Al4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, February 21, 1990

< Pulpwood debate — wave ten pues

forest industry “ "misrepresents"
their motives and “misleads” the
public and told the board: "Stop
being afraid... industry can take
care of themselves." .

- Kitimat director John LeSage,

.on the other hand, supported

Rodrigo’s' motion. "Let’s wait,”

said LeSage. "Director Maitland

says she has sent copies to
‘industry and that they’re going to
respond." LeSage added one more
point of contention, though: "I
don’t like the name Charter of
Rights."

. And further support came from
Andy Burton of Stewart. "We're
getting mixed signals here," he

said, and pointed out that the next _

item on their agenda was.a letter
from Stege Logging of Hazelton.

Stege was seeking support for.

their application to the Ministry
of Forests for an additional
non-renewable forest _ licence.
Burton said he didn’t believe that
tabling the Charter was an un-
reasonable delay and that the
extra month would give the board
the time they needed to make a
more "reasonable" decision. _
According to Erwin. Stege, his
company has worked hard to
create new employment in the
Hazelton area, but their current
timber license provides only 20
percent of their needs. The

primary reason, he says, is a.

sawiog shortage created by
increased competition for wood.
"With a less secure log supply
hew investment, required to
maintain existing jobs, is impos-
sible to acquire because apy
larger financing is dependant on a
secure wood supply," Stege
explains in his letter.

"The projected sawlog timber

North Coast
to expand
maintenance
contract

On April 1, responsibility for
the maintenance and upgrading of
the Nass and Shames roads will
be turned over to the Ministry of
Highways, and district manager
John Newhouse says they will
soon be negotiating an “expanded”
contract with North Coast Road
Maintenance. Most of the Nass
road is presently under the juris-
diction of the Ministry of Forests.

‘Over the next two to six years,
Newhouse says, the Nass road
system will be upgraded. He says
that sections of the road from
Rosswood to Greenville and Nass

_ Camp will receive a hard surface
while the balance will be upgrad-

ed with a crushed rock surface.
Current plans call for the entire
Nass road system to be an 80-
kilometer-per-hour, hard surface
road within nine years.

At the present time there are no
plans to upgrade the section of
road from Nass Camp to Cranber-
ry Junction.

According to Newhouse, work
will begin this summer with a hot
asphalt surface being applied on a
section of road north of Ross-
wood and upgrading of the
roadbed where it parallels the
Nass River between New Aiyansh
and Greenville. This work is
expected to take about two years,
and he adds that engineering work

on ‘the balance of the road up-
grade has already begun.

supply in this area is.not enough:

to maintain our current production .

level," writes Stege. "The prospect

of this shortage is not new and

has been pointed out in various.
reports, especially the Car-
roll-Hatch report commissioned as
a result of the "RIM" shutdown."

He adds that Stege Logging has
been negotiating with the ministry -

for over a year in an effort to
resolve the situation and he feels
their recent’ non-renewable ap-

plication provides a viable solu-

tion. _ .
’ ‘This letter presented a dilemma

‘for the regional board, particularly

for Hazelton director Alice Mait-
land. She pointed out that the
regional district had spent $5,000.
on a study to find solutions to the
problems caused by the shutdown
of the RIM Sawmill] and the
subsequent loss of 100 jobs over
a year ago.

Maitland added that the Stege
application had been filed with

the ministry prior to their pulp-—

wood proposal and that both
Stege Logging and Westar Timber
had been working together to
better utilize their resources. Also,
the Stege application and the
ministry pulpwood proposal are in
part for the same land and it was
the ministry, she said, who had
demonstrated a lack of policy and
knowledge. The board, feeling a
conflict between their opposition
to the pulpwood agreement and
the need for Stege to access more.
timber, declined offering their
official support.

In subsequent discussion,
though, expressed even greater
disapproval for the pulpwood
proposal. According to director
Les Watmough: "This is totally
unacceptable and differs from
what they’ve told us over the
years." One of the specific terms
in the proposal Watmough desc-
tibed as unacceptable was the fact
that the licence was to be non-
renewable. Non-renewable, he
said, offers no incentive to the
logging company to renew the
resource, "In years they will have
their pulp mill addition paid for,
they wil! shut down the (logging)
operation, and they will walk

pa tant
Reka,

away from it.” . 7

He added, ."If anybody © here
-wants: to build a mill they don’t
need this agreement .to go out in

the open market and buy separate |

wood supplies." Watmough
explained that there was already
plenty of "waste" wood left in the

bush that could be utilized and
panies had only to.

pulp com
negotiate with Stege and Westar

to access it. "They would get that’
timber if they had the balls to go
out there and get it," he said to a |

slightly shocked but approving
board. —

He continued by pointing out
that the proposal calls for cutting
wood above the 3,500 foot mark,
"They don’t know if that timber
will ever grow again,” but offers
a concession of some lowlands
too. "They will harvest the

swamps but they will never go to |

the top," said Watmough, adding,
"They will take the cream and
walk away from the rest."
Watmough concluded by. echo-
ing the sentiments of a number of
directors. "This is only something
for the companies to take to the
bank..."We’ve got the timber
sewed up from here to’ Prince
George, give us the money and
we'll build a mill’." They don’t
even need the timber, he said, but

in the meantime every other

logging company is out of the
picture. "There is nowhere. they
can go," said Watmough, "and no
competition."

The discussion ended when, on
a suggestion made by Pakula,
board chairman Jack Talstra
suggested the the formation of a
regional district Standing Commit-
tee on Forestry be formed to deal
with current issues. Following
this, a motion was passed that the
regional district write a letter to
the Ministry of Forests strongly
opposing any increase to the
annual ' allowable cut in the
Kispiox Timber Supply Area and
that a copy of that letter be sent
to the hereditary chiefs in the
Hazelton area. As well, the letter
will invite a ministry official to
address the board next month
with an explanation of their

position.

BC Parks
invites you to

an informal

BCA

Hon. lvan Messmer
Minister of Parks. |

7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 6, 1990
Skeena Room 2 |
Terrace Hotel
Terrace, B.C.

The minister is looking forward to
hearing your ideas about provincial
parks. If you'd like to speak.at the
meeting, please register at the door or
with your local BC Parks office.
Call 798-2277 or 847-7320

Hon. Ivan Messmer
Minister of Parks -

evening with

Coming evenis |

Commencing February 4 — And continuing throughout ,

February, the Northwest Academy of Performing Arts
will have its students demonstrating their musical
talents in the Terrace Art Gallery (in the basement of the

Terrace Public. Library). Saturdays from 12 noon to 3°

p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission Is free.

- Commencing February 4 — The Terrace Public Art

. Gallery will be open featuring works by. Cindy Materi of
Quick, B.C. The show will run to Feb. 24. Hours are Tues-

' day to Saturday, 12 noon to 3 p.m.; Tuesday to Thursday,
--7-to-9 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. .

.February 21 to March. 15 — Regjistrations’ for

. Kindergarten to Grade 7 and the possible addition of
Grade 8 for the 1990-91 school year at Centennial Chris-
tian School, 3608 Sparks St., Terrace, are being ac-

cepted until March 15. Centennial Christian School is.a
‘parent-run independent school offering Christian
education to students of parents from a variety of Chris-
tian backgrounds. Our school is certified by the B.C.
Ministry of Education and. meets all requirements.
Please contact the Principal for more Information: Mr.
Frank Voogd, 635-6173 at school, or 638-0108 at home.

Wednesday, February 21 — Terrace Beekeaper Assocla-
tion meeting at 7 p.m. at the Terrace Public Library.
There will be two hours of video tapes on bee culture.
Coffee and donuts will be available. New and old
members welcome. ;

Wednesday, February 21 — “Life in Malawi and
Southern Africa”; a slideshow presentation by Jim and
Heather Bathgate — who lived and worked for three-
and-one-half years in Malawl — at 7:30-p.m. at the Ter-
race Women’s Resource Centre, 4542 Park Ave. For
more information call Northwest Development Educa-
tion at 635-2436. Everyone welcome.

: Friday, February 23 — The Terrace Women’s Resource

Centre, in support of the Terrace and District
Multicultural Association's International Pot Luck Din-
ner, is pleased to announce an afternoon of making cab-
bage rolls. If you love to:cook, or want to learn a new
dish, come to the Women’s Centre, 4542 Park Ave., at 1
p.m., and help us prepare cabbage rolls for the dinner.
All ingredients supplied. For more information, call
638-0228. '

February 23 and 24 — TERRACE MINOR BASEBALL
registration on Friday, 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, 9:30
a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Skeena Mall. Everyone welcome.
Bring a friend and join us for another fun year of
baseball.

Saturday, February 24 — An evening of fun!!! The Ter-
race and District Multicultural Assoc. presents the sixth
annual International Pot Luck Dinner at 5 p.m. in the
Arena Banquet Room. Bring one ethnic dish per family.
Tickets are available at Misty River Books and Sight and
Sound after Feb. 1. Volunteers are needed to help with
this affair. If you can help, please catl Lynda Bretfeld at
635-6298, Jane Dickson at 638-1594 or Erlinda Okano at
635-6526.

Saturday, February 24 — A special meeting will be held
at the Kinsmen clubhouse at 7:30 p.m. to try to form
some teams to play team horseshoes. A special guest
from Horseshoe B.C. will attend to explain the rules and

regulations of team horseshoe. It is a shame to waste .

the facillties we have, so please try to attend this impor-
tant meeting. Come and bring a friend. The Kinsmen
clubhouse is !ocated at the corner of Sparks and
Halliwell. For more Information, phone Joe Wideman at
635-2856 or Don Sharpe at 635-7766.

February 25 - March 1 — The Terrace Art Gallery will ex-
hibit a collection of 68 photographs, both black and
white and color prints, from the Professional Photog-
raphers’ Association of B.C. —

Friday, March 2 — World Day of Prayer. You are invited
to share In this 103-year-old tradition of Christians
uniting for prayer and guidance In struggling with the
major issues facing us today. This day is celebrated In
170 countries around the globe. The theme “A Better
Tomorrow: Justice For All” was written by the Christian
women of Czechoslovakia. The Terrace service, organ-
ized by an ecumenical group of seven local churches,
will be held at 8 p.m., The World Day of Prayer, at Knox

United Church, 4907 Lazelle Ave. Everyone is welcome!

March 7 and April 4 — Terrace Public Library presents
“Travel Talk” for armchair travellers, or for those who
really plan to “get up and go”! Travel consultant,
Theresa Brinkac of Elan Travel will show videos and
share some of her experiences in a serles of informal
talks about countries she has visited. Wednesday,
March 7.‘‘Mexico”; Wednesday, April 4 “‘Cuba" — each
night at 7:30 p.m. Admission Is free. Everyone Is

welcome! For more information, please call the library

at 638-8177.

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