THE HERALO, Thursday June 23; 1977, PAGE 3

—~

. | | - ECONOMIC BASE |
¢  Twinriver taps

— forest’s wealth

emai REN ED re,

et Re ae "

. Aloader removes the logs

from a truck that just brought
_them in from one of Twinriver's logging sites in Tree Farm
“Licence No. 1. Located near the start of the Nass Read, the

caf

reload yard processes approximately 1,00 cunits of logs per’

‘day. The wood is put onto the gro
sawlogs are forwarded to Pohle while the pulpwood

transported to Watson Island.

und, sorted, and the
ig

REFORESTATION
He gives
a hand

to nature

nay

Adolf Kokoshke...in charge
of reforestation and fire protection.

~ one time

‘tb pr uce tis own
replan

‘management, can ~ bri

Twinriver’s nursery, which at
oduced as many as one
half ion seedings, is now
largely shut down, providing
reforestation and fire protection
manager Adolf Kokoshke with
little more than an outdoor
laboratory and workshop in which

to test exotic plant species not.

native to the Skeena forest.
Though Twinriver would prefer
is for

tation, the B.C. Forest

Service, under whose control

~ CanCel manages Tree Farm

Licence No. 1, clearly spells out
guidelines for harvesting. . That
now includes the purchase
seedlings. directly from the
agency's lower mainland
nurseries, ;
Mountain Ash, Ponderosa Pine,

and European Larch are among

the breeds that Kokoshke’s crews:

have planted over the past few

years, in hopes of determining.

-under proper

whichspecies,

. the
maximum return from the forest.
Only about 10 per cent of Skeena
forest land does not regenerate
quickly enough under natural,
post-loggin conditions thus
necessitating reforestation.

Snow damage, disease, and pests
have jeopardized the prospects of
each of exotic breeds, leadin
Twinriver back to planting
mmore common species. The
“foreign species” are now planted
for “ornamental” rather than
oberational purposes.

Hemlock must be planted in
‘plugs’? that hold both the

’s roots apdsome soll With
bare planting, . Kokosh.ke said,
the trees suffer mortality rates
which exceed 50 per cnet.

Hemlock forests look like

Lodgepole pine patches during the.

early years of reforestation but

- hemlock quickly establishes itself

as the understory and later
dominates the forest. This natural
process of ecological succession

_ results in a healthy hemlock forest

per

which, in about 100 to 110 years, |
will once again be harvested by
foresters.

Twinriver
Balsam is planted on more
extreme sites, those that receive
heavier rainfall . Better sites
receive spruce seedlings, drier
bites are excellent lodgepole pine
ICAL.

Within three years of logging,

established

young forests have
cent of the

themselves on 90 per

land CanCel cuts. But if slash

burning is ordered by forest
service overseers, cautious about
possible fire hazards, it would take
seven to 12 years before natural

of vegetative cover would grow back
8

ieiently to resemble a forest.
Douglas Fir has been tried in the
TFL hut it serves as an alternate
host for cooley aphids a pest that,
Kokschke says, ‘really intensifies
in tthis area when Douglas Fir is
planted with spruce.”
All japlanting programs are
directed ‘and approved by the
forest service and, unfortunate

for Twinriver, the compand?

planting programs are . directed
and approved by the forest service
and, unfortunately for Twinriver,
the company is required to buy all
its s from the government
agency, he_ said.
~~ This places a further
constraint on- the company’s
reforestation plans because the
forest service has been. able to
provide Twinriver with only 30 to 40
cent of is needs.
“With different seasonal climates
and growth cycles of southern
own species, seedlings bound for
e northwest are harvested by the
agency inthe latefall andkept ina
cooler until they shipped here. The
company pays seven cents a
for one year old plugs, 12 -
14 cents for two year old bare root
seedlings, and up to 18 cents for the
four-year-old seedlings that must
be planted at more severe sites.
Twinriver’ plants an average of
$75,000 seedlings, or 2,000 acres
each year.

Turn off the Yellowhead Highway to the Nass
Road and you enter the giant Tree Farm Licence
(TFL) No. 1, at 6.6 million acres the largest in the
province.

To utilize the wealth of this publicly-owned forest
resource, Canadian Cellulose employs 1,400
company personnel in its northern operation.
Twinriver Timber, a CanCel subsidiary, is the
northern woods manager, harvesting timber from
a forest haif the size of Nova Scotia, from aland
that includes 2.3 million acre acres of prime forest.

