Silviculture _ program to be reviewed — A thorough review of silviculture programs will be completed before addi- ‘tional funding for the steady state silviculture program, will be made. “There are three issues I want to address,’’ said Forest and Lands Minister. - Jack Kempf. ‘‘The first is the trend-to escalate. the costs of forest manage- ment and operating this ministry in view of the growing deficit problem in British Columbia.” “The second is to dispel the public expectation that revenue that may flow from the 15 percent export tax will automatically be available for forestry. “*Phird, after con- siderable thought I have come to the realization that progressively throw- ing more money at silvi- culture and reforestation in British Columbia is not necessarily the solution. “After a great deal of consultation with knowl- edgeable people, both in the forest industry and within the Ministry, I’ve come to the conclusion that spending enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars is not necessarily obtaining our: long term Terrace Review Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review Is published gach Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. ~~ Publisher; - Mark Twyford Editor: Maureen Barbour Staff Reporter: Michael Kelly. “Advertising Sales: =...) Jean-Luc Roy =" 635-7840 © _Production: “Jim Hall * - << Office:. -Carrle Olson - » -Aceounting: Mar] Twyford -.- Second-class mall ; registration No. 6896. Reproduction of this paper or any por- tlon thereof Is prohibited without per- mission of the pubtisher. Errors end omissions. Advertising is * aecepted on the condition that in the @vent ol typographical error, that por- tion of (he advertising space occupied by the erroneous item will not be chaiged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at ihe applicabie rate. Advertisers must assume responsibill- ty for errore in any classified ad which la supplied to tha Terrace Review In handwritten form. in compliance with ihe 6.C. Human a Act, no advertisement will be lahed i which Uiveriminaies against apereon jo age, race, religion, or, sex, nationality, ancestry or place of origin. Terrace, B.C. V8G IM7.. _ Phone: 635-7840 4535 Greig Avenue, objectives,” he added. In the past decade the number of seedlings planted has almost tripled — from 72 million to 200 million this year. The silviculture budget has risen steadily from $14 million to $195 million in the same time frame, in- cluding additional funds provided by the. $300. million, five-year federal © provincial Forest Re- source Development — ‘Agreement: (FRDA), ‘which began in 1985. “In the past two years alone we have seen an in- crease of $75 million to the province’s silviculture program.and we are pro- jecting a further $30. | million increase in 1987 to _ maintain our planned goals, in conjunction with the FRDA program,’’ ad- ded Kempf. “J want the public to | ‘understand that the 200 . million seedlings we are now planting each year is nearly triple the number of trees we harvest,”’ he said. “It is- also my understanding that our production of seedlings in this province compares favorably to any other jurisdiction in the world.” _Letter. To the editor, Re: your Jan. 28/87 ar- ticle on the lotteries grant. for the Terrace Stock.Car Association. I am writing to dispel some possible - misconceptions. The. general concensus of the-public at this time.is ‘that the association receiv- . ed a cheque. The award presented to “myself on Jan. 22/87 was ‘a letter accepting our ap- plication for funding, not --@ cheque for $33,000.00. The monies (up to the -- aforementioned amount) _ will only be received by the association at such time as the membership, as a whole, completes a percentage of lotteries ap- proved projects--the total of which is approximately ,000.00. I trust this letter will clarify the matter for your readers, The association is looking forward to contin- uing public interest and - support for this 1987 rac- ing season. There are several sur- prises in store this year. Thank you. Ann Chiswell TSCA, President 1987 4 Hubert > Beyer Terrace Review — ‘Victoria Correspondent J - Forest Minister Jack Kempf’s announcement that none of the estimated $350 million to be raised from the 15 percent export tax on softwood lumber will be spent on reforestation is the biggest challenge yet. to the British Columbia voters’ honeymoon with Premier Vander Zalm. es The decision to plow that money into general revenue rather than reforestation and silviculture programs is a breach of one of Vander Zalm’s most important elec- tion promises. Oo a The immediate effects of that ill-advised move will spell trouble for a government that has enjoyed an unusually long period of tranquility since it was swept to. power. Nobody, and I mean, nobody will be happy with the diversion of the export tax funds from forestry to _ general revenue, The NDP is screaming blue murder, accusing the government of bréaking faith with British Columbians. The industry, already in a foul mood as a result of the 15 percent export tax, is fit to be tied. B.C. foresters are dumbfounded. And the average British Columbian will, once again, conclude that you simply can’t trust politi- cians. There is another interpretation of the mess the government has landed itself in. That interpretation, ‘T’ve got to warn you though, comes from people who desperately want to cling to their belief that Bill Vander Zalm is somehow different and will not knowingly do anything wrong. , — They believe that current reforestation and silvi- culture methods are so inefficient they consitute a waste of money. Until better methods are worked out, they say, the government would be foolish to throw good money after bad. These naive souls also say that the government’s real aim is to place more responsibility for reforestation on the industry. The government's refusal to automatically use the funds from the export tax for forestry, they Letters to the editor will be considered for publication only _ when signed. Please Include your phone number. The editor reserves the right to condense and edit letters. Opinions ex- pressed are not necessarily those of the Terrace Review. en ) big trouble forSocreds — | point out, is the first step towards forcing the industry to pay a bigger share of reforestation costs. I wish I were. _ as trusting. That our reforestation methods and silviculture pro- ‘grams aren’t what they should be is nothing new. Ade- quate funding to assure continued growth of our’ ‘forestry resource was gutted years ago, and the skeleton programs that remained in place were neither effective nor cost-efficient. . | _ Kemipf’s promise to. look into the whole issue of | reforestation and silviculture and come back with a~ ‘report in about two months’ time is laudable but doesn’t explain why the money that was to be spent on re-— plenishing our forests will now. go into general revenue. _ ‘ Nothing Kempf has said in support of the govern- ment’s decision to divert the export tax funds to general, _revenue makes sense. There can only be one explana- tion: oe J. ; What we have here is a government strapped for cash, pulling every trick in the book to reduce the deficit that will be staring in our faces when the budget comes down sometime in March. What we have here is.a finance minister, Mel Couvelier, who’s done an end run around Kempf, snat-- ching a handy $350 million from a befuddled forest minister. oo eS What we have ‘here is a premier. and cabinet reducing the forest minister to a lightweight, while giving the finance minister carte blanche to raid his colleague's udget. - _ . Aborting the promise to use the export tax funds for- mo reforestation and silviculture is just about the dumbest ~ thing the government.could have done. ae The premier shouldn’t be surprised if Ottawa now reneges on its ERDA commitment to spend $175 million. over five years for reforestation in British Columbia. - Trade Minister Pat Carney has already alluded to that: possibility. co — British Columbians have become fairly knowledge-. able in forestry matters. They will not take kindly to this move. But more important, voters placed a great deal of confidence in Vander Zalm’s populist approach to politics, and this controversy will shatter some of that confidence.