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This week:

Sustained yield
and commitment

Forester Herby Squish is
where we left kim last week,
looking for the real meaning of
sustainable development out in
the bush, seeking answers in the
midst of a Jovial Logging clear
cut

Woerby Squish rattled
H along the seldom-used
logging road. A green
belt had been left along Clutch
Creek. Gearbox Lake had a
small ring of forest. But Clutch
Valley had been pretty well
stripped clean and a new crop of
trees was beginning to grow...
sort of.

There had been the usual per-
centage of crop failure, plus a
bit. But the battle had only
begun. The plantations, he knew,
faced a gradually declining
chance of failure for several
decades to come.

“You just never know," he said
philosophically. "You plant em.
Do as much as you can with the
budget you’re allotted. And for

~

no apparent reason they just up
and die."

Squish coasted to a stop at the
top of a rise. Gearbox Lake. It
was a rather pretiy little lake...
If you could block out the nudity
of the valley that surrounded it.
Still a few fish in it too.

Squish switched off the engine.
Set the parking brake. And
climbed down out of the cab.

"No apparent reason... That’s a
lie," he half whispered as he
surveyed the scene. "Most of the
sites were given reasonable if
not minimal care. But that phase
logging site... I don’t know how
Jovial managed to slip that one
through."

Squish recalled several secret
meetings with forestry people.
He was at a few, but not most.
There was an obvious concern
over the destruction of the soil
and resulting erosion. It was
obvious healthy trees wouldn’t
grow there without a lot of
special care. But all of a sud-
den... No problem.

"Curious," Squish muttered as
he scuffed the road way with the
toe of his boot. Suddenly a thin
smile brightened his face.

"Then there was that site over
there east of the lake."

Jovial eased over and leaned
against the hood of his pickup.

"It isn’t really funny... I
guess," he chuckled. "But Jovial
was sure mad. It was pretty
clear what he wanted to do with
all those seedlings. But the
planters were long gone."

Most of the plantation was ’J’
root due to careless planting.
That is, the seedlings were dam-
aged when they were planted
and the trees had tried to grow a
root along the: surface in the
Shape of a *J’. Almost three-
quarters of the scedlings had
simply fallen over when they

Fast response saved home

To the Editor;

We would like to take this
opportunity to extend a very grate-
ful “thank you” to the members of
the Terrace Fire Department, both
employees and volunteers.

On August 19, 1991 our garden
shed and camper were destroyed
by fire. Had it not been for the
quick, professional response of
these people, both our home and

our neighbour's house would have
been engulfed in flames. Damage
to both homes was superficial and
restricted to the exterior.

We would publicly like to
acknowledge this group of people
who put so much of their own
time into training to help others.
Granted, within the city, tax dol-
lars are used to support the fire
department; but monetary contri-

Tutors wait for

To the Editor;

There were two errors in your
recent article on Project Literacy
Terrace in the Nov. 27 issue.

As of mid-October, 42 of 49
applicants had been provided with
the opportunity to work on their

Pifer “== Continued from page 6

1987 with Bills 19 and 20 — actu-
ally end up benefitting the Opposi-
tion parties because it is the NDP
and not they who have to deal
with the fallout?

It’s like real-life Jeopardy,
isn’t it? And this correspondent
suggests that any mishandling of
this and other volatile issues could
place in jeopardy this govern-
ment’s prospects for re-election,

Parting Thought: I understand
that as part of.the transition from

reading, writing, or ESL proficien-
cy either with volunteer tutors or
in classes held at The Reading
Place, That represents an 84 per-
cent success rate, not the 100 per-
cent success rate your article

Opposition to government, the
NDP is conducting a complete
review of all of its labour contracts
and legislation, before entering the
arcna of negotiations.

One is hardly surprised. Obvi-
ously someone remembers that it
was the supposedly onside union
leaders and members who played
such a large part in 1972-75 in
defeating the only other NDP gov-
ernment the province has ever
seen.

butions cannot totally express
gratitude and appreciation for the
efforts of these people.

The general public often does
not realize how much extra volun-
teer time and effort is put in by the
fire department members and we
would appreciate council passing
on our thanks to these people for
their help in our time of need.

Ray and Shirley Tank,
Terrace.

training

implied.

The second item concerned the
hiring of a new literacy coordina-
tor. Although Sandy Cowan would
be a most welