Have boat,
will rescue

By MALCOLM BAXTER

IT MAY not have been dramatic
enough to make the popular TV
show Rescue 91I.

Yet last Thursday’s river rescue
was a big deal for a poor pooch
that had speat five days stranded
on an island in the Skeena River.

How the female Shepherd cross
ended up marooned just
downstream from Braun’s Island
is unknown.

But her pitiful howls made it
clear to Skeena St. resident and
city. councillor Rich McDaniel
she. was far from happy with the
situation.

McDanicl mentioned the dog's
plight to fellow councillor David
Hull, who in turn enlisted the as-
sistance of local fishing guide
Stan Doll. Coan

Accompanied by animal control
officer Frank Bowsher, the trio
set out from the Kitsumkalum
boat launch Thursday afternoon

to end the dog’s Robinson Crusoe

experience,

Five, bitterly cold minutes

_ later, the island hove into

view. *‘There she is,’’ Stan
Doll called out above the
noise of the motor.

Five, bitterly cold minutes later,
the island hove into view. ‘‘There
she is,’’ Doll called out above the
noise of the motor.

Having picked up the sound of
the boat, the canine castaway had
alrcady left the safety of solid
land for the ice still clinging to
the shore,

This damsel in distress definite-
ly wanled to be rescued.

Rather than draw the dog still

further out on lo too-thin ice, Doll

continued upstream another 20
metres where a more solid shelf
of ice met deeper water.

“Patly”’, as she had been
dubbed — it was March 17 and
St. Patrick’s Day, after all — mis-
understood the manoeuvre,

Dropping her head, she turned
dejectedly away.

But only for a moment as
urgent whistles and calls recap-
tured her altention and she real-
ized this vessel was indeed the
awaited Samaritan.

As Doll cased the boat against
the ice, Patty’s tail wagged a
grateful welcome and she cau-
tiously made her way toward her
rescuers.

Hull reached out and swiftly
lifted her aboard where Bowsher
Snapped on a leash,

Not that Patty was about ta go
anywhere, a,

Exhibiting a calmness that sug-
gested she’s cruised the river be-
fore, she happily accepted the at-
lentions of her benefactors.

On the trip back. to the boat
launch, Doll recalled this wasn’t
his first mission of mercy,

A few years back a Thornhill
horse had been swept away by a
swollen Skeena. ,

Hearing about the incident, he
worked out which island on
which the horse was likely to
have fetched,

Sure enough, there it was and
just as happy to see him as Patty
had been this day,

A full-grown horse being just a
little too big for the boat, Doll
said he ferried food to the animal
until the river dropped enough to
allow its owners to swim it back.

The rescuers arrived. back on
Shore to find the dag’s owners
about to launch a boat of their
own,

As it turned out, naming the
dog Patty wasn't too far off. Her
real name is Fatty.

ea)

COMFORTING HAND of David Hull stretches out to do
River. A few seconds later Patty,
to the safety of the mainiand.

g stranded on an island in the Skeena ~
as the pooch was dubbed, was safe and secure and headed back

BIG EYES tell story of five day adventure for this
Shepherd cross who rescued by boat last week.

female

tee

ESCUERS Davi

id Hull, left, and Stan Doll
of thelr quest, The dog was re-united with her owners on shore.

ae

pose with the object

Tenure key to forest use

By CYRIL SHELFORD

Too much time has passed since
the B.C, Forest Resources Com-
mission presented B.C. with a
sicrm waming.

The commission pulled no pun-

ches in predicting ghost town
status for more than 200 B.C.
towns and villages without a
healthy forest industry.
* Without a radical change in
direction, I fear we will derail the
lives of thousands of working
people and eventually shake to
the core the foundations of our
sociely and economy.

My book, Think Wood! The

forest is an open book; all we

need to do ts read, was written
for all who are willing to face up

“to the serious challenge of

“managing our foresis with logic

— for the good of all users.

As an old-timer in the political
field I get very disturbed when
bombarded with storics about
moonscapes and black holes of

‘destruction. These are mainly

false portrayals of forest manage-

- ment.

It is a weil known fact that the

economy for the present .genera- .

» tion’ will depend: on our. old

- forests, However, contrary to the

“No individual or company can be expected to invest
above and beyond basic requirements if they could not
reap future benefits from the investment.”’

belief of many, the economic fu-
lure of our grandchildren will
depend largely on new forests
and the care we give them, Old
foresis, like ald people, don’!
grow,

Think Woed! is, I believe, a
forestry story that is seldom told
and rarely understood. It outlines
four basic principles that I believe
lo be the keys to a bright future
for coming generations.

The primary: principle is a
given, A healthy environment is
essential to grow healthy foresis
and agricultural crops.

The second principle is that we
must establish a firm multi-use
fores| land base. We
demonstraled that we value the
enterprise of agriculture by creat-
ing an Agricultural Land Reserve.

We are in the process if setting
aside £2 per cent of our land base

to protect wilderness, I suggest
that forestry will not be able to
continue to contribute to the qual-

ity of B.C. life unless we set aside
25 to 30 percent of our land base
for working forestry. (More than
half of our total land base will
remain forever de facto wilder-
ness). -

The third principle outiined in
Think Wood! is a radical depar-
ture from the status quo. It is the
development of a firm tenure sys-
tem. No individual or company
can be ¢xpecied to invest above
and beyond basic requirements if
they could not reap future bene-
fits from the investment.

Excellence in management of
foresis comes from .a secure
return ai ihe end of the growing
cycle. -

The final principle articulated in
Think Wood! is that the people
who live in each timber supply
area must be the main developers
of local land use plans. These are
the people who have stakes in
thelr economy. and envitonment..

