Forest reform will reward firms and appease U.S. — at great cost . By HELMUT GIESBRECHT Changes that are being considered by the government, all in the interests of making it easier for forest companies and appeasing the U.S. lumber producers, will have a dramatic effect on those of us living in forest dependent communities if implemented. Take a look at your property assessment no- lice over the last few years if you happen to be one of those who thinks the state of the forest industry doesn’t affect you. Forest companies don’t like forest licenses with appurtenancy requirements that tie wood ta a sawmill, cut controls, and log export re- - strictions. They don’t like unions either but that is another story. All three of these provide some protection for a community’s economy. Appurtenancy clauses in forest licences require the logs to be milied in the area creating jobs for local communities. Cut controls prevent, companies from simply holding forest tenures as future as- sets. They required a certain amount of har- vesting in order to provide some economic sta- bility to communities. Limits to log exports prevent the exporting of jobs. These conditions have been in place for de- cades. Forest companies would much rather send logs where they are most profitable to mill, harvest trees when the prices are high and shut down operations when prices are low and send raw logs to whoever will pay them the most. If that means exporting raw logs and mill jobs across the border or overseas, so be it. Who can blame them. [t would eliminate a lot of investment risk but naturally there is another side. If you listen to the dis- cussion on what is to be the more market-oriented forest policy (to use the forests minister’s words), these three conditions are most often part of the de- bate. Getting rid of them would solve the softwood lumber dispute with the U.S, create the business- —. friendly climate for the forest companies and it will make the sale of SCI much easier. It also provides a bonus. The big forest companies and logging companies are big contributors to the B.C. Liberal party. None of these issues should even be on the table for consideration. Our challenge in the northwest is that we have some of the highest Helmut Giesbrecht harvest costs; we have low quality wood fibre and a wood profile that is mostly hemlock. The latter is not in high demand these days and add ito this the low world prices for lumber and pulp and you get to see just where northwest wood harvesting is on the economic viability scale, Could you reduce stumpage from 25 cents per cubic meter to zero? Yes, but that alone won't do much and the Liberal government says it won’l subsidize business so any nega- tive stumpage or stumpage reduction would be hard to justify, particularly to the Ameri- cans who already believe we subsidize our in- dustry too much. If our mills are not first in line for the logs in our area, if the logs can po anywhere and there is no requirement to log a certain amount every five years, the outcome will be predict- able. There won't be countervail action from the Americans. The American lumber lobby will be happy and maybe someone will buy SCl. But by compromising on one of the three is- sues above do you want to guess what the im- pact on the northwest will be? Helmut Giesbrecht is a former NDP MLA for Skeena and a former cabinet minister. We should halt log exports and get more out of our resources By GEORGE CHINN I can appreciate that some people are working, but a big- ger percentage are not. Exporting is giving away badly needed jobs in Terrace and other ‘parts of the province. Last spring I took a look at a mill in Hazelton, Kispiox Forest Products. I had heard they couldn't get proper size wood. Sure enough; what I saw was 8" logs being cut on their double cut head rig, which is capable of cutting up to a 60" log. The manager told me he had tried to make a deal with a saw- mill in Kitwanga for 1,000 cubic meters of small wood which they could use for 800 cubic meters of larger ‘logs’ for their milli in, Hazel-' ton." ie oe anys dlrs non She "No 'dealj these: logs were. ‘too large for them to mill in Kitwanga -_ WELCOME 10 TERRACE FoRest CAPITAL of 8¢ 200 or MYTH: George ‘Chinn’ says the sign promoting Terrace as B.C.'s ‘northern: forest capital makes a a. _mockery of the reality we face in the northwest woods.. and were shipped - sold off as eX- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - A5 CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD part. The Terrace forest service of- fice estimates that 50 per cent of our timber left is over-mature and decadent. West Fraser has a license to export 34 %. _ Forestry has granted the com- panies up to 35 % left in bush which at one time had to be taken out for pulp, The reason we have too much pulp. wood and chips is because we log greater areas now to get at logs for export. The people of Terrace should not believe there is no market for hemlock lumber. I’ve asked why is there no mar- ket for hemlock lumber, when there is so much demand for hem- lock logs. No one could give me an an- swer. . :. This fall, while traveling High- way 37 North in the Meziadin Lake area, just a couple of log sort yards were very busy making up logs to be exported — nicely trimmed and painted numbers on ends. A few years back Skeena Saw- mills (West Fraser) purchased Tay M Loggin. It since has been sold off. West Fraser also bought out Wedeene Forest Products along the