—Al6. Terrace Review — Wednesday, February 21, 1990

harter attac } S ft fo orest | c orobl A) :

_ A Forest Industry Charter of Rights? No, Ottawa has.
not gone mad. This is not a part of the Meech Lake Ac-
eord. This is a proposal coming out of the Corporation
of the Village of Hazelton, who say they are fed up with
having little or no rights of their own.

by Tod Strachan

Village of Hazelton mayor
Alice Maitland says, ‘‘It is time
for a different approach to
forest industry and management
in British Columbia. Instead of
communities and citizens strug-
gling separately to address
dozens of forestry issues in isola-
tion, a more unified and power-
ful response is required.’’ Thus,
the Forest Industry Charter of
Rights, as presented by Maitland
to the Regional District of
Kitimat-Stikine in a letter at the
board’s January meeting.

As a basis for this Charter,
Maitland writes: ‘‘Over the past
decade many citizens of British
Columbia have learned enough

_ of the politics and ‘science’ of
forest management to become
extremely alarmed. The. owners
of forest tenures have been
shown to be motivated
dominantly by -profit considera-
tions, and not by a fundamental
concern for environmental or
community sustainability. B.C.
.Ministry of Forests management
policy appears to have been
overly influenced by both the
will of the large corporations

with which they deal, and a pro-
fessional mentality which stead-
fastly clings to management
ethics of a bygone era.

“As a result of this chronic
situation the forest industry and
Ministry of Forests have remain-
ed in an isolated limbo as other
sectors of B.C. society and
economy have evolved a more
holistic view of how environ-
ment, economy and politics
should interact. Consequently,
there is an almost daily confron-
tation between the public of
British Columbia and those who
are determined to clearcut,
harvest community watersheds,
pump chemicals into oceans,
defeat park proposals, and
generally operate ‘as usual’ in a
secretive and single-minded
manner.”’

Maitland says that the Village
of Hazelton has ‘‘closely observ-
ed” the operation of the forest

industry in the Upper Skeena

region for more than a decade,
and she notes a few facts from a
Hazelton perspective. While,
among other things, there is a
proposal to clearcut a portion of

a ae

Centennial Christian |
School

Operated by the Terrace Calvin Christian School Sociely
3608 Sparks Street

the village’ § watershed, local
government interest in the
Northwest has proven to be
‘negative’? and “‘frustrating’’.
The fact that the ministry has
given the licence to log their

watershed to a Prince George

conglomerate. has done little to.

- calm the Hazeltonian move for a.
’ benefit analysis to be prepared

Chartei of Rights.
From past observations, she

continues:. “Proposals to create
- parks in the Seven Sisters and

Swan Lake areas have been
either ignored, or assessed in a
perfuntory manner. Govern-
ment-sanctioned slash burning
poisons the atmosphere, and
plans for aerial spraying of tons
of herbicides have been
prepared. There is absolute
disregard of legitimate Native
land claims of: Native Cana-
dians. Dangerous fungicides
contaminate run-off from
lumber storage areas. Massive
clearcuts dominate every accessi-
ble valley bottom. Our new
government-subsidized sawmill
has a capacity to cut twice as
many sawlogs as the region can
sustainably supply.’’ Simple lit-
tle facts, she says, that are no
doubt familiar to every.region of
the province.

Hazelton, would change all this,
Maitland claims. It would
preserve wide ecological diversi-
ty and stability, guarantee sus-
tainable harvests that can be
converted into high-value pro-
ducts, provide high qality
employment, provide a fair

return to forest industry invest-

ment, and allow stable growth
of communities whose citizens
participate in management of

their local forests. —

In order to. do this, the
Charter calls for ‘“immediate’’
amendments to the. B.C. Forest
Act that would require a bio- |
physical. inventory and cost

prior to harvesting an creekshed

or watershed. Logging of water-

sheds would only be done -with
the permission of the water
licence holdér and only after an
acceptable logging/silviculture

plan had been filed. Clear cuts. -

would be no larger than 15 hec-
tares and designed in a manner

to minimize viewscape disrup-

tion.

All timber sales would only be .

finalized after full public
disclosure and acceptance. All
timber would be fully utilized
and the export of round logs and
cants would be prohibited.

Small representative samples of —
_each forest habitat contained in

each T.S.A. would be preserved.

_A tree nursery would be
‘established in each forest district
_with stocks recruited from the

local area and silviculture con-

- tracts would be offered only to
The Charter, as proposed by |

companies with a head office
within 100 miles of the contract
site. Aerial broadcast. spraying
of herbicides, pesticides, or fer-
tilizers would be banned. And,
most importantly, the Charter
guarantees public participation
in all aspects of forest resource
management.

The conditions listed here are

ms

of course only an overview of

the entire document, but the |

bottom line of the Charter is the

. dollar. The final clause asks for

a percentage of forestry
‘revenues collected by the pro-
vince to be returned directly to
local governments in the area
where the revenue was gener-
ated. The Charter concludes by
giving the province two years to

come up with a range of pro-
posals giving local and regional.
governments control of each .

“TSA (Timber Supply Area).

BURN
SMART

TO MINIMIZE AIR
POLLUTION FROM
YOUR WOODSTOVE:
Watch for signs of
- incomplete
burning such as
visible smoke
coming from your
chimney or long,
lazy flames in the
firebox. When
you see these
signs, more air is
needed to
b improve your fire.
e» You must open
mg the dampers to
allow additional
B air into the stove.

A message from the

BRITISH COLUMBIA
LUNG ASSOCIATION

Registrations for Kindergarten-Grade 7 and the possi-
ble addition of Grade 8 for 1990-91 school year are be-
ing accepted until March 15, 1990.

* Centennial Christian School is a parent run Indepen-
dent school offering Christian education to students of
parents from a variety of Christian backgrounds.

Our school is certified by the B.C. Ministry of Educa-:
tion and meets all requirements.

Please contact the Principal for more information:

Mr. Frank Voogd
School: 635-6173
Home: 638-0108

RRSPs

Time is getting short.
Our hours are

getting longer.

The deadiine for 1989.
tax-deductible RRSP
‘contributions is
Thursday, March 1st, 1990.
- We will be open for
your RRSP business:

Saturday, February 24 —
10: 00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 28 —
9:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 1 —
9:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Terrace Branch 635-2261
4602 Lakelse Avenue

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