me en ae ee a Rg A Ne a

This week:

Oldtrees,
old information
brand new mill

erby Squish isn’t a real
H person. We made him up.

But Squish still thinks
like a real RPF (Registered Pro-
fessional Forester} and makes
decisions on what could easily, be
a real situation. The same goes for
Milton M. Jovial. If there is a real
New York investor by this name
we would certainly Jike to meet
him someday.

In the meantime, however, Jovial
is a real investor in one sense. The
most important thing to him is the
bottom line. And once he’s
decided what the bottom line
should be, it is then up to someone
like Squish to fill in all the num-
bers above that line to make sure
the bottom line will work.

Jovial Logging Inc.
New York, NY

Attn. Milton M. Jovial .

Dear sir,
As requested, I have prepared

Timber Profiles for the two areas
previously discussed. This informa-
tion should be all you require to
proceed with a marketing survey
and preliminary mill design. Once
that work is complete, I can submit
bid proposals to the Ministry of
Forests for two separate Forest
Licences on your behalf.

The Profiles included here, were
prepared from the fatest Ministry
of Forests inventory maps. The
most recent physical timber inven-
tory in the Hazelton area was done
in 1976 and in the Terrace area in
1965. This is the most up-to-date
information available and should
be all you require for the market-
ing and design phases of your
project.

I thank you for your cheque in
the amount of $3,750 which repre-
sents the first payment for the
attached Timber Profiles and will

be billing you for the balance

(33,750) on Nav. 30.

Youts truly,

Herby Squish RPF
HS Forestry Lid.
Terrace, B.C.

HAZELTON (Interior Forest)
TIMBER PROFILE: Located in
Northwestern British Columbia
southwest of Hazelton, B.C. An
area of 60,000 hectares containing
an average of 300 cubic metres of
timber per hectare. Of the 18 mil-
lion cubic metres available on this
site, six million cubic metres are
harvestable. This gives: you a
20-year supply of wood fibre
which can be harvested at the rate
of 300,000 cubic metres per year.

SPECIES DISTRIBUTION:

Hemlock 58%
Balsam 21%
Cedar . 4%
Spruce 12%

Down by the River |

m watching the issues flow by
= Cotimentary and analysis by Terrace Review staff and guest writers

re kids in the Northwest
A getting a fair shot at
post-secondary education?

Does the high cost of room, board
and travel eliminate many promis-
ing northern students before they
even begin? The Ministry of
Advanced Education advertises
"Access for All", but many nor-
them residents don’t really believe
equal access exists. Those living
near larger centres are perceived to
have a financial advantage.

In seeking an answer to this
question of access, the *Terrace

’ Review asked the ‘five-member
' delegation from the

Premier’s
Advisory Council on Science and
Technology what they thought of
this northern view when they
visited Terrace recently.

No matter where they live, most
post-secondary students face a
similar situation. If they are attend-
ing university, they will likely be
"assigned" a time and place for an
interview. This normally happens
in July or carly August, and, ap-
parently, these interviews are im-
portant. If a student doesn’t show,
that student can’t register.

But the true purpose of these
interviews is obscure to most stu-
dents. Some sce it as a way of
weeding out the “social misfits"...
A way of ensuring that a univer-
sity’s alumni offers a good public
image.

Nevertheless, for siudenis who
live close to the university the

interview is a simple incon-
venience. If, however, for those
living in the north, it means a
special trip for a meeting of only a
few minutes duration at a cost of
around $600; and even showing up
is no guarantee. If you fail this
portion of the registration process,
you’re out. And the money spent
on attending the interview is
money the student can’t use fo. is
or her education at another institu-
tion,

But fet’s assume that ihe student
is successful in the interview pro-
cess. The $600 could be thought of

as a good investment. But this

isn’t the end of registration
expenses. A short time later, a new
date is set, this one for the actual
registration in specific courses.
The time and place is assigned,
usually alphabetically, not
regionally, and if a student doesn't
show there is a good chance he or
she won't get in. So there is little
choice but to attend.

Again, this is a simple incon-
venience for southerners but a
major expense for northerners.
Often, the assigned time is a week
or more before the dorms open and
it means a second round trip. This
is likely going to cost around $600
for return airfare, meals, and pos-
sibly a night in a hotel.

So far, our student has spent
around $1,200 and he still has to
move south to begin his school
year. Are these expenses really
necessary? One note herc, Students

registering for university transfer
courses in B.C. colleges aren’t
faced with an inferview, but are
most often faced with early regis-
tration.