coast, with intent to build a new mill in Terrace. But politicians living in Prince Rupert stopped that plan. West Fraser was forced to set up a mill in Prince Rupert. The li- cence didn’t have enough quality timber West Fraser needed, So the movement of wood went the other way. Skeena’s produc- tion dropped and the work force was cut. We used to cut an average 350,000 board feet per. shift; sometimes we cut as high as 400,000 per shift,. Production then dropped down to 250,000 per shift and some days even a little better when the log yard operator stuck in some logs which he wasn’t supposed to, You can not make money when your total cut for the day ends up with 25 per cent utility and econ- omy. This is why it’s very impor- tant to keep our high grade logs and manufacturing in-Terrace, Again, if there’s no market for hemlock, why aren’t we cutting cedar and spruce. instead of sell- ing and making jobs for some other country? I was on the Queen Charlotte Islands a couple of weeks back, Weyerhaeuser has a great move- ment of wood. I am sure it is not going to mills down south, as I’ve noliced on the news people are upset also at Weyerhacuser sell- ing logs to the US. We're not getting enough back from our resources. [ would like to see these log exporters pay contri- butions for. unemployed people and keep up their medical and dental plans and making sure they still qualify for E.1. I think this would be some compensation for jobs lost to ex- port. It’s better to shut down ex- porting and make them bury our lumber, not our jabs, I am really surprised Prince Rupert went along with West Fra- ser on the sale of the Wedeene - timber license. The mill ran just long enough for the dust to settle, Who would want to buy a moth- balled mill with no timber? _ If we continue to harvest our : timber like we're doing, Terrace better hurry and find some other industry, I do believe the forest ministry -| is looking after large companies . but not paying enough attention to - small operators. When driving up the Nisga’a Highway you see all these big beautiful cedar and spruce logs at the east end of the scale at Skee- na’s yard. They mean. jobs for someone else, not for Terrace. We should only be selling our © pulp logs. George Chinn is a retired West Fraser sawmill worker. New thinking needed in the woods or competitors will leave us in the sawdust By RANDY RODGER The impetus of globalization, plus the abili- ty to secure fibre commodities in diverse re- ‘gions puts corporate heavyweights in a market contro] position. Foreign companies have extensive harvest- ; ing rights in North America, but their future is in plantations. In Canada the growth is by foreign direct investment, driven by a search for raw mater- ials; there is no growth in manufacturing capa- city beyond basic pulp mills. Asian, American and European companies are internationalizing their operations; buying and creating “greenfield” mills where they can obtain fibre resources. . . The implications of this restructuring are obvious. Asia is becoming self sufficient in wood products linking its machinery compa- nies to building its. mills, cutting out their competition In the process. Latin America is self sufficient though without its own manufacturing facilities. The Nordic companies have followed suit, | aiming at the large European market. The U.S, is becoming more self sufficient with its own - southern plantations and northern second growth, © In-fact it will likely begin to generate a sur ‘plus as its global markets decrease. Canada had failed to diversify, selling its fibre commodities for the quickest profit. Indu- stry and environmental conflicts continue on, oblivious to global change and market values. Companies who have succeeded in estab- lishing forest industries elsewhere are with- drawing and those that remain or continue ta invest are more resource suppliers than man- ufacturers, shipping logs, chips and raw pulp elsewhere. There is a false assumption in the debates over forestry in B.C. that industry will continue indefinitely as the major economic activity of the region, but this is fading fast. _ These changes cannot be reversed, but an initiative to create an industry under. B.C. ow- nership and management (not government) is needed. Stumpage and tenures need to be re- structured, reallocated to local communities, business and investment. Look at the local togging contractors. They are highly innovative and able. Their track re- cord stands with their ability to weather the short changing of SCI over the years. Why couldn't a syndication be formed of them to take over this current situation through. a kind of debt-swapping? Management and organized labour need to reassess the. priorities of the equation of eco- nomic welfare and productivity. There are a lot of curve balls to be caught and gone over but it is mandatory to take innovalive and revolu- tionary steps to go forward. ; “Value added” has to be a working concept not just.a verbal cliche. . What about electric generation with wood waste? Ethanol can be made from wood. An enzyme has been isolated from a mold by the U.S. Department of Defense. It has an ability to break wood fibre down to a starch, neces- sary for the distillation process to begin. Forty five gallons a ton can be produced from wood, and a byproduct of this process is needed for synthetic rubber and other industrial products. , How many barrels go up in smoke on the sidehills around Terrace every year? I leave it