The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 18, 1996 - 45 Hidden treasures Rustic wardens IF YOU'RE looking for a full facilily campsite, don’t head for a forest recreation Site. But small and rustic as they might be that’s exactly what a lot of campers are looking, for. You'll find recreation sites way -off the beaten path of their bigger cousins — the parks branch's full-service sites where there’s running water, hot showers, fire- wood cut and stacked for “your use. And the extra effort it takes to get to a forest ser- vice recreation site means they growing sub-culture of RV’ advacates probably won't be your camping neighbours. -.Forest recreation site users are wardens, tending to look after their surroundings. It’s one of the solid foun- dations of the provincial government’s recreation site program, And while there have been problems at some sites in the past —. particularly on certain weekends of the year - a change ia the site design, maintenance schedule and co-operation of the RCMP had largely eliminated them, The forest service’s Carl Jobansen, who looks after recrealion sites in this area, also emphasizes the public had played a role in that turnaround, When they had observed vandalism, he explained, they. had passed on to the police or forest district details of what they had seen, when, and, where ap- plicable, the vehicle descrip- tion and licence number. Johansen encourages recreation. site. campers:-to .: keep doing so in. order to keep the sites presentable ° for the next user. IDYLLIC- COVES, tucked away campsites and tree-rich surroundings mark the provincial forest servi 'Weewanle Hotsprings recreation site on the Douglas Channel outside of Kitimat. If you want a more venturesome camping experience, this is it. More getaway sites proposed By MALCOLM BAXTER Kitimat Northern Sentinel editor Malcolm Baxter recently went on a tour of some of the region’s prettiest recreation sites. Here’s his report, “VERY GOOD ... excellent necds to be upgraded...” “T won't show my boss that one,’’ Carl Johansen jokes. Johansen looks after the Kalum Forest District's recrealion sites and he’s reading the first public responses from users of the Weewanie Hotsprings on the Douglas Channel. He installed the comments box in June and two months later has collected just nine slips of paper from it. A lot more people than that have enjoyed a soak in the bathhouse since then, of course, so he admits trying to gauge the level of usage involves a lot of guesswork. But however few the number of responses, they are stilt useful in finding out what the public thinks. The maintenance of Weewanie is handled by an unofficial coalition at the moment: the forest service and Kitimat’s Northern Aquanauls club. the trail The forest service spreads out a thin budget by striking agreements with local recrea- tional groups. A sign on the bathhouse wall records the club’s upgrade work carried out four years ago, naming the volunteers who helped do the work and local businesses who donated material to the effort. Since then, the forest service has installed two picnic tables and a tire rim fire pit for the use of visitors. It also picks up the tab for a weekly visit from a Hartley Bay based contractor to come in once a week to check on the site and do clean up. That includes draining and scrubbing the two tubs If necessary. ‘But Johansen wants to offer the Aquanauts the opportunity to enter into a formal. agreement. If they do so, and depending on the type of agreement the club is prepared to enter into, a trade-off ‘could be arranged whereby the forest ser- Vice provided materials and the club the volunteer Iabour to carry out future maintenance and upgrades, Liability insur- ance coverage could also be part of the package. Johansen points out a similar agreement is already in effect with the Kitimat Cross Country Ski Club on the Onion Lake tails. Under that one, the trails are managed and maintained by the club while the forest service oversees getting the various ap- provals needed for any expan- sion/improvement project and helping out when it comes to machine time and build- ing materials needed for such projects. ‘"We subsidize some of their costs that way,’’ Johansen says, noting the club faced high overheads in ils operations. He’s also quite candid that such agrce- menis are a two-way street. While the club might benefit from the ministry’s heip, ‘We couldn't manage it as well as the ski club does with its volunteers.” That’s no surprise given Johansen has a budget of only $150,000 a year. While that’s a high one provincially, his territory is huge, extending from the Douglas Chan- nel north to the Stewart area and spreading out east and west of that central axis. . The Terrace Hiking Club, Terrace Scouts and Skeena Valley Snowmobile Club are other groups the forest service has agree- ments with at present. Until now, the closest non-marine forest recreation site to the Kitimat Valley has been Clearwater, near Onion Lake. But that’s soon 40 change. Johansen says plans include upgrading a site at Enso Park - the ministry is waiting on an archeological impact study there - and developing a Chist Creck location used by local rock climbers plus a site at West Lake at the northwest end of the Kitimat Valley. Ali thase sites will provide what's called ‘Ssustic facilities’? with two to four picnic tables, fire pits and an outhouse, In most cases the physical layout of the area prevents more being done without land being cleared, Johansen points out. However, he adds, the camping experi- ence |s probably a better one for many people on that type of smail site. When the work is done in the Kitimat Valley, Johansen will likely tum his atten- tion northwards. That’s because those arcas don’t have much in the way of forest rec Sites at present and development