The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 24, 2000 - AS

CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

: Penalties possible | | |
| Skeena Cellulose way off
northern logging minimum

Stories by
JEFF NAGEL
SKEENA CELLULOSE

faces possible penalties be-

away the licence,” Perras said.
Those are options forest region

manager Jim Snetsinger could,

but is not required tu, exercise, he

Rate of logging: Orenda and Buffalo Head

cause it has not logged as ; 350000 i orenda sae kets and other factors will

; : arkets and other factors wi

$s Te- Ee + ao Oe pe

mo timber as it was Te 4 300000 FE] Buffalo Head likely weigh on the ministry's de-

quire to on two of its licences ; 250000 cision about whal to do, Perras
in the Meziadin area. said.

SCI’s Orenda and Buffalo 200000 ‘He said both licences have
Head forest licences are drama- ™ 450000 poorer quality timber, featuring
tically undercut over the past five é hemlock and balsam resulting. in
years, according to forests mini- ' 100000 more than half the logs cut being
stry Statistics. e 50000 goad only for pulp. beat

a . They’re in a tough situation,

Ministry regulations allow $ : aid. “We’ j

companies to vary the amount of 0 Snetsinger said. “We're going to

1996-2000

be‘sitling down with them over
the next few months and discuss-
ing what plans they have for those
licences.”

Technically, Perras notes,
Skeena Cellulose has cut even
less wood than the stats indicate.

Because Skeena Cellulose was
being restructured after the col-
lapse of Repap B.C., he suid, the
ministry agreed to credit both li-
cences for their full annual allow-
able cut in 1997 even though aet-
ual logging that year was mini-
scule,

Orenda was credited for
286,635 cubic metres it didn’t ac-
tually cut that year, he said, and
Buffalo Head was credited for
322,413 more than il cut.

wood they cut in a licence from
year to year, but at the end of a
five-year cut control period
they’re supposed to be within 10
per cent of the expected total.

That five-year period expires at

the-end of this year.
‘* For the Orenda ticence, the
ministry counts just 511,017
cubic metres of timber as logged
since 1996,

That’s way off the 1,272,410
cubic metres Skeena Cellulose is
Supposed to have logged on that
licence by the end of this year,

“They’re in serious trouble,”
says John Perras, the Kalum For-
est District's harvesting officer.
“They’d have to cut 752,958
cubic metres there this year and

Stewart is
bracing for
logging cut

Upper Nass declared ‘marginal’

THE FORESTS ministry Meredith said the dis-
has warned it plans to re- trict is concluding the
duce the amount of wood upper Nass is marginal be-.
available in the Nass Tim- cause it isn’t expected ta
ber Supply Area. ' be logged anytime in the

That’s bad news for log- next 20 years.
gers in the Stewart area “There are no toads into
because it would trigger a it, no forest development
cut in the allowed rate of plan,” he said. “It’s remote
logging there. and expensive to pet to.”

The ministry has deci- The area’s viability was
ded the upper Nass _ flagged as a concern in the
-which makes up about last timber supply review
20 per cent of the timber five years ago, but that
supply area northeast of time was left in the calcu-
Meziadin Lake - is of lations.
marginal use to area forest Now it looks even less
companies. ; likely to be used, he said.

The question now, says If the ministry didn’t
forest district planner Rod eliminate areas it consid-
Meredith, is how much of ers inoperable when it cal-
: it to exclude from timber culates annual allowable
‘ supply calculations. cuts, he said, the result

If it were all excluded, would be logging unduly
he said, that decision and possibly unsustainably
would result in a 20 per concentrated in the rest of
cent decrease in the an- the timber supply area.
nual allowable cut for for- Timber supply reviews
est companies working in take place every -five
the Nass. ‘years.

He said the district is Firms operating in the
seeking public comment Nass include Skeena Cel-
on the timber supply re-  lulose’s Orenda and Buffa-
view, adding the deadline Jo Head subsidiaries, West
for reaction is June 5. Fraser and Simgan.

| Northern commission to front
study of Kemess road idea

SKEENA CELLULOSE is far behind on requirements to log in its
Orenda and Buffalo Head licences in the Nass. Both firms have
had an allowable annual cut (AAC) of more than 300,000 cubic
metres over the past five years. In 1997, the two subsidiaries log-
ged only a small amont but were credited as having logged their
entire AAC because the restructuring of SCI was in progress.

isn't allowed to do — in order to
achieve the required five-year
total.

