Books reborn business\NEWS A112 . A local man revives the ancient art of bookbinding and opens new Hear ye, hear ye | Modern day knights gear up for a medieval tournament and feast in Jackpine\COMMUNITY B1 Climbing crags The fast-growing sport of rock climbing reaches new heights in Terrace\SPORTS B5 WEDNESDAY August 27, 1997 Province may pay meetings planned, time is running out for crews iniand Talks underway to get Skeena Cel contractors back in the bush By JEFF NAGEL THE PROVINCE may provide money to allow Skeena Cellulose to build logging roads and ensure there’s wood to log and mill if the crisis is resolved. The banks controlling the. company have.-so. far " refused pleas from the northwest to pay for logging road ‘ construction. ‘ Representatives of the TD and Royal banks say they want an overall solution that includes concessions from unionized workers in Prince Rupert needed to ‘re-open - the pulp mill before any money will be released. But with the banks and the union at an impasse and no TANDA| to build roads. “Every week that we don’t build roads, the sawmills are down fortwo or three weeks next year,” said Skeena Celiulose vice-president Rudy Schwartz Monday. “That’s how critical the situation is now.” Schwartz said the company and the province continue to discuss a proposal that would see the province build roads for Skeena Cellulose, and then recoup the money via some kind of toll or charge on the wood removed. Job Protection Commissioner Doug Kerley. con- firmed Monday government officials are looking for ways to get road construction underway. “Everybody understands how important that is not just for the immediate future but the implications for next year and the potential impact on sustaining mill operations if those roads don’t get built now,” Kerley said. 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST. VOL, 410 NO. 20° for logging roads | “They’ve identified the areas that are permitted and the areas that can be built within the current construc- tion season and I think there have been numerous dis- cussions with all of the various ministries.” “T know that people are working dilligently to find an answer to that situation to make it happen.” Skeéna Cellulose woodlands manager Tim Fenton said mid-October is the end of the summer road build- ing season, adding there’s really no point in even start- ing any road construction after Oct. 1, - Both company officials and logging contractors throughout the northwest are keen to get the road pro- blem sorted cut so that if there’s a resolution of the cri- sis, logging operations can resume. Fenton said there's only about a month and a half worth of logging the company could carry out this win- ter on its winter-accessible road network. He said that means the amount of roads usable in the winter would run out by mid-February, guaranteeing, lengthy logging shutdowns through until nextsummer. The sawmills might also run out of wood in that peri- od, he said, adding they would be very dependent on buying sawlogs on the open market to continue uninter- rupted operations in 1998. John Nixon, representing the TD and Royal banks, — says no money is being released without a complete: solution involving acceptance of the business plan tabled by the company. ' The banks have set a deadline of early September for a solution, saying delays beyond that time will mean loss of important customers and removal of the current. offer from the table. . The banks last week rejected the counter-offer tabled « by the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada local 4 Continued on Page A2 Turn up heat © on the banks, - mayor urges TERRACE MAYOR Jack Talstra says the time has come ta put pressure on the banks that own Skeena Ceilutose to re-open the sawmills and start building logging roads. ” “If we can believe the figures that are presented to us, it appears these sawmills can operate on a breakeven or profitable basis. The only question is where can the chips go and it appears they can sell chips on the open market for a reasonable price,” he said. “There’s no reason why these mills shouldn’t be operating in our view.” Talstra and Terrace city council are calling on the banks to reo- pen the sawmills and provide $15 million for logging road construction, They're also urging other groups and organizations to put pres- sure on the banks to relent. “We can’t wait forever,” Talstra said. Running the sawmills now at least would make some money, provide cash flow, and prevent the further loss of customers for wood from the sawmills, Talstra said, ; Councillor Val George noted that there’s a perception that it’s primarily a Prince Rupert crisis, when in fact more than twice as many workers have been thrown out of work incom munities east of Rupert. “The whole area is being affected very dramatically,” George Mm When speed counts | GREMLIN’S GIZMO can round a barre! and race for the finish li in record time. At least that's what rider Lyn Lavoie is counting on. She plans to enter har horse in the gymkhana Aug. 31. Events in- ne clude barrel racing, scurries and a cream ple eating contest that has to be seen. The gymkhana Is one of the highlights of the Fall Fair, on that weekend. For more on the