During a meeting of: the Kiti- mat-Stikine Regional District board of directors in June, director Les Watmough brought up the topic of the Kitlope Valley contro- versy and asked: Should we pre- serve, log or log the Kitlope Val- ley with special consideration for site specific environmental val- ues? In answer to his own question, Watmough said he “basically” favoured logging the Kitlope and made a motion that it be logged as a “cooperative partnership” _ between the ministries of forests, parks and environment. “Make ita masterpiece,” he said, “A pilot project... And indicate this is the way we’re now going to do our logging from now on.” Kitimat director Tom Goyert didn’t fully agree. “Provincial ministries are going to do what industry wants,” he suggested. “Tf we just endorse the ministries, it will be no different than what’s happening now.” To this, though, he added, “But I think it can be done.” And said the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources should be involved in devising the land use plan as well. Hazelton director Alice Mait- land partly agreed by suggesting the Kitlope should be regarded as a “model project” that includes a “lot of public input” and participa- tion by the Ministry of Tourism. “More and more we're becoming a wilderness destination,” she explained. And, “We should treat it as a multi-resource and get a lot of public input.” With this discussion behind them, Watmough revamped his original motion to read: “That the Kitlope Valley be used as an example of integrated land use THE ONLY BUMPS YOU'LL FEEL ARE GOOSE BUMPS. The best way to groom a rough trail is to ride the 1992 Prowler®. Witha =. and double-wishbone front: _ ory suspension, it’s the perfect combination of power and handling. Stop by >. today for the new Prowler. And find out just how smooth a trail can be. -— 440cc lightweight management. between all interest- ed parties, including Forestry, Parks, Environment, other inter- ested ministries and the public.” The motion carried unanimously. Kitamaat Village. Council, however, has taken exception to the regional board’s position. According to chief councillor Ger- ald Amos, the council opposes logging the Kitlope and is dis- turbed the regional board would endorse logging without first con- sulting the Haisla nation. Writes Amos: “It is our hope that you will reconsider your posi- tion on two fronts. Firstly, we had _ understood that you were commit- ted to reference land issues involv- ing Haisla lands to the Haisla before taking a decision. You did not do so in this event and we would contend your decision was consequently disrespectful. Sec- ondly you have made a decision to endorse logging without benefit of full information. Your motion indicates the status quo with a lit- tle polish is a given and that you can’t see the merit in checking your assumptions.” Amos goes on to explain that they have joined others interested in the preservation of the Kitlope to launch a $100,000 study to research economic prospects in the Kitlope. He notes from current research that 98 percent of the direct economic “benefit” of log- ging would go to people outside the region. And in addition to that, after the first 20-ycar harvest log- ging will come to an end and-ail other options such as tourism and guiding will be lost. “If we exercise a conservation option,” says Amos, “we haven't foreclosed on development. We have allowed for the possibility that ‘development’ need not be synonymous with destruction and that those with intelligence in this or future gencrations may deter- mine manners in which we can meet our needs without destroying our environment. “Our failure to harmonize our needs with the gifts and limitation of Nature will be difficult to for- give. Even now we attempt to pro- mote tourism to Supernatural B.C, and for our area we should in all honesty invite tourists to come and see our Supernatural hatchery fish, our Supernatural monoculture tree Terrace Review — - Wednesday, October 30, 1991 5 farm bereft of grizzlics making it easicr for industry prospects, our crecks where impacts of industrial prospects are described as low thanks to earlier Industrial destruc- tion making it so little more could be done of a harmful nature. “Finally let us be open minded to the prospect that an unlogged Kitlope could well generate more economic activity in the next twenty years than any logging would crete in that time and that in year 21 and beyond, it will contin- ue to reward our foresight with Steady sustainable employment Haisla differs with regional board over Kitlope and economic consequences, while also retaining it's supernatu- ral integrity for generations to come. . “T would ask that you re-visit this matter and consider a motion to direct that the Haisla be consult- ed by your representatives as well as those of other governments and that any decision you might take must be subsequent to a full inves- Ligation of the merits of alternative uses.” Watmough admits that the regional board made an error in Continued on....Page 24 Biologists complete field study of Khutzeymateen A three-year project to study