When a company doesn’t hit
harvesting targets, the government
can penalize it, he said, such as
by a reduction of its annual allow-
able cut.

“You can look at taking away
cut and you can look at taking

that’s not going to happen.”

The Buffalo Head licence,
where 1,414,915 cubic metres was
to have been logged by the end of
this year, is also way behind, at
679,797 cubic metres.

Perras said SCI would have to
log between double and triple its
annual allowable cut in both thase
licences this year — something it

KALUM DISTRICT Forester Rod Meredith points out the Upper Nass area that’s
now considered of marginal use for forestry. Removal of it from the Nass Timber
Supply Area will cause a reduction in the allowed rate of logging.

THE IDEA of building a new
road from Hwy 37 east to the
Kemess mine is getting some
support from the Northern
Development Commission.
Executive director Michael Ri-
seborough said the commission
will pay for part of an initial
study to look at the issues sur-

rounding such a read,

It would also be controversial,

Prince George forest interests
fear timber that now feeds interior
mills could start heading west in-
stead of east.

“There are all kinds of environ-
mental issues,” added Risebor-
ough, noting a multi-ministry gov-
ernment team identified numerous
questions that would have to be

Once a study was complete, he
added, the commission would
back away from its coordinating
role and let some private propo-
nent step forward and lead the
project.

The road would be a huge eco-
nomic benefit to the northwest,
says Stewart mayor Mark Edgson.

The shorter haul distance

“We will be contributing to-

wards it if there’s sufficient inter-

est from industry,” he said.

understanding is there are a num-
ber of piayers who are interested
(_ in putting some money towards

.
it.”

would open up a big- new

east of Meziadin to new mining

and logging.

If a new road was built, Kem-
ess operator Northgate Explora-

tions could truck its gold and

per concentrate to port in Stewart

-a much shorter route to

water than the present practice of
trucking lo Mackenzie and
hauling by rail to Vancouver.

{The idea has the support of
. Northwest mayors, who say it

“My

mic access.”

“You will increase production from the mines,
you will start up new mines, you will do way more
exploration because ail of a sudden there’s econo-

answered,

“They took a huge wet blanket
and said these are the issues,” he
said.

Those concerns are being used
as the starting point for the study,
he added.

Industry partners: should have
decided wilhin about six. weeks
whether to participate in the
study, he said,

area

cop-
tide-

then

changes the whole economic out-
look for Kemess, he said, mean-
ing the mine’s life would be ex-
tended from the current five to
eight years.

“If we can do this they’te talk-
ing 12 to 15 more years,” Edgson
said. “It doubles the life of the
mine.” ae

Edgson said it’s even possible
Kemess workers could be housed

in Stewart instead of being flown
back and forth from homes all
over the country.

The boom would be amplified
by possible new mines and ex-
ploration along the same route.

“Where you wouldn't pet
mines producing with the current
structure in place you will in-
crease production from the mines,
you will start up new mines, you
will do way more exploration be-
cause all of a sudden there's eco-
nomic access,” he said.

The activity would mean much
more business far service centres
like Terrace, he said, and would
revitalize depressed Stewart.

“For Stewart it would probably
double our population, just from
the increase in the trucking and
transportation sector,:” he said. “It
would make a complete differ-
ence for us.”

Edgson said he’s been in con-
tact with the B.C. Transportation
Finance Authority, the province’s
road building arm. ,

“They would probably fund a
part of the road,” Edgson said. “It
would be put in by the province.”

The Mail Bag

Why be afraid?

Dear Sir:

I find it truly sad to read about the uproar
stirred up by a few Terrace residents over plans for
a youth detox centre, which is a very valuable and
much needed resource for’our community. What
are you so afraid of? a

Ms. Scarborough, in a May 17 letter to the: edi-
lor, made a good point in writing that the program

is voluntary. Your. néighbourhood-will not be fre-
quented by police cars dragging out drunken teen-
agers in handcuffs and taking’them into. a house
with a big neon sign flashing “DETOX HERE”.