fair, turn ta section C. | Hunters run B.C.’s wildlife branch, biologist claims Environment bosses try to contain critical report By DAVID TAYLOR A CONTROVERSIAL report by a_ local biologist on bear management is being ignored by the environment ministry and will likely be contained to a regional level, The report, entitled Conflicts and Interests in British Columbia Bear Management was pre- sented to the ministry in March by senior habitat protection biologist Dionys de Lecuw. The paper examines the relationship between hunting, wildlife management (particularly of grizzly bears) and the interests of wildlife offi- cials. , And it condemns the ministry for giving spe- cial priority to the interests of hunters and anglers, much to the detriment of many species and against the wishes of the vast majority of British Cotumbians. : The report was sent to the province’s wildlife managers and section heads ‘months ago, but they have yet to respond. ‘Absolutely no one. has come forward to say saything about the paper at all and I’ve given them every opportunity to do so,” says de Leeuw. ‘Clearly they’re not ignoring bear man- agement — just my paper.”” In the report, de Leeuw points out that at least two threatened or endangered species of wild- life and six vulnerable species continue to be trophy hunted in B.C. — including the grizzly bear. The environment ministry estimates there to be some 13,000 of the bears in B.C., about 450 of which are harvested every year. De Leeuw contends that such a harvest rate is not sustainable — especially considering the population of grizzlies in the province is actual- ly unknown because the ministry estimate is largely based on ‘‘habilat suitability.”” That means the ministry guesses the number of bears in an area based on the amount of suitable bear habitat, not necessarily on the ac- tual number of bears. “Virtually all grizzly bears could be ex- terminated in British Columbia by sport hunters while habitat measurements alone would con- tinue to calculate potential bear abundance,’’ de Leeuw notes, MO “There have been no population estimates done with any legitimacy or accuracy,’’ he says. “The phrase they use {s ‘guesswork’.”” De Leeuw further points out that 75 to 80 per cent of all fish and wildlife management in B.C. is devoted to maintait- ing the interests of hunters or anglers. Meanwhile, hunters make up only five per cent of the population, and anglers just 10 per cent, Interestingly, accord- ing to de Leeuw, be- tween 60 and 85 per cent of employees in the wildlife branch are & hunters. And he says [ that puts them in a f conflict of iutterest § situation, - “The idea of hunters * . managing wildlife Is Dionys de Leeuw something that clearly needs to be looked at,” he says. ; But the provincial director of wildlife, Nancy _ Bircher, completely disagrees. st thinks a fairly simplistic view to assume that just because our people hunt they attempt to further thelr own interests,” she says. ‘I think they’re more complex than that.”” Continued Page A2 said. The Kitimat-Stikine Regional District is also urging the banks to reopen the company’s profitable sawmills. Sockeye return way too small Steelheaders slam managers SOCKEYE SALMON returns on the Skeena River may be only half the amount originally aiticipated by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). DFO had expected to see some 400,000 sockeye make it up river to the Babine Fence by this date, But as of last week, less than 200,000 fish had returned to their spawning grounds. ‘Barly indications are that we have overestimated the escapement by 4 large amount,”’ says) DFO fisheries biologist Les Janz. “Right now, fence counts are only about half of what we expected.”’ Janz says thive may be several reasons for the poor rectum numbers. The fish may have been delayed be- cause of high water levels on the Skeena, or more fish may have been caught in the river than was anticipated. He also acknowledges that the Tyee test fishery may have just been a poor in- dication of this year’s es- capement, Janz says the DFO will likely use a slightly different methodology next season to estimate escapement. But that’s. not good enough for ~ Steelhead Society vice president Bruce Hill. “(Northcoast fisheries chief) David Einarson says DFO succeeded in their con- servation measures but there are no fish in the river,"' he says. “Their doublespeak has reached new heights of absurdity.” Hill says the overestima- tion Is just another indica- tion of the poor job DFO is doing managing the fishery. He also points out that DFO {fet an illegal commer- cial protest fishery go un- punished, but last week they . considered closing the sport sockeye fishery because of the poor retums. “The angler on the street is just absolutely disgusted and fed up,’ he says. “They don’t want to have anything to do with DFO anymore.” After consultation with sports fishing groups, the DFO decided aot to close the sport sockeye fishery after all. “Tt doesn’t make sense to shut down 2 fishery that’s so small,’’ Janz says. “And the fishing is basically over anyway.’” Final escapement numbers won't be known until mid or late September. “Only then can we meke decisions on where to go next,’ he says.