This Week:
-Finding a few.
corners to cut

Part Il

years or So... If the government

says that we must. So we keep the —

_ roads open for one season after the

Last week forester Herby
Squish began his campaign to per-
suade RJ Jovial, controller of
Jovial Logging, that the long term
is the only term that will work for
his logging and sawmilling opera-
tion. This week the campaign con-
tinues.

“Let’s look at roads,” Squish
said to RJ. “It costs around:
$50,000 to build one kilometre of

road, and to pay for that, forest

companies must cut 10,000 cubic
metres of wood if they plan « on
balancing their books.

“This means, with an annual
allowable cut of 600,000 cubic
metres, you must build no more
than 60 kilometres of road each
year, And at the same time, you
have to put all your old, unused
roads to bed, get rid of them.

“This can create a small prob-
lem with tree planting and stand
tending, however, You might find
you have a number of areas that
have become inaccessible when
the time comes to replant them
and thin them.”

“Tree planting... Fine,” RJ cut
in. “Stand tending... Maybe we
can send in a chopper every 10

completion of harvest. Fine. I.

understand all that. .
“But to make it work, you’re

Terrace Review — Wednesday, October 30, 1991 7

Insights

going to have to make sure all cut —

blocks are as large as possible.
That’s 50 hectares, not 49.9, and

even a little larger if you think you

can get away with it. Because I
also understand we've taken a lot
of the best timber and we’re only
getting an average of 350 cubic
metres per hectare instead of the
400 we once did.”

Squish ignored RJ’s interrup-
tion. “As I have already stated,
you have to harvest 10,000 cubic
metres of wood for every kilome-
tre of road. What needs to be
added to that statement is that you
can’t clear cut every kilometre of
road. Clear cuts, by regulation, are
to be between 30 and 50 hectares
and each is to be separated by a
similar-sized green belt.

“In other words, if you clear
cut a one kilometre section of for-
est, you must leave the next kilo-
metre alone. So in that one kilo-
metre, you must harvest 20,000
cubic metres of wood. And that
leaves us with another problem.
With an average of 350 cubic
metres of wood per hectare, you

by Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Amold and Doug Davies

have to harvest just over 57
hectares of land in that kilometre...
A cut block larger than regulations
allow.” a

“You should be able to sneak a
57-hectare cut block past those
guys,” RJ said. But again RJ’s
defective thinking was ignored.

“So let’s look at the options,”
Squish said without a pause.
“With an allowable opening size
of 50 hectares, you could cut a
strip 250 metres wide and 2,000
metres long. But to do that, and
leave 50 hectares alone, you
would have to build four kilome-
tres of road,

“That means you harvest 4,375
cubic metres of wood per kilome-
tre so your road costs you $11.43
per cubic metre. That’s far too
much. It should only cost you
around $5 a metre.

“So let’s try doing something
different. Let’s harvest a 30-
hectare cut block. Now we're
looking at a 250 metre wide strip

1,200 metres long. But guess
what. The cost per cubic metre
works out exactly the same. So the
size of the cut blocks is not the
solution, We have to find another
way,

“So let’s iry changing the shape
of the cut block instead, Let’s try
cutting on a shorter distance of
road and further back into the
bush. It can be done, but you
would have to carefully consider
the method of harvesting.

“Grapple yarding is out. That
requires two machines— a crane on
one end to do the work and an
excavator with a boom and sheave
on the other to suspend the cable.
And to get that excavator to the
other end of the cut block, you
have to build a road, obviously a
self-defeating kind of operation
given the cost problems we face.

“So how about skidding? There
are two problems to consider here:
unnecessary site disturbance that
will-add to rehabilitation costs,

and the steepness of the terrain.
You're getting into steeper coun-
try now and ground skidding may
not work well at all.

“Still... On the more level sites,
skidding wou!d be appropriate.
And the problem of site distur-
bance can be solved by using this
harvesting method only in the
winter when the ground is frozen,
and in the summer when it is dry
and relatively hard.