Trying to hide your intolerance behind excuses
like property values and parking problems is truly
sad. Real-cstate disclosure forms do not require
you to list all your neighbour’s occupations or what
they do within their home, ;

I doubt that your property value will be affected
at all. | drove down your street to see what all the
fuss was about and right away I saw cars lined up
along the side of the-road: 1 thought this must be
where the house is, but no. It was all the people
using the horseshoe pits and tennis courts.

Farther down there was ‘another -section with
cars lined up both sides of the street. Parents tak-
ing their’kids to soccer at Uplands. The only way |
figured out where the house .was, was from the one
concerned citizen parading up and down-the side-
walk waving a big sign of protest.

Your NIMBY attitude is what motivated society
in the past to segregate people of different races,
institutionalize persons with mental handicaps, and
commit crimes against people judged to be unac-
ceptable according lo the social siorms of the day.

This staffed facility will be held to higher stan-
dards and scrutiny that you would be. You won't
have to worry about loud parties, or an unkempt
land and building. | would guess that in no time
few will even remember who lives in that house.

How about instead of intolerance we show our
acceptance and support. .

Chris Arnold, Terrace, B.C.

They’re our future

Dear Sir:

I'm distressed at the recent eruption over the
placement of the new teen detox center. I’m ap-
palled that residents of Terrace are placing proper-
ty values and so on over the value of our local
youth. Since when are we a community of “not in
our backyard” kind of people. ,

Is it that we are naive enough to believe that we
don’t have a problem here? That we can hide the
center somewhere and sweep it under the rug? Or
is it just neighbourhood aesthetics? We have a
chance to really help these kids but apparently
that’s not an issue to some folk here in Terrace,

Since when is it all right lo pass the buck? And

‘why is it a gréat idea‘to have'a treatment. center in‘

Terrace, just not on Halliwell. I's OK anywhere
else in Terrace just not in your neighbourhood? If
nol yours then whose? What makes you so
special? We need to take responsibility for our
children and our community. :

How do you know it won’l be your child that
will need these services? Oh, I] know, ] know, “not
my child”. But, you just never know what will hap-
pen in the future. Our children face a lol of pres-
sure these days just to survive. Things we never
had to deal with in our youth. Who is to say your
child won’t make the wrong decision?

Thank goodness that someone believes in giving
these kids a second chance. Shouldn’t we be doing
all we can to help our troubled youth? Are they not
the future generation?

I thought we were a proactive community ready
to face the millennium. Am 1] wrong?

Stacey Buteau, Terrace, B.C,

Closer to home

Dear Sir:

In your recent article, “Medical officer focuses
on Nass Valley”, reference was made to the plans
to expand the facilities of the James Samuel Gos-
nell Memorial Health Centre in New Aiyansh.

I would like to clarify that, as a result of on-
going discussions and planning since my interview
with your reporter, the figures mentioned in the ar-
licle relating lo numbers of beds for acute and con-
linuing care, do not currently represent the vision
of the Nisga’a Valley Health Board for that project. ”

We envision the expansion as one part of a pro-
gram to deliver comprehensive primary care in the
Nass Valley. The facility will have the capacity to
provide such care, using a concept of multi-pur-
pose beds. ,

It is.our plan to reduce demand on services out-
side of the Nass Valley, such as the use of beds at
Mills Memorial Hospital, in keeping with a closer
to home philosophy for health care services,

Isaac Sobol, Medical Health Officer,
Nisga’a Vailey Health Board, Terrace, B.C,

Time out
Dear Sir:

Reading some of the recent letters from Robert
Doane Jr., Brian Grega and Dr, Heinimann to name
a few make me wonder if they deliberately de-
signed their writing to incite equally pelty and pre-
judicial responses.

The academic wordsmithing is becoming just as
tiresome and Ihave scen little sensible dialogue in
much of this pscudo-intellectual sparing,

A parent, faced with two children arguing in this
way, would likely send the offenders to their rooms
to cool off with instructions not to come out until
they are ready to be civil to one another. Pethapasy
The Terrace Standard could do the same. ..

Michael Bruce, Terrace, B.C.

Clarification — A May 17 letter to the editor
concerning the youth detox centre was written by
Walter Yeo, not Megan Reid,

The Terrace Standard welcomes letters to
the editor. Our deadline is noon Friday, noon
Thursday on long weekends. You can write us
at 3210 Clinton St, Terrace, B.C., V8G 5R2
and our fax number is 250-638-8432,