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Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 17, 1991 Al5.

Last meeting on Thunderbird tomorrow

by Tod Strachan

The next — and probably the last
— public mecting for the
Thunderbird Integrated Resource
Management Plan takes place at
the Inn of the West at 7:30 p.m.
tomorrow night.

Topics for discussion at this
meeting are the result of meetings
in January and February, at which
public concems on the manage-
ment of the Thunderbird area were
heard. Following tomorrow night’s
meeting, a Thunderbird Forest
Area Advisory Committee will be
formed, and while their may be a
public information meeting at
some point, the committee will be
responsible for monitoring future
activities in the Thunderbird area.

A meeting in mid-January
attracted a little over 50 local
residents anxious to trade ideas on
what the Ministry of Forests’
Thunderbird Integrated Resource
Management Plan should involve.
The Thunderbird area, as desig-
nated by the ministry, is not diffi-
cult to define, but it became
apparent at that first meeting that
reaching a consensus on a truly
integrated resource management
plan would take a little more work.

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In general, the Thunderbird
resource management area is
described as the watershed of the
Lakelse River, excepting Williams
Creek and its tributaries. The
ministry’s objectives, as described
at the January meeting by Kalum
district Small Business Program
forester Norm Parry and district
manager Brian Downie, include
five points.

A resource management plan in
this area would be designed to
ensure biodiversity, including at
least 12 percent of old growth

distributed throughout the area that
is representative of various eco-
systems there. It would also:
eIdentify wildlife habitat, and fish
bearing streams, rivers and lakes,
and protect habitat areas from
further damage.

eIdentify current public and private

uses and concerns in the area,

*Identify forest management prac-
tices that would meet all of the
objectives above.

Under the guidance of project
facilitator Jim Culp, a planning
team consisting of representatives
from the Ministry of Forests
Kalum Forest District, Ministry of
Environment and federal Fisheries

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APRIL 30, 1991

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4946 Greig Ave.

Ken Gibson
(604) 635-2909

Terrace, B.C. V8G 1N4

input through meetings with local
groups and organizations.

THE CONCERNS

At the January meeting, the
planning team received a number
of written and oral submissions.
The Northwest Trappers Associ-
ation called for the preservation of
old growth forest to maintain rec-
reation, habitat and trapping values
along the Lakelse River and other
key areas... and a halt to the hunt-
ing of grizzly bears. They also
asked that special consideration be
given to marten and moose habitat
and advised additional thought and
care for tree harvesting,
silviculture and soil erosion issues
in the area.

A few additional trapper con-
cems included the flagging of
trails used by trappers, fishermen
and hikers, in order to protect
them from destruction by future
logging operations; the need for
monetary compensation for animal
losses due to logging in sensitive
environmental zones; and a leaning
towards monetary compensation to
forest companies rather than trades
for other timber where harvesting
Fights are lost for preservation
purposes.

The Steelhead Society asked that
an existing 200-metre old growth
environmental zone along the

Lakelse River be retained; that all.

harvesting, recreation, habitat and
environmental zones be identified
and their preservation committed to
in writing; complete soil studies
prior to any harvestitig to prevent

Contact your local British
Columbia Forest Service Dis-
trict Office for information on

the siltation of the Lakelse River;
and finally, a forest management
policy the public can understand.

The Steelhead Society also had a
number of questions they wanted
answers to. Among them: How
was 12 percent selected .as the
minimum for the retention of old
growth forest? Are landscape sur-
veys mandatory and have they
been conducted along the Lakelse
River? What is the ministry’s
policy for maintaining logging
roads once harvesting has been
completed? Who are the tenure
holders within the. study area?
And, how are these tenures ad-
ministered? :

The North Coast Woodlot Asso-
ciation endorsed the ministry’s
proposal to preserve “at least" 12
percent of old growth timber. In
fact, they suggested that units of
old growth forest should a mini-
mum of 100 hectares and include a
younger buffer zone for protection.
As for the Lakelse River corridor,
the Woodlot Association suggested
it should be classified as a Class
’A’ park or wildlife reserve.

As well, the Woodlot Association
asked that harvesting in the area be

reduced, that clearcut harvesting be

replaced with selective logging,
that a "sustainable" annual allow-
able cut be calculated for the area,
and that incentives be offered to
private land owners who agree to
keep their land in Productive
forest.

All this led to a specific point:
allocate initial sustainable volumes
of timber to four new woodlots

fire safety for forest homes and burning

permit requirements.

Help fight wildfires by calling

the

operator and asking for our toll-free fire
reporting number, Zenith 5555.

Let’s all work together to protect our

forests from wildfire.

i C1 Ministry of Forests
Honourable Claude Richmond. Minister

and allocate any remaining timber,
if there is any remaining, through
a Thunderbird Area Forest
Resource Management Board, Who
would sit on this board? All
groups who have an interest in the
area, according to the Woodlot
Association.

A private submission called for

much more stringent management -

guidelines. This submission came
from Terrace resident, logger and
trapper, Kolbjorn Eide. According
to Eide, since old growth timber is
critica] for the retention of healthy
populations of fish and wildlife, ail
timber and land within one kilo-
metre of the Lakelse River should

be protected from logging for 25 |

years and from any other develop-
ment forever.

In addition, Eide suggested that
no more Crown land in the area
should be sold or leased and all
existing applications should be
“thrown out". He argued that
strictly controlled pollution regula-
tions should be enforced in the
entire Lakelse watershed,
herbicides and pesticides "should
not" be used in the area, slash
burning should not be permitted,
clearcuts should be no larger than

two hectares, big game and migra-

tory bird hunting should be

deferred for 10 years to allow.

population recovery, and use of the
Lakelse River corridor should be
restricted to B.C. residents only.

On top of this, Eide suggested the
development of something akin to”
a demonstration forest for the

Thunderbird area.

These and a few other ideas put
forward at the Jan. 17 public meet-
ing in Terrace were hashed over
during a second mecting on Feb.
28. This was a working mecting at
which ideas were compared and
the beginnings of an integrated
management plan for the
Thunderbird area was bom. Many
of these ideas, like a one-kilometre
corridor on either side of the
Lakelse River, were included in
the plan.

The purpose of tomorrow night’s
mecting is to do a little fine tuning
prior to the committee taking over
the plan.

a a
| y

Dave Parker
MLA for Skeena
635-4215

~—

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