16. ‘million ‘cubic metres’ of wood annual

-._ottside the region, In the long term the sho

| | ee takes. official ratification to: put

obvious solutions into action. With the release of the
Langforth-Watts report into the dismal business and
resource situation of Westar Timber, a diversity of
interests and factors affecting the forest industry are

pulled together in one place under an.analysis that

provides a.sensible form to it all.

. The report views the industry on a regional basis

arid as part ofa complex pattern of social changes. In

brief it calls for the establishment: of a new mill at -
Kitwanga that would not use primary timber supply,

it calls for a portion of the Sustut-Takla licence to be
reallocated to Hazelton and Smithers operations, and
it calls for joint ventures and cooperative decisions
_ among the native interests, the corporate players and

others. who live in the area with a comprehensive ..

solution “that appears to be the sole avenue -for
preserving the area's economy. and social fabric in

any semblance of its present form. ‘..

' . 4

- ‘The Westar dilemma is-a’ reflection: of the situ-

ation in which the entire province finds itself, deeply
dependent on a diminishing resource and an industry
that doesn’t appear to be able to adapt fast enough to
changing circumstances. The offer by Skeena Cellu-
loge.to. purchase the Westar assets: put the regional
nature of wood supply out in the open. The company
requires the’ Carnaby chip supply from Hazelton to
keep its'Prince Rupert pulp mill operating economi-

cally, and it is considering sending some types of logs
east to: Carnaby because the’ mill's ‘outstanding
efficiency can justify the hauling cost. — |

But at the same time the Langforth-Watts report:

concludes that the numbers simply don’t work — in

_ the short term the, eight major sawmills between.

Vanderhoof and Terrace, which in effect share a

common regional wood supply, cwill have to import —

16 _ . Terrace Review —- May 8, 1992

‘be closer to two million cubic metres a year. EN

the operations could : tand the cost of buying:timber
outside their quotas, sawlogs are hardly in ntiful
supply for purchase — from anywhere. 2.
'* Something is going to have to happen, and that
something will need to: ,resemble : the. Kitwanga
solution, in which the product. and the manufacturing
plant ‘relieve the pressure on the forest. This area
has to'be prepared for government-imposed reduc:
tions in the allowable:cut; the pattern in other areas
of the province has made it obvious that it’s only a
matter of time for us."

- Early this week Forest “Resources Commission

Sandy Peel, after having said less than two weeks

ago that the annual allowable cut will have to be

_increased to preserve the economic base: of rural
-eommunities, bit the bullet and admitted that his’

work with the FRC convinced him that the resource

can’t take even the present level of cut. He suggested
that reductions in the harvest of as much as 46%
may be: necessary to keep a long-term sustained ©.

yield. Forests Minister Dan Miller reacted by saying

__ that Peel was, in a qualified way, mistaken, but in
his position Miller could hardly say anything else. :

_ It is the government's job to protect the resource,
and if the government is going to do that, then it is

_ the companies’ job to adapt their product lines to the

available resource and find markets, for those prod-

ucts. If this problem is not addressed, :then’the. |

problems of education and health care funding this
area is experiencing will simply become irrelevant.
There will be few people living here to use those»
services. oe ; rs
This is grim note on which to conclude National
Forest Week, but perhaps a week of forestry aware-
ness is a good time to ponder impending reality. > ~