“Ground skidding can be done
about 100 metres downgrade and
400 metres upgrade. So under
ideal conditions, a 500-metre wide
cut, 1,000 metres long, would
mean a 50-hectare cut block that
required the construction of two
kilometres of road. This means
you cut 8,750 cubic metres per
kilometre and your road costs you
$5.72 per cubic metre. A little
short of perfection, but not bad.”

Busy with his calculator and
note pad, Squish didn’t notice RJ
write down a few quick notes.

Government killing transportation of future, Brady says

VIA Rail... Tomorrow’s trans-
portation. If Kitimat-Stikine
Regional District director Ray
Brady is right, that’s exactly what
Via Rail is, A relatively pollution-
free form of mass transportation
that will one day replace a good
portion of travel by private auto-
mobile, and in some cases travel
by air.

For that reason, Brady says,
VIA Rail services must be saved.’

Stewart director Russell Earl
agrees. If Ottawa allows the ser-

vice to deteriorate to a point where
it ceases to exist, says Earl, “It
will be a national tragedy... VIA
Rail is a service already in exis-
tence and it’s going to have to be
re-invented if we scrap it.”

In the discussion that ensued,
one director described how travel
by rail has become the primary
form of transportation in countries
like Japan and France, And as far
as government subsidies are con-
cerned, all forms of transportation
are subsidized, even private auto-

Letters to the Editor

Locals-generous to
Arthritis Campaign

To the Editor;

The Arthritis Society of B.C. and
the members of the Terrace
Branch wish to thank all of you in
the greater Terrace area for your
donations to the cause of arthritis
and extend an especially big thank
you to all the canvassers who

mobile movement because con-
struction and maintenance of roads
is done with public money.

. For reasons that are unclear
VIA Rail and CNR seem deter-
mined to destroy the service, most
members of the regional board
believe. Track time allowed by
CNR means a schedule that is
inconvenient and filled with
unnecessary delays. According to
regional district director Alice
Maitland, VIA Rail tells potential
passengers that no seats are avail-

_ able when in fact there are several.

“If it were properly managed and
advertised it would be a viable
concern,” says Maitland.

As a result, the Regional Dis-
trict of Kitimat-Stikine has written

helped us with the campaign. We i

raised $7,375 this year and really

appreciate your generosity.
Thanks,

M. McGowan,

J. Bergsma,

Terrace,

Patriquins re-unite

To the Editor;

A Patriquin Family reunion is
being planned for Aug. 7, 8 and 9,
1992 in Truro, Nova Scotia, Cana-
da.

I would like to request any
Patriquin, or Patriquin descendent
to contact me regarding this plan-

ned reunion.
Mrs., Mildred Ens,
Coverdale Road,
R.R. #1,
Salisbury, New Brunswick,
Canada.
EOA 3E0.

Ottawa stressing the importance of
VIA Rail for our region and the
need for improving service. The
money is there, says the board.
Revenues from CNR leases alone,
leases from land which CNR
received as a gift in return for ser-
vice, are enough to maintain an
effective passenger service.

Only Hazelton director Pete
Weeber disagreed with the board’s
position. “It’s lovely to see it run-
ning up and down the tracks,” he
said. “But I saw it in Hazelton the
other day and there was only one
passenger onit.”

According to Weeber, there are
other more convenient forms of
transportation available. Air travel
is much faster. And private vehi-

cles provide a means of getting
from point A to point B ona
schedule set at the whim of the
user, “It’s a redundant form of
transportation,” he told the board.
“We should be questioning the use
of tax money to keep it running.”

Weeber suggested that using

Japan and France as examples of -

the need for mass passenger transit
didn’t apply. Those countries have
populations perhaps three times as

large as Canada. And, he added, -

places like Prince Rupert would
probably be more than happy to
give up passenger service’ in
exchange for the valuable water
front landed owned by CNR.

Terrace Branch 13 of the Royal Canadian Legion has made good its original intention of
donating $4,000 to the Meals on Wheels program. Mike Beausoleil (centre) representing Terrace
and District Community Services accepted the second and final cheque from branch president
Howard Cromarty and second vice president Lynda Hudson last week.

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