TFL No. 1 is itself the worksite for hundreds of

- CanCel employees and private contractors and the

home of many. From falling the trees to building
the roads to planting new seedlings to protecting
the timber from fire, Twinriver employees manage
this area, generating dollars that form the base of
Terrace’s economy. :

On a tour of the company’s woods operation, 30
Terrace community and media representatives
saw, first hadn, some of the features and nuances of
the local industry. (Two important aspects of the
company, its reforestation program and its logging
campat Nass are discussed in other stories on this
page. ;

Though depressed lumber prices continue to
plague the industry and cut down on p production,
Twinrinver still employs about 250 hourly

s

wa met

Karl Saele works the standing lathe, part of the $300,000 in
equipment housed in Twinriver’s maintenance shop at Mile
1% of the Nass Road. Bob Christie supervises a
maintenance force that keeps 136 pick-up trucks and
busses, 45 boats, and 450 other pieces of equipment in
running order, ready to meet the exigencies of northwest

" logging. Twenty mechanics, five welders, and a number of

other tradesmen owrk right in the shop, located on the Nass
Road so the company can service Us heavy equipment
without having to travel public highways. The shop, with its
27,000 square feet of floor space, contains a general service
area with five overhead bridge cranes, a machine shop,
welding department, dre repalr section, storage areas,
locker rooms,

employees and 82 salaried staff persons in its
logging branch. Peak production would add almost
100 jobs to this total.

Another 250 people work at the Pohle Lumber
Operation and still more work at CanCel's
Kitwanga' sawmill.

Of those employed in Twinriver’s woods b-anch,
130 work out of Terrace, the remainder out of Nass.

TFL No. 1 provides the majority of the wood
required for CanCel’s plants in Prince Rupert,
Terrace, and Kitwanga. Completion of the new
kraft mill in Rupert will bring capacity to 780,000

units per year while the Pohle and Kitwanga

lumber operations have annual capacities of 120
million and 35 board feet.
Fred Waldie, woods manager, headed the
Twinriver's delegation leading the tour. He was
assisted by Bob Davis, manager of Pohle lumber;
Dave Gardiner, forestry and engineering
manager; Earl Ellis, logging manager; Paul
Lefrancois, reload foreman; Bob Christis,
maintenance supervisor; Adolf Kokoshke,
reforestation and fire protection manager, and Cal
Hill, Nass area loggin superintendent.
These men explained their particular areas of
responsibility and assisted the delegation in
obtaining an increased understanding of
Twinriver’s job. .

>

foo
4 Mtns vo

maintenance offices and warehowses.

NASS CAMP

He ae

Kathy Albert poses before some of the items available at
the Nass camp commissary, a combinatlon-store-poolroom-

tS Gen

: +
ii Y ee

lounge that supplies some of the immediate needs of the
community's realdents. a)

uf ; «

More than just a camp

As recently as two years
ago, the turnover rate at
Nass Camp approached 100
per cent annually. Today,
says Nass area longing
superintendent Cal Hill, it's
‘'very minimal.’’

‘The unavailability of
alternative employment and
curtailed woods operation
are two reasons for the
decreased migration and for
those who are staying at
Nags, a sense of community
has developed, and facilities
and amenities are being

-egtablished to foster this

feeling.

Today, Hill explains,
there are about 115 people
working in the community:
65 single men _ in
bunkhouses, 32 married
employees, and 18
contractors. During times
of normal production,
employment would
approach 250,

“with the recession, we're
really small scale,” he said
of the Nass operation, “but
unfortunately, the costs are
still largely the same. It’s
no less to operate a camp or
run cookhouses for 100 or 250

Recreation director
Gordon Fisher and

personnel assistant Tom -
Fulko are two resource:

people upon whom

community members.rely.
Fulko who helps new .

resident acclimatize
believes that turnover is
decreasing because married
peo fe with families are now
nding Nass increasingly
attractive. One drawing
card is the community's
inclusion in the new Nishga
School District...
With children able to

attend the modern, $3 ¢4

million. school in nearby
Aivansh, parents are not as
reticent about making the-
move, he explained. The old
facility had been a
detriment because
schooling ended at grade
seven.

Besides the 18 houses, 45
trailer sites, and bunkhouse
facilities for 200 men, Nass
Camp has a recreation hall
an commissary.

Recreation director
Fisher co-ordinates
programs for people of all

ages and tastes.
here are movies,
“Yahtzee” tournaments,

indoor tennis, baskethall,
and other sports within the
hail while outdoors there is a:

baseball diamond and, ab
everyone knows, some ofthe
best hunting and
grounds on the continent.

the camp ‘and there is the

commissary .in which the
recreation commission has
invested.

Kathy Albert and her
husband operate this store,
providing for some of the
needs the loggers and
their families, including
beer and liquor. Kathy's
also §63.sthe'~——sérrecreation
commission bookkeeper.

The commission has
using its share of
commissary profits to
purchase recreational
equipment. Elected
commissioners oversees
activities and set priorities
for new purchases.

at __ the

p. .
There lies the
community's major
oblem. It is too close to
errace, one Twinriver
Official was overheard

saying. When Frida: t
oats “around, Hes Hew

le take off for town.
t the camp were a bit
farther away, he added,

dh

Cal Hill

fishing

Twinriver pays the costs perhaps they would look
of a television receptor for more inward for
entertainment,