A10 - The Terrace. Standard, Wednesday, October 13, 1993 ©

It’s a whirling mushroom
world out there this year

By Ruth Cooper

THE HAZELTONS — The
booming mushroom business is
creating some problems in local
valleys.

Congestion around buying
camps, prohibited use of forest
recreation sites, and confronta-

tions in the bush are minor prob-

lems arising. from mushroom
fever.

More seriously, there have been
search and rescue calls for lost
pickers, mushroom __habilal
destruction, and interference with
private prapetty.

New Hazelton RCMP Cpl.
Chris Bomford. said there have
been 12 cases of missing persons
reported this scason from July 9
to Sept. 14.:.

“Usually. you would: expect two
or threé (missing person reports)
in a summer,’ said Bomford.
“On at least two occasions the
Search and Rescue crews have
been called out.

“Our Search and ‘Rescue
people are all volunteers, carrying
on nomial jobs. If they miss a
day's work, they miss a day’s
wages.”

Mushroom buyers are set up by
the dozens in the Kitwanga Val-
ley and Cranberry areas, Another
half a dozen stations have ap-
peared in the Hazeltons and
Kispiox.

Trying to drive from the Hag-
wilget bridge to Old” Town
around nine in the evening is like
driving Dodge *em Cars. at the
fair, Vehicles are. parked on the
street, while. traffic.cdrives errati-
cally from one station to next.

In Kitwanga, where 10 buying
slations are crowded into one
small part of the community, it
can get even Worse,

And the traffic is-from all over.
Local pickers are estimating
hundreds of people, locals and
people from Vancouver Island
and Salmon Arm, from Alberta
‘and Manitoba, from the states of
Washington and Oregon have
swarmed into . the ‘Kitwanga,
Cranberry, and. Kispiox valleys...

Another unpleasant side effect
ofigthe mushroomsetish isthe in-
¢jpased incidence of drunkennes
fights, and drinking and ‘driving,
Cpl. Bomford, said. He ‘attributes
the problem to the number of

people who ‘are overwhelmed by --

making unexpectedly big money
and celebrating too heartily.» --

And big bucks is certainly part
of the. game. . Buyer ,George.
Dufresue, who runs a buying sta-’

‘tion for. Corky’s of. Kitwanga ‘in.

Two Mile, said he has two first
year pickers who routinely have

been making $500 to $7) a day

for more'than'a week. -

He bas paid up-to $1,100 10 onc
picker for one day'’shaul. . ©

* And. while. the - ‘buyers give
reccipls. tothe pickers, there are

no names involved; therefore it is

up to the “personal integrity of
each picker to report income to

THIS FALL could go down on record as a lucrative mushroom year. That's Prince. ‘Rupert resident

Nancy Green with what she hopes is a cash bonanza. There have been some problems in other
areas and changes in the harvest could come soon.

Revenue Canada.
Of course, there are days when
even the best pickers get skunked.
The disappointment they expe-.
Tience in the bush when they find
no ’shrooms is insignificant com-

when sey
favourite patch’ has been raked.”

‘That’s akin io kilting the goose

that Jays the golden egg, for ome

‘the moss. dries oul,
mushrooms: will not grow ste
again. -

“Lacal, ‘native | leader Don ‘Ryan
‘has ‘concems-about pickers inter-
fering with trap lines and

-“people’s bush camps, as’ well as

the destruction of habilat.

“Tt. took: 10,000. years for-this -
eco-system to develop,” Ryar
said. “If somebody goes out an¢
in an hour’ destroys. the eco-
system that took that long to de-
velop, you can see the impact tha
has, Le

~The: ‘garbage eft: behind by
Bickers } not only defiles the land,

ated tc. the outrage. peop pie. Acel

Pea Weather and market condi-
‘ tons. have’ combined to

make this year a bumper
crop. .- year — for pine
mushroom pickers. -

_ But this may be the last
“season of gold rush atmo-
sphere . surrounding the

» Mushroom mystique. -

/ 2 Some problenisy:are » at-

 fracting the attention - of

-: May soon be trying fo regu-

_ collect taxes and to protect
‘the woodlands,

between the ‘forest service
and the environment, minis-
try in the Hazeltons:' =

The Skeena Watershed

leaders from: tribal. groups
along the Skeina River, are

~ governments officials: who -
a -late the business, both to

«There are discussions
: going on at the- higher levels

Authority made up of native:

Gold’ rush could
soon. disappear

also considering implement-
ing regulations to control
the mushroom gold rush.

“| hear horror storics
about raking going on,”’
said Don Ryan, a Gitksan
leader. **No doubt it is‘a mi-
nority who is doing {t. But:
we have lo protect, the eco-

-: Systems. --

“We need to do public ed-
ucation. They're doing
damage by. diverting little
watersheds for -their. waler .
supplies, they're leaving
garbage .and that attracts.

bears... they have to have

respect,”” . :
” Both Gitksan-
Wet’suwet’cn and forestry.
spokesmen ‘have indicated «
that there may be. places
where: it. would. be. more:
beneficial to —_ harvest

mushrooms than to log.

but can attract bears and cause a
whole new set of problems for
pickers and other people who use
the bush, Ryan pointed out.

. ter in just two hours of walking i in -

the forest above her home.
Not only did: she find chy
[SNifapperseahd beverage cans”

“items as well. ;
“T found a ‘surgical glove, "she

' said ‘And some pedple are just

doing their thing on the trails
“where people walk, sand leave
“their toilet paper behind.

~The people of Cedarvale. get

‘domestic. water from those

* streams. And we're finding gar-

bage right in the streams.”?
There are undoubledly sonic le-

sini”

bottles, but some very unsavory

collected a full garbage bag of lit-

gitimatc- recreational mushroom
pickers out there, but some travel-
lers are dismayed ‘to discover the

' forest service recreation sites are

full of mushroom pickers and

mushroom a payers.
“Sp. iar tho: ose. buy ers “Have
bevitldisdovéied doing busihéss at

i reccreation sites have com-
plied when asked to move, said
Steve St. John, recreation

‘resource officer for the Kispiox
. Forest District. , .

Forest service officials and ones
from the environment ministry
have talked to pickers and buyers
about waste management and fire

hazards, a
Cedarvale resident Mary Dalen

, safeguard Medicare. And we'll fight to preserve By and expand where re poce our

ee sae ae a ee De

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AMER

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October 28 - October 29

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The NDP brought us_ |
Medicare 30 years ago.
Now, Preston Manning
wants to take it away.

2 oa Preston Manning recently announced a Reform §
MA government would scrap the Canada Health Act,
ag open the way for private insurance plans, and §

ma give the rich access to the best doctors, the best J
clinics, the best equipment, You and 1 will have
§ What's left. .

The Refarm Party is aut to Americanize’ our &
Aanpe health care. That means a two-tiered system - §
A one for the rich, and one for everyone else,

That means you'll have to pay user tees of take
out private insurance to protect your farnily. If you
can get it. Or afford it.

And you can bet old age seourity is on the
Reform hit list. Preston: Manning’ says he'll §
eliminate old age security for anyone with more
than average income. ; ;

New Democrats will “defend Medicare’ and
‘protect the Income. security: of older :

-Sihacar. enete AP NAgt Susie “aw Sade, ose
It was New Democrats who Introduced ald age pensions and pushed for thie
i Canada Pension Plan to be indexed. Saskatchewan's NDP gévernment
introduced our country's first universal, Medicare piogram 30 years. aj. OY

New Damocrats won't tolerate the clock being tuned back,- We'll fight ‘to

& public and private pension plans,

Ea Joe

BARRETT» ‘ —_

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