-
tion. All three North Kalum
licences are up for their five-year
review, but is this review taking a
hard look at the Tay-M site due to
the pending sale, and are all three
licence: reviews being Considered
as a unit as they affect regional
economy? "What happens in the
region, affects the region,” Wat-
mough says. And with this, he
registered disappointment in the

reaction of the board to both ©

motions.

Burton explains that all hé was
looking for was assurance that the
review process was in fact taking
place, that it was addressing -
regional concerns, and that an
official request be honoured to
send the results of the review to

the regional district board. "With .

these things in the wind we had
better get a handle on what’s going
on," he said,

And contrary to comments made
during the meeting by LeSage,
Burton says he doesn’t want to

halt the Tay-M sale, only receive |

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assurances from the ministry that |

they have determined that the sale.
is good for the entire region.

"We're not trying to stop any- —

body from doing anything,” he
explains. "But we’re losing it here.

. Let's hold it. Let’s take a look at

it. Let’s-get a perspective on the
whole issue and go from there.
That’s all I want."

Watmough agrees. He doesn’t
want to halt the sale. It’s just that
he believes that a public process of
competitive bidding rather than a
private sale is more appropriate
when the assets in question belong
to the Crown. .

"Let’s get a perspective

on the whole issue and go |

from there. That's all Pm ,

asking for."
— Andy Burton

"The only difference," he says,
“is that if it goes up for bid the
whole. price structure is going to
change." West Fraser, being the
largest of the potential bidders,
would probably still end up with
the tender, says Watmough, but the
price would probably be different.
If on the other hand, Orenda were
to be the highest bidder, it would
almost give them enough timber to
consider establishing a mill in
Stewart.

And there’s one other aspect to
Watmough’s motion. If a forest
company has a licence to cut
Crown owned trees, should they be
permitted:to sell ‘that licence, pos-
sibly for financial gain? Or should
that timber revert to the Crown,
who would then accept offers from

others wanting access to that same

‘timber?

A motion addressing these ques- |

tions won’t be considered by the
regional district for more than a
month, and according to Wat-
mough and Burton, that will prob-

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ably be-too.late. But it is possible”
they might get some answers
before then anyway.

The . Economic Development
Commission met after the regional
‘district meeting was adjourned.
Kitimat and Terrace both dropped
out of this commission a couple of
years ago because they believed
they could best take care of their
personal economic development:
concerns on their own. .

Dan Pakula volunteered to intro-
duce Watmough’s motion ‘—— as —
chairman Watmough couldn’t do it
‘himself — and in the absence of
directors from Terrace and Kitimat

it received unanimous approval.

The commission, then, will be
asking the Ministry of Forests to
evoke Tay-M’s licence and put

the timber up for competitive bid.

There are othets who want. and

need the timber and they should all

have a fair shot, Burton explained
at that meeting.

And this commission has also
asked their chairman to go one
step further. Watmough will be
talking to Terrace mayor Jack

Talstra to see if a tour being

planned to fly the minister of

forests over the Sustut-Takla area
might take a small detour and fly

- him over the North Kalum on their
return.

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