around the West Nass and Nisga’a Lakes offers the potentlai to establish such sites. THE PROVINCIAL forest service and Kitimat's North- em Argonaut Club have combined forces to offer camping and shelter at the Weewanie Hotsprings on the Douglas Channel. Pictured here is the bathhouse, ay 14 S85 CARL JOHANSEN'S the person in charge of tha forest service's recreation sites in this area. And even while on tour, paperwork needs attention. CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Keep FRBC whole An open letter to: Helmut Giesbrecht, MLA Skeena Dear Sir: The Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce urges you to Jisten to the voices of the municipal coun- cils, concerned citizens and businesses in your riding and vote against the appropriation of Fores! Renewal funds to be placed in general revenue, Forest Renewal B.C, funds have been raised over the past two years through increased stumpage and royalty fees. The fund was established for very specific pur- poses, including re-investment in B.C. forests, silvicul- ture and retraining of displaced forest workers. In short, and by law, the funds are to be reinvested in communities like Terrace affected by the introduction of the new Forest Practices Code, The forest minister of the day, Andrew Petter, referred to Forest Renewal B.C. as ‘‘one of the most important steps we have taken’? in the document, ‘Our Forests, Our Future.’” In that very same document, he , also stated that stumpage and royalty revenues ‘‘cannot _ be absorbed into general government revenues.”’ The government is now considering an about-face, using the funds for general revenues to cover budget shorifalls arising as a result of its own inability to budget effectively. Do the right thing and lobby to keep Forest Renewal B.C. funds where they were intended — separate and apart from general government revenues. Skip Bates, President, Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce Excellent quality Dear Sir: Three weeks ago I had emergency surgery and had to _ Spend a week in Mills Memorial Hospital, The quality of the care I received was excellent, and [ found the staff friendly and helpful. Seeing smiling faces every- day certainly helped speed my recovery. It is comforting to know that our hospital has such skilled, professional people. Hob Mack, Terrace, B.C. More nurses needed Dear Sir: The nurses in the Intensive Care Unit are just like the rest of us. The work they do is unreal. They work 12 hours a day, four days a week. Sometimes they have to work overtime. I was in the ICU for two weeks, Sometimes one nurse is on for three to four patients — more so at night. T don’t think they want more money, but more nurses, A pat on the back to the nurses for a job well done. Abe Harder, Terrace, B.C, “No more: cuts. ~ a aval ‘ate Catid Ciebas tytee Gaekin tai shel i ied An open! leider to: Olga Power, Chairman Terrace Regional Health Care Society ' att be ee Dear Mrs. Power; I was hospitalized at Mills in May and underwent an abdominal hysterectomy. I received exceptional care by both LPNs and RNs. On day 2 after the surgery, | was invited to go home the next day, which I did. There was no doubt I was being ’moved along’. It so happened that this suited me well, as ] missed my family, detested the hospital food and preferred the absense of unnecessary foreign bacteria and viruses prevaleat in hospitals. F was lucky I bad an uneventful recovery. Had I re- quired extra care, [ wonder if would have been able to receive it, and if I did, would it be qualily care? [ watched those nurses bend over backward to mainiain standards; after you have cut them back even further, can they still provide safe patient care? E urge the board and administration to find ways to avoid any cutbacks and bed closures, The health and safety of our community depends on it. Marianne Brorup Weston, Tertace, B.C, Not a ‘machine’ Dear Sir: a As the president of the Skeena NDP Provincial Con- slitutency Association, I read with great interest “Union forces target city hall’, Sept. 11. The article goes on at length about the Terrace and Kitimat District Labour Council’s hopes to support and elect members to local city councils and t the new Coast Mountain school district, Unfortunately the manner in which you chose to be- gin the article gave your readers (and even myself) the impression that ‘the NDP machine” that worked on the provincial election campaign was going to some- how swing into action in order to ‘‘clean up" city hall or the school district. Let me assure you and your readers that not only is this entirely incorrect, but it is constitutionally im- possible for the NDP Constituency Association to put its election machinery at the disposal of any individual ' candidate or slate of candidates in the upcoming municipal or school board elections. Our ‘‘machinery’’ is soley organized to work on and hopefully win provincial and federal elections on be- half of the NDP. We are proud of the fact that we have carried out the first half of our mandate and will be working hard in the near future to win the upcoming federal election. With this said, the Skeena NDP Provincial Con- sitituency Association does encourage its individual members and supporters to take an active part in the upcoming local elections, as workers or as candidates, This is no different, we believe, from what other political parties or other interest groups, such as the business community or labour unions, encourage their members to do. New Democrats and their supporters believe in the democratic process and wish to see a fair ropresenta- tion of all the community on locally elected boards and councils. We hope the clection process we are about to enter will result in this state of affairs. Rob Goffinet, President, Skeena NDP Provincial Constituency Association