there. No need to argue or defend current systems or processes and inner compe- litiveness; greed or power struggles. Fears need to be put aside because a synth- . esis of ideas and agendas needs to be centered on. What is important. to all of us is a decent standard of living and security; a future for our children. » Randy Rodger is a local resident who has worked i in and observed the forest industry for most of his life. The Mail Bag Don’t be fooled Dear Sir: One out of every three students in our schools - cannot read or write. We want toe improve this result by five per cent over five years. Don't be fooled by the numbers game. We're not talking about improving student marks five per cent. We're talking about getling a few more kids to read and write at an acceptable, basic level. We're talking about consistent rates of illiteracy not normally seen in developed countries. — Our school board would like to have 75 per cent of its students literate, instead of the current 70 per cent. Not good enough. Why should we accept anything’ less than 100 per cent literacy? Failure is not in missing the target; failure is having a low aim. By way of metaphor, a patient with heart disease may have high blood pressure. Doctors do not set goals for patients such as “lowering their blood pressure by 5 beats per minute.” They tell the patient to exercise, eat less, eat better. In extreme: circumstances, they prescribe medication or order radical surgery. There are no miracle cures. But the answers are obvious. Our students need to read more, write more and they need to value reading and writing more. What kind of plan do we have to achieve this goal? Or do we even really care? Tom Kalis Terrace, B.C. Don’t sell B.C. Hydro ‘Dear Sir: On Jan 9, 2002, B.C. Hydro announced the layoff ‘of 44 employees due to the closure of offices in 15 communities around the province. The Power Smart Centres and walk-in centres _Yepresent the persona! service contact point between BC Hydro and its customers. Closing these offices is one more step toward deregulation and privatization. Despite promises from private industry cheerleaders, make no mistake. We will all pay much higher power rates if B.C, Hydro is broken up. We have the third-lowest electricity rates in Canada. This can attract and retain job-creating industries in B.C. rather than create jobs in other countries. B.C. Liberals have said in the energy policy review they need to charge market rates for electricity. This means huge price increases for B.C. power consumers. The public needs to tell the politicians to leave our publicly-owned money-making resources alone. B.C. Hydro is owned by all of us. B.C. Liberals have no tight to get rid of our assets. Doug Hill, Vice President, Operating and Professional Employees’ Union, Burnaby, B.C. Unhealthy health care Dear Sir: The northern health care area with: its’ office .in -- Prince .George covers. more, land, mass, than half, a dozen European countries combined. The. distance . from Prince Rupert or Masset is about the same as _ Victoria to Los Angeles. By the way, Terrace is the same distance from Prince George as Prince George is from Vancouver. ’ Makes you wonder why Prince George is not directed from Vancouver or given its orders directly from the premier’s office. The man responsible for the health of this vast area is a forester with very limited experience in health care. That’s not reassuring when you consider the health of our | forests. This czar of mental and physical health will eventually, once the important decisions have been made, surround himself with half a dozen board members handpicked by. himself and/or Premier Gordon Campbell. These appointees are replacing the dozens of volunteers who gave thousands of hours of their time for the people in their towns. As the new board members will be paid, one must assume that the thinking is that people who are paid -are smarter and care more than the dummies who donate their time, or is it part of the new cost saving scheme? Now that the most senior and experienced chief executive officer has been moved to Prince _ George to count beans, two people, both arriving in B.C. fast year, are in charge. All of these changes are taking place without input ‘or consultation. In fact, they were decided upon months before the government’s dog and pony show travelled the province to supposedly to listen to the people. It is not likely that we will ever know. whether our MLA agrees with all of this. What we do know is that his campaign manager promotes that “right to work (for less)” legislation is the answer that will save health care, This will put us on par with Alabama, no minimum ‘wage, no collective agreements. Perhaps we can then hire a few workers from South Carolina. Have you been wondering why you hear no outcry from the Terrace health watch group? I have not, I always assumed that the purpose for the majority of them was to replace the ald government with the assortment of recycled Socreds and other -neoconservatives that have the gall to call themselves Liberals, John Jensen John Jensen, Terrace, B.C. About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard welcomes letters. Our - address ls 3210 Clinton St, Terrace, B.C, VaG §A2, You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail us at standard@kermoda.net. No attachments, please. We need your name, address. and phone number for verification. Our deadline Is noon Friday or neon Thursday, If He. a “long ‘Weekend.