‘Bottom up ‘land management

- forestry benefits we have come to

decisions, as opposed to top
down, would prevent. outside
groups from = dividing. com-
munities into hostile camps.

Our overall plan for the future
must break new ground, based on
these kinds of principles, We
Must not continue to fritter away

take for granted,

Think Wood! is a clarion call to

come oul of our dream world, a
summons to logic and common
Sense in charling our future
course. We owe the coming gen-
eration a legacy of opportunity,
_ Cyril Shelford, born south of
Burns Lake, served as a member
of the B.C. Forest Resource
Commission from 1989 to 1992,
He held the position of B.C. agri-
culture minister for six years, in
the 60s and 70s, and chaired the
Select Standing Committee on
Forests.

Elected in 1952 to the provin-
cial legislature, he served as an
MLA for 23 years for the riding
of Omineca and then for Skeena.

Mr. - Shelford's extensive
foresiry experience includes con:
tract logging and ownership of a

small. wood mill in” the. late
1940s

_ 10,000 people have library cards,”

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 23, 1994 - A5

CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

The Mail Bag

Fishy tale indeed

An open letter to Rob Brown
Dear Siri

I resent your comment in your March 9, column that: Prince
Rupert council and fishermen have a ‘trapped rat attitude.'” You

have a lot to learn.

Your so-called ‘Wild Steelhead Campaign’ is-a laugh, You don’t
practice what you preach. You want everything and give nothing.

Commercial fishermen have enhanced the fisheries since the
1960s. The government told them it was like putting money in the
bank and would pay dividends for a future fishery.

Instead their fishing time has been cut down year after year. Now
these cutbacks are fo accommodate your pressure for more fish
upriver. For what? For some Yank to catch, can and take home? |

The out of province influx to B.C., at salmon time, is well known.
Over fishing by these out-of-province as well as your local river
fishermen are the reason you have no steelhead,

The steelhead that are left are running for cover. Caught last year
was 4 dog salmon that wasn’t, The fish had a body of a dog salmon
and the tail of a steclhead. Because of closures, the escapement is
too high of other species,

This makes the spawning beds overcrowded and you end up with

a hybrid. Will that fish reproduce?
. Your Copper River winter steelhead isn’t in danger from the
Rupert fishermen. Who are you to blame that on? Point a finger in
one direction and the other three fingers are pointed back at your-
self. The loss of the Copper River winter run is yours, the so-called
steclheaders.

You have overfished it so badly that you don’t even leave a
spawner. You did the same to the Morice River. oo

A man in his retirement, who spent 20 years as fisheries officer,
went io fish the Skeena. He caught and landed the biggest steelhead
that he had ever caught,

He looked at it, admired it and let it go. He never took it home to
stuff and hang on the wall or to putin a can. He let it go.

The comment of the fisherman standing next to him was ‘“Whal
did you do that for, it will only get caught in a net up river.”

The trouble is, a privileged few big money boys from all over the
world, with lots of clout in high places, want everything,

They want to come to the beautiful area, stand on the bank of a
pure steam and catch a steclhead. They don’t give a damn about
what it cost everyone else. ;

Ask your fishing lodge owner about the big bucks that they are
willing to pay. The department of fisheries calls them the commer-
cial sport fishery.

A fisheries officer flew over a fishing lodge camp last summer,
oul in the middle of the Skeena, on an island. He counted 200
fishermen lined up on the bank. There were so many fishermen
coming and going he lost count,

Ask the steelhead who is destroying them?. They will tell you it is
certainly not the incidental catch of the commercial fishermen.

; ; Mavis Haugan,

Terrace, 3.C.

Social needs lacking
Dear Sir: i

It seems clear that city council members do not think much about
the social needs: of ‘Terrace’ ttsidents. More’ COficisely; the ‘teeds: of
parents wilh children. - --° ms

A merciless denial to honest pleas Tequesting amendments to the
R1 Zoning regulations seems parallel to health minister Paul Ram-
sey’s ‘initial denial to leave the orthopedic service in Kitimat.

Fortunately for Kitimat residents, Mr. Ramsey saw the error of his
ways and changed his mind. Do Terrace council members have the
integrity to do the same?

With perfect knowledge, yet a blind eye to several illegal, unsafe,
and unfair daycares presently running in the city, it is beyond ob-
vious that there is something wrong with city council to obstinately
dig their heels so cruelly into the Bromileys’ daycare,

When J think of the council oath to servé the city, but sce what
they are really doing, it rings so loud in my cars. that [ can’t hear
what they are saying. ec

7 Monte Bromley,
_ Terrace, B.C,

The Start

.. Want to save money?

- JACKIE RIOUX is an expert on saving money.

She uses coupons and refund offers when she shops for
food. - oo,
One time Jackie got 40 free tins of tuna, Another time
she got 200 free boxes of cereal. _

Jackie does this by keeping a close eye on deals of-
fered by food companies. She has two big boxes of files
in which she keeps coupons,

Jackie also wins prizes, She and her husband have now
won two free trips 10 Mexico. Their second trip is a
cruise. They leave next month.

Jackie is putting ona course at the women’s centre
March 29, Call the women’s centre at 638-0228 to find
out more,

_No money for library |
THE PROVINCIAL government has said ‘no’ to the li-

_ brary. The library wants to add on. It had asked the

government for $600,000 to help out, This is on top of
the $1.2 million the library already has,

But last week the government said it does not have the
$600,000. So mayor Jack Talstra went to Victoria this
week, He will try to find some moncy from somebody,

The library and city hall are also making other plans.

_ They say something will happen this year.

‘The library has wanted to add.on for the past six years.
It. says it needs more room for mare books, More than