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BACK AT CAMP, Craig Sutton relaxes after a day of pla

cae
nting seed|-

ings and waits for Supper to appear. That night's menu offered
hungry planters a choice of sole or red Snapper to go with a dish
that rejoiced in the name of vegetable cha-cha-cha,

Yes cottonwood |

could be tree |

ofourfuture

TERRACE — There may not
be much of a demand now for
cottonwood fibre but one local
company is convinced that'll
change. .,

Skeena Cellulose established
a cottonwood nursery two years
ago near Esker Bar, approx-
imately 30km west of Terrace,
says forestry supervisar Archie
MacDonald.

Results from that area — it’s
maist, well drained and the site
where cottonwood already
thrived —. and research lead the
company to believe the hard-
wood can be used to produce
pulp and then turned into
paper, he said.

Cottonwood is now used
primarily to produce soft paper
products such as toilet paper
and napkins,

But, he said, some-mills in
northeastern B.C, are already
using aspen, another hardwood,
for lower quality pulp.

Repap (Skeena Cellulose’s
parent company) has also
achieved “very, very positive
results’’ from research on pro-
ducing high quality paper from
hardwood fibre, said Mac-
Donald.

MacDonald said the nursery
was stocked with cuttings taken
from trees. growing on the
Skeena River islands and in the
Nass Valley. Explaining the cut-
tings were planted so that only
the last bud was above the sur-
face, he added, ‘‘Cattonwocd is
the type of species that you only

. have to put into the ground and,
so-long as its under the right
conditions, it will sprout roots

- and start growing.”

- The cuttings were harvested
last fall by removing six to eight
feet tall shoots produced by the

Parent plant, or stool.
' From these, it was normally

possible to obtain two cuttings
(12-18 inches in length with at
least a lem: top diameter) and
one “whip'’: (the top three to
four feet of the shoot).

_ The. fatter'are planted where
heavy brush - is- anticipated
because they are already taller

than that unwanted growth.

That harvest has produced
31,000 cuttings and 6,700 whips
now being planted on selected
sites in the Nass Valley, The
nursery has been expanded
from 1.2 to 2,2ha, bringing the
target up to 100,000.

MacDonald said spruce plan-
tations devestated by leader
weevil infestations are good
sites and that cottonwood is
also ideal as a heavy brush com-
petitor now that the company
has reduced use of chemicals.

The company is also ex-
perimenting with. underplanting
cottonwood with cedar and
spruce,

“The idea is we'll come back
in 25 years, harvest the cotton-
wood and the spruce-cedar will

have (by then) grown toaheight §

where the brush cannot en-
croach on it,” he explained,

Thornhill nursery manager
Tom Harvie adds the idea of
planting large amounts of cot-
tonwood in the northwest
shouldn’t come as a surprise,

All varieties of trees fit into a
large cycle of growth that over
hundreds of years repents itself,
he said, _

The nursery has been testing
cottonwood growing for several
years for the forest service using
varieties from southern B.C,
and other parts of the country.

Harvie said uses for cotton-
wood can be expected as the
market for fibre changes and as
different philosophies of forest
practices are adopted.

a)
‘

TERRACE — It’s 4:30 p.m.
and another day in the field has

_ finally come to'an end,The hot

bowl . of . soup - is_-especially
welcome because:today.was a
rough one — the: terrain was’
Steep and littered with abandon-

_ ed trees, It was hot and the mos-

quitoes were hungry... .
‘Tomorrow | morning “they'll

| roll out of their tents at 5 a.m,
J - and head out to do it all again,

‘They are the tree planters; the
men and women who work their
way around the province each
year making a reality out of the
carefully crafted silvicultural
plans of the forests ministry and
companies, -. - -

But for Craig Sutton and
Richard Erickson, two members
of a crew working in the Terrace
area at the moment, the hard
work is worth it.

“It's alright, it doesn’t bother
me at all,’* says Erickson, one

of the crew's rookies. With only
16 days experience behind him,
he admits, “I'm. greeii,”” And,
he says, it shows in the number

OF seedlings he plants each day...

While most average 700-800

"and some even exceed J 000 on

good days, “fm still plugging
away trying to get 400 to 500 a
day,’” Yesterday was his best so
far and with~a 485 total
translating to. about $130, he’s

hot complaining.

The rewards are even greater
for Sutton who jis in his third
season and can earn -around

$200 a day. That kind of money ©

helps him pay for school — he's

taking kiniseology, the study of.

body movements.
Pointing out every site is dif-
ferent, he says the contractors

- bid based on the terrain involv:

ed and ground conditions,
That, in turn, means the rates

Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 30, 1990 — Page A5
- . + too, .

hat planters sow —

paid per ,seedling. -

tor is getting paid 50 cents a
tree, the planter will get between
30 and 35 cents, nos
Terrace is a popular destina-
tion for Sutton. It offers some
of the best rates so he works
here as much ag possible,
Another attraction is the base
camp located on Ferry Island,
“We're usually out in the
boonies, not ina campground,’’
he explains. a
This year his Planting season
started at the end of April and

he'll continue through until the

end of July, take a month off
and then-return to his studies.’
But that’s a short season com-
pared to some, he adds. Most of

the crew worked Vancouver .

Island, where planting can
begin as early as late January,
and some will keep going
through until October. -

WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes. SCI forest

a

ry supervisor Archie MacDonald points out the single-

Season growth achieved by cottonwood “stools” at the company's Skeena Valley nursery. Some of last

year’s crop were not used for cuttings so that growth ra
ing moose could be assessed, In the foreground, new

during last fall’s harvest,

te, winter snow damage and the effect of brows-
shoots are already flourishing on stools cut back

tk les,

KATHY GRIER takes care of a feeding machine that places tree

seads Into growing pallets at the Thornhill nursery. It’s the start of a

process which will result in seediings for replanting.

TERRACE — Inside a large
building at the Thornhill tree
nursery is something you
wouldn't expect to see — a pro-
duction line,

It’s here that the business of
growing trees starts. Peat moss
is mixed with fertilizer and plac-
éd in cavities in styrofoam
blocks, Seeds are then added
and grit placed on top to pre-
vent birds from pecking.

The production tine gives the
impression of a factory opera-
tion. It's an image nursery
manager Tom Harvie doesn’t
mind.

“We are a factory — a tree
factory,” said Harvie following
4 tour of thé operation fast

_ Week, :
‘ And it’s that combination of
factory and nursery which pro-

vides the seedlings for provin-_

cial and private replanting pro-
grams in the northwest,

The Thornhill nursery, own-
€d by Pacific - Regeneration
Technologies «Which bought it
and a number of other nurseries
from the provincial government
two years ago, grows and nur-
tutes an avetage nine million
seedlings each year,

His crop. consists of spruce
varieties, several types of cedar,
pine. and: hemlock. Lately
there's been an increasing de-

mand for fir.

The seedlings are carried on a
two-year rotation, a trend that’s
become popular for they grow
bigger and thus have an improv-
ed chance of surviving once
they’re planted, says Harvie,

“The larger the tree, the more
forgiving it is — the more of an
edge it has. Companies are
more aware of this,’ said Har-
vie.

He attributed the interest in
larger seedlings to new regula-
tions introduced by the province
several years ago which shifted
the responsibility of replanting
to forest companies,

The interest in larger. seedt-
ings also has an effect on the

nursery's - operations because:

they require more room than do
smailer ones and that reduces
overall capacity, Harvie added,
And although the nursery
responds to what the market
wants, it also has to anticipate
‘what the market will be as the
years go by, he continued. :
That means not: only refining
techniques of returning seeds in
the form of seedlings to the area
from which they were taken to
ensure “better ‘survivability but
also developing ‘tougher and
faster growing hybrid varieties.
‘Generally, there's an expec-

tation of a 15 to:20 per cent in-.

Nursery shifts to meet demand

creased (cutting) rotation in the
first generation but there is a
greater risk of genetic muta-
tions,” said Harvie.

Overall, Harvie predicts a
greater mixture of tree varieties
in order to spread the risk and
be prepared for future fibre
markets.

“If you're looking at a crop
rotation in this area of 100 to
140 years, who knows what the
fibre requirements might be?
Aren’t we better off to hedge
our bets a little bit? It’s
something to think about,” he
said.

The nursery is moving in that
direction of increasing
sophistication in planning,
predicting and growing by hir-
ing a consultant to offer a
customer 4 more complete ser-
vice. so
Despite that, the business of
growing trees remains and will
stay with the basics, Harvie

“The biology of growth: is no
different if it's a ttee or a bed-
ding plant. It’s nutrient, water
and temperature — with

_ temperature the most impor-

tant. The “hotter: the
temperature, the more.the reac-
tion — Just like you remember
from chemistry class,”-he said.

Set, Phy pbk Bite enti ee

ETTERS

‘TO THE TERRACE STANDARD

dling. vary. In
. general, he says, if the contrac.

Youth ©
centre |
Closes ©

Dear Sir: -. .

It is with profound regret
that we must advise our com-
munity that. the - Terrace
Youth Centre closed May 1,
1990, This decision was
reached by the directors bas-
¢d-on our precarious finan-
cial position and the loss of | -
many key people. ;

This was a very difficul
decision, but we ‘could not
continue without a. miracle
— and miracles are few and
far between. os

. We extend our heartfel
thanks to the service clubs
and the businesses who have
helped us so much: over the
past two years. Most of all,
we are grateful for all those
volunteers who gave so much
of themselves to make the
youth centre a reality.

‘As well, we want to thank
the kids who came to the cen-
tre — they are a special
bunch, and I sure will miss
secing them each week,

With much sadness,

Betty Ruksys,
Secretary
Terrace Youth
Society .
Terrace, B.C.

Fishing
An open letterto: 2.
The Hon. John Reynolds .. ;
Minister of Environment.
Dear Minister Reynolds:

The imposition of Class.]
and EI standards to. certain
waters of British Columbia
has been purported to be to
reduce the number of guides
and guided: clients, per the
Regulations Synopsis, pg. 4,

It is my. suggestion that the
true purpose is to gouge the
people who ‘already are pay-
ing the most. per capita of
any sport fisherman. _-

Last year the average cost
per day for the above
category fisherman, 6 day
license, was $9.17 per day.
This year the cost is $29.50
per day for Class I and
$19.50 per day for Class IL.
(based on the nonresident six
day and the steelhead license
fees).

This means an increase of
320 percent for Class |
Streams and 213 percent for
Class II streams.

It is obvious ta me what
the objective is in implemen-
ting this program. It is to col-
lect monies excessively, from
the fishermen who will object
the least, or whom it has
been determined to be th
least to object.

If it truly was to restrict
the guides and their clients
then the only purpose would
be to reduce the kill rate on
the two classes of sireams. It
is extremely well documented
by trout biologists all over
North America, that “catch
and release'’ is the only time

proven method.
cont'd A6

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