. aa) protege 3 ‘Copperside Estates got the worst of the flooding in last Friday's rain storm. Flooding there required the temporary relocation of five families. For the young, though, it wasn't really all that bad. This Marten Ave. youth for example, found flooded streets a great place to play. Regional district rejoins Sustut controversy as Noranda moves in by Tod Strachan The Sustut-Takla timber licence... will claims to that land ever be resolved? Prior to a native land setilement, that is. In November, the Regional Dis- trict of Kitimat-Stikine received a letter from K.A. Collingwood, the regional manager for the Prince George Forest Region. In this letter, Collingwood said the Sustut- {North Takla Supply Block "Local Resource Use Plan" (LRUP) won’t be available until it has been com- pleted, an event he said would occur on Feb. 28, 1991. "After this,” wrote Collingwood, "the more detailed development planning process will begin and could involve up to one year of review work. The LRUP will give direction to development planning and most concerns will be resolved leaving only very site-specific items (ie. cutblock locations) to be reviewed in development. plans. Therefore, it is quite likely harvest- ing could occur in the Sustut area prior to’ 1993. In the meantime, Takla Track and Timber Ltd. will be harvesting areas in the Takla Landing area in an attempt to control a severe Mountain Pine Beetle infestation." Collingwood clarified his state- by Ed Graydon for your absence. locked. your home. | HOLIDAY SECURITY TIPS FROM TOLSEC With the holiday season fast approaching, some of you may be planning holidays away from home. It is important to leave your home looking as occupied as possible while you’re away. Now we'll look at readying the inside of your home in preparation 1. Check all windows and doors, making sure all are securely 2. Turn off your hot water heater. 3. Turn water taps off, both inside and outside. 4, Catalogue serial numbers on major articles of any value within Tolsec wishes all a happy holiday season, and & a Safe. Secure Christmas, ment by explaining that a develop- ‘ment plan includes the location of cutblocks and haul roads. And he did offer some concrete informa- tion: development plan maps de- tailing mountain pine beetle infes- tations in both the North Takla and Sustut areas. His information, though, failed to impress the regional district board. Takla Landing is about 120 kilo- metres southeast of the beetle infestation of concern to our area, and as far as a milestone is con- cerned, "not really that big a deal”, according to director Les Wat- mough. And as far as 1993 is concemed, director Pete Weeber said -it would be too late. The timber would have no value at all. "l don't think anybody in their right mind would go up there just to log pulp wood," he said. But for many directors, the Sus- tut is a dead issue. They tried to get forest minister Claude Rich- mond to fly over the area and have a look. "They’ve gone ahead wrongfully on poor advice," said Watmough, "and we can’t change their mind." But most directors agreed they still deserved to know the truth about the Sustut decision; when the provincial election comes, the information could prove useful. Following last month's dis- cussion, a new wrench was thrown into the works. Rustad Bros. of Prince George, one of the Sustut licensees, sold their mill and hold- ings to Noranda affiliate North- wood Pulp and Timber. According to director Ray Brady, Noranda owns MacMillan Bloedel, and is turn itself owned by Canadian Pacific. Any implications of that corporate network’s effect on the Sustut are unknown to the board, but during December’s regional district meeting there was a sense of further betrayal. "It just gets worse and worse," said Watmough, who pointed out the Minister of Forests has to approve the transfer of all forest licences, something he has apparently already done for Noranda. This prompted Alice Maitland to make a motion: "That we write the minister and ask him what in the world is going on and ask him fo confirm the sale." It would be _ interesting, responded Brady, to find out what Rustad collected for "something they’ve done dick with since they got it", a reference to the fact that the forest licence was awarded in 1988 and not a single tree has been felled to date. And Brady posed another question that may never be answered. What about the five percent of the licence that is sup- posed to go to the Small Business Program when a Forest Licence is transferred? ; And from Watmough, an obser- vation on the decision to transfer the licence: "The minister at this time has an opportunity to do the right thing... reverse the cabinet decision. Now he has a chance to either sign an agreement or say, "No. It doesn’t go there’." To this, Brady agreed. The Minister of Forests could reverse his decision and give the Sustut to those Smithers and Hazelton companies which the regional board believes should have been the successful bidders in the first placc. The board now awaiis Rich- mond’s reply. There is, however, no real optimism they will receive one. Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 12, 1990 A3 City urges. Orenda to use recycled paper at new mill Following a motion by alderman Rick King, Terrace city council has joined the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine in urging Orenda Forest Products to consider using recycled paper in their proposed pulp and paper operation near Swan Lake 140 kilometres north of Terrace. But the city has gone one better than the regional district — King included in his motion an invitation for Orenda officials to meet with council early in the new year to discuss the feasibility of the idea, King says he has explored other possibilities for a northwest paper recycling operation but adds that the concept is probably too expen- sive to add to existing pulp mills like Eurocan or Skeena Cellulose. Orenda, however, says King, is still in the design stage and this gives them a unique opportun- ity to include paper recycling in their basic concept. Mayor Jack Talstra agrees. "It makes sense at this stage," he said Monday night. "It’s time we talked with them anyway." Snow removal budget up by $70,000 Due to the severity of winter snow storms to date, Terrace city council has dropped another $70,000 into the 1990 snow removal budget. According to city director of engineering Stew Christensen, one snow storm alone on Dec. 3 cost the city $31,000 to clean up. On average, according to alderman Mo Takhar, a single night of snow removal work costs the Public Works Department $7,000. The budget increase approved by council will add $60,000 to the 1990 winter road maintenance fund, bringing it up to $339,817, and $10,000 to the sidewalk winter maintenance pot, increasing it to $27,191. According to Christensen, the extra money comes primarily from savings in summer road and sidewalk maintenance work plus $14,000 which was taken from surplus funds. The additional funds, says mayor Jack Talstra, will ensure snow removal work until the end of the ycar. If it doesn’1 snow, the extra dollars can be reallocated for other purposes or transferred to the 1991 snow removal budget.