the grizzly bear population of the remote Khutzeymateen River val- ley west of Terrace is done col- lecting field data on the bears. The Ministry of Environment biologist in charge of it expects to have a report ready for the project steer- ing committee by February. The Khutzeymateen has come to public prominence because it is home to the greatest number of grizzlies for its area anywhere in Canada, The B.C. Forest Service has come under pressure to allow logging in the valley, and if log- ging is allowed a massive contro- versy is expected to ensue. Tony Hamilton, the wildlife research biologist in Victoria who monitored the project, explained that the study has two compo- nents, a forestry assessment and a wildlife assessment. The forestry side covers engineering, timber liquid-cooled engine, ARCTIC CAT World Class Snowmobiles" - Ateten. Ing. 890 Trademarks of Arete, Iny Neid Enterprises Ltd. Recreational Sales & Service 4925 Keith Avenue, Terrace, B.C. Phone 635-3478 — Fax 635-5050 quality and other matters related to logging; the wildlife side involved fitting the resident bears with radio collars and watching their behaviours and movements for three years. He said last Friday his team had just finished the ecologi- cal mapping for the valley and was in the process of overlaying the bears’ home ranges on that. In working toward the final report, to be submitted to the steering committee. by Feb. 15, the team will develop several scenar- ios: wildemess status for the val- ley with and without allowing humans in, a developed forest model, an integrated forest model, and others, The developed forestry model, Hamilton explained, would be a standard logging plan using coast fish-forestry guidelines with- out considering wildlife. An inte- grated forestry model would factor in the bears. The field data collected by the contract biologists that Hamilton monitored for the project is being combined with the Forest Service GIS (Graphic Information System) information. The GIS is a power- ful series of computer programs that is currently used to forecast the impact of various logging practices on growth and yield of forests. “The impact assessment on this project is going to push the GIS to the limit,” Hamilton said. The information on the bears will be overlaid on a GIS forestry model for the valley to make long-term forecasts of the effect logging would have in years to come on the bears’ home ranges, move- ments and other behaviours. If, for example, a cut block were logged on one section of a bear's home range, the GIS would be able to provide a forecast for the time when bear habitat would: return through growth of forest under- storey. “We're modelling the situ- ation through time, for growth and yield, understorey and habitat,” Hamilton said, “We're hoping to push the envelope of this technol- ogy. “And so we should. This arca warrants il.” Hamilton says there are between 45 and 50 bears that use the valicy on a scasonal basis; for the study, 20 of the bears were fitted with radio collars, When asked if new information had been revealed about grizzly bears in the study, Hamilton said some things came to light that will have applications throughout the north coast range of the bears. It was discovered that the bears cover a lot of territory in their wanderings, with only two or three staying exclusively within the Khutzeymatcen; and the data showing that those bears didn’t move is somewhat suspect, he said, because the collars had been dropped on at least one occasion during the study. A number of the bears crossed the mountain pass south into the Exchamsiks River valley on a sea- sonal basis, and one ranged down the river to within five miles of the public camp ground where the river pours into the Skeena, Oth- ers, Hamilton said, wandered across into the Quotoon off Work Channel, and some headed north- ward into the Kwinamass valley. The wide range occupied by the bears emphasizes Hamilton’s determination that any decision made on the future of the Khutzeymateen will be made in the context of the north coast as a whole. When asked if the bears exhibit- ed any unusual behaviours, Hamil- ton said one female did re-unite with her three two-year-old cubs after breeding with a male, some- thing he had never seen before. Normally the mother bears are fin- ished with the cubs after breeding. Hamilton said he was also sur- prised that the Khutzeymateen bears didn’t seem to be strongly attracted to avalanche chutes at cerlain times of the year. Another coastal study he was involved with had shown grizzlies browsing the ‘chutes for the plentiful foods they contain when accessible, The biologists’ report will go to a stecring committee made up of assistant deputy minister-level representatives from the ministries of forests, environment and parks. The steering commitice can cither make recommendations on the © report or simply asscss the pros and cons of cach item in it, Hamil- ton said. When the stecring commitice is finished with the report it will be submitted, in company with the Ministry of Forests report, to Cab- inet for a final decision on the Khutzeymateen.