The University of Victoria has a
computer registration service stu-
dents can access from their own
homes, Ajl they need is a touch-
tone phone. Dial the number, the
computer asks the appropriate
questions, to which you respond by
pressing numbers on the phone. By
the time the call has been com-
pleted, the student has been
assigned classes and is ready to
begin. The only expense incurred
is a long distance phone call and
students aren’t expected to arrive
on campus until the dorms have
opened. At least one round trip has
been saved,

With today’s technology, why
can’t the Ministry of Advanced
Education offer this computer
registration service for all univer-
sities and colleges in the province
through a single system?

BCIT president John Watson, a
member of the advisory council
and the primary designer of
"Access for All", suggests that
such a system is possible and the
idea might be well received by our
Minister of Advanced Education,
Bruce Strachan,

ond how might northerners
convince Strachan that
province-wide college and
~— Continued on page A9-

1965 and 1976. This means’ Milton

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

Lodgepole Pine 5%

NOTE: The 60,000 hectare site
contains 10% deciduous species
which are’ not included in the
AAC. Deciduous distribution
throughout the 60 hectares includes
Cottonwood (2%), Aspen (5%),
and Birch (3%).

SIZE RANGE:

Under 30" diameter Over 30"
Hemlock 92% 8%
Balsam 96% 4%
Cedar 96% 4%
Spruce 90% 10%

Under 20" diameter Over 20"
Lodgepole Pine 100% 0%

UTILIZATION SPECIFICA-
TIONS (For all coniferous
species): 4" top; 12" stump height;
8’6" minimum length.

TERRACE ... (Coastal . Forest) -:

TIMBER PROFILE: Located in
Northwestern British Columbia
southwest of Terrace, B.C. An area
of 40,000 hectares containing an
average of 450 cubic metres of
timber per hectare. Of the 18 mil-
lion cubic metres available on this
site, six million cubic metres are
harvestable. This gives you a
20-year supply of wood fibre
which can be harvested at the rate
of 300,000 cubic metres per year.

SPECIES DISTRIBUTION:
Hemlock - 48%
Balsam 15%
Cedar 15%
Spruce 20%
Lodgepole Pine 2%

NOTE: The 40,000 hectare site
contains only about 2% deciduous
species which are not included in
the AAC. This is comprised of a
mix of cottonwood and alder.

SIZE RANGE:
Under 40" diameter Over 40"

Hemlock 90% 10%
Balsam 95% 5%
Cedar 65% 35%
Spruce 80% ~ 20%
Yellow Cedar 100% 0%

UTILIZATION SPECIFI-
CATIONS (For all coniferous
species): 6" top; 12" stump height;
8’6" minimum length.

It’s rather impolite to read some-
one else’s mail but in this case we
just couldn't resist. How long will
it take Milton to realize there’s a
flaw in Herby’s report? The infor-
mation provided is. based on physi-
cal inventories that were done in

is going to go to a coupte of con-
suiting firms with information that
is 14 to 25 years old and ask them
to design a marketing strategy and
a mill for today. No one really
knows what is actually growing —
OF not growing — on these sites.

Also, Herby should have pro-
vided both gross and net volumes
in his report. The gross volume
would have told the consultants
how much of a specific species
exists per hectare, and the net
volume would have told them how
much of what exists is actually
usable.

Herby reports, for example, that
48 percent of the trees growing on
the Terrace site are hemlock and
90 percent of these hemlock are
under 40 inches in diameter. This
would suggest that, on the average,
144,000 cubic metres of the
300,000 cubic metre AAC will be
hemlock, and 141,120 cubic metres
will be contained in hemlock under
40 inches in diameter.

But what if there is some decay
or disease in this timber? And just
how much smaller than 40 inches
is the average tree? This informa-
tion might radically change the
recommendations made by Mil-
_ton’s consultants.

If 30 percent of the trees are
below standard due to some kind
of defect, for example, Milton
might find he has a lot bigger pile
of chips and a lot fewer 2x4’s than
he had expected. And there isn’t a
whole lot of money to be made in
manufacturing wood chips.

Also, based on Herby’s informa-
tion the mill designer might decide
there are some pretty big trees in
this area —— he's probably never
been here and probably never will
be — and recommend a head rig
operation. A head rig saw is used
for logs over 14 inches in dia-
meter. But if the majority of trees
are in fact 14 inches or smaller, a
canter machine would have been a
better choice and would have cost
less money. Milton would simply

sell the larger logs to another mill.

The basic difference between a
head rig and canter machine, by
the way, is how they cut the wood.
A head rig saw is stationary and
the logs move through the saw on
a carriage, while a canter machine
moves the log through the saw on
an in-feed chain.

In faimess, though, we shouldn't
be overly critical of Herby’s work.
He is using the best data available,
and Milton didn’t ask for specific
information like net volumes, And
we shouldn't be hard on Milton,
cither. He isn’t a professional
forester and we can’t expect him
to know exactly what information
he needs. What we've ruq into

‘here.is a communication problem,