4

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Dear Sir: .

* The forest industry in
the northwest ain’t what she
used tobe.

What has happened here

is.a repeat of the rise and fall

of this industry in regions
throughout the world.
: Here it started with small

7 sawmills j in the early 1900s,

targeting the beautiful spruce

and the cedar poles that were.

much in demand.

The scale of logging in —
the.first half ofthe 19th cen-
tury would have sustained a
- solid industry in perpetuity. _

When the. pulp mill ‘in
Prince Rupert with its huge
fibre requirements was built
in the 1950s. the picture
changed drastically.

Huge volumes were now

required on an ongoing ba-
-sis. Pulp mills don’t take

days-off. Of course, to maxi-
mize’ profit, they did what

~ loggers have done since the

business was invented, they
took the besttimber and the
easiest ground first.

‘When ‘I ‘came. here in-

1967 the mill owner.of: the
day was Columbia Cellu-

lose. They had .pretty well

creamed the. bottom Jands

in the Kalum Valley by that

time and were just starting -
in the Nass, where | was
hired on.as camp engineer.

When I suggested _ that
. we should log’a mixture the
good timber and easily ac-
_cessed stands with some of

the more rugged areas With
poorer timber, I received my

_ prime lecture and lesson in

Y

A6é - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Taking the best wood first
brought us to where we are

_ CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

the industry economics.
The credo was : “Always
take the best first. That way
you'll always be logging the
best there is”.
_ Now that may be true, but
of course if you do that long
enough, “the best there is”

_is pretty crappy indeed and

probably very expensive to

_ gel to in-our mountainous

terrain.
That ‘brings, us to our
present. day pickle. To run

large sawmills that need at
least" two shifts to pay the -
~overhead, you need huge.

amounis of good sawlogs at
an affordable price.

If all your remaining tim-
‘ber now has to be scrimped
from steep hillsides where —
» roads are-prohibitively cost-
ly;. if these stands contain _

over 50 per cent pulpwood

. and the pulp mill’is out of
»business; if environmen-
‘tal concerns about logging,

viewscapes, roads, birds,
flowers, etc. cost megabucks;
if government bureaucracy

makes it an expensive three”

year process to start logging
there is a problem.

Then maybe » ‘there is a
reason we can’t find a suc-

‘cessful company «in the

world interested in two state
of the art, slightly used base-
ment bargain sawmills.

. Now everybody is run-
ning around. saving that the
industry isn“t what it used to
be and it’s gotta be seme-

body's fault.

Well, it is. It’s the fault of
us old timers, or at least the
people who we. worked for
and told us what to do.

It is also the fault of gov-
ernments of long ago, who
‘did not make us ‘balance. the
harvest between good and
poor timber on an ongoing
basis right from the start.

You may look out of
your car window at all the
hillsides full of timber and
find it hard to believe we're
short of wood, but every bit

: Peter Weeber Sr. .

of timber that is left there is

_ there fora reason.

It was looked at and by-
passed) because it was. too

-Tollen, too sleep, too expen-

sive or had tog much envi-
ronmental or cultural bag-
gage.

You could utilize it if you

‘had some good, cheaper tim-

ber to balance it but that’s
what is lacking.

- We had -forty years of
prosperous small business,
followed by forty -years of
big business prosperity. We
lived well and made good
money, ,

But we counted too much *

on a future that wasn't there

and failed to diversify. The -

old story of too many eggs

‘in one basket and not watch-
_ ing the basket.

Now we are back to a
smaller scale small business
mode, until nature grows
back the. good trees on the

~. easy ground close to town.

There is an old Buddhist |
wisdom that says: “That -
which happened in the past, °
cannot be changed —: learn °

to live with it — look to the
future.” ~
Hopefully we'll be a
little smarter the next time

around.
Peter Weeber Sr, -
New Hazelton, B. C.

_ Sports franchises need a break
just as much as movies do.

"- Dear Sir:
- The editorial in the January 26 issue: of: The. Terrace

Standard on movie industry taxation is a timely onc.

Hollywood North again threatens, to leave B.C. because
of tax breaks. Canadian’ pro hockey, football and: baseball
have asked for a breaks on tax issues.

The Ottawa Senators were required to put up over ol 5 mil-
lion just to pay for.a freeway exit to their arena. The Mon-
treal Expos i in recent years paid more in property tax than all
US major league baseball teams combined.

The vocal public’s response was that we ‘shouldn’t be
supporting billionaire owners and/or, millionaire players.

SCOUTS CANADA

Terrace Scout Group would like to thank all those __
who have helped us over the past 78 years, including:

OUR SPONSORS:

The average employce in the sports and entertainment
industrics isn’t a superstar athlete or actor. The typical em- —

. ployee is a cameraman, carpenter, ctc.

When big business comes with a proposal to develop, the
localities trip over themselves with land, tax and other-perks. ©
,The owners of these ventures need these incentives, but no .
more than any other business.

- The long term economic commitments and stabilizing
influences made by sport teams certainly deserve as much
respect, if not more than the fickle-movie.industry.

Gayton Nabess,
* Terrace, B.C.

20%.
reg.
Price

Includes Fashion, Fleece, Casual Wear, Sportswear, %

Basics, Kids, Home Decor, Craft, Quilting and more!

NEW ARRIVALS

Sale *Members

30%

‘CLEARANCE

. Fall & Winter Stock

jad Phone Orders Welcome

(ND) 635-5315.

78 — = Servi - 7

- Terrace’ Ss Youth

Terrace Downtown Lions Club

Canadian Tire Terrace

‘And d expecially

¢ Knox United Church (who have been our sponsor for. the entire 78 years)

OUR PAST SPONSORS: ‘Thornhill Volunteer Fire Department Kermode Friendship Society;

OUR SUPPORTERS: School District #82 (Coast Mountains): Skeena Mall: Northwest Community College: 7 Terrace
Rotary Club; Elks Lodge; Terrace Kinsmen Club; International Order of Foresters; Royal Canadian Legion Branch

13; Ministry of Forests: Kalum Forest District; ‘Canadian Tire; Don Coburn; Bandstra Transportation Systems;
Save On Foods; Canada Safeway Ltd.; M&M Meats; Zellers; SpeeDee Printers; RONA/Terrace Builders; Vic
Froese; Wal-Mart; RCMP Terrace Detachment;.747 Squadron Air Cadets; Hawkair; City of Terrace: Parks &

Recreation; Terrace Bowling Alley; Terrace Search & Rescue; City of Terrace: Fire Department; Terrace Chrysler;
B.C. Ambulance Services; Ministry of Water, Land & Air Protection: BC Parks; Shames Mountain Ski Corporation;

_ Skeena Broadcasters; Terrace Standard; and many, many more.

OUR LEADERS AND YOUTH MEMBERS OVER THE YEARS

Thank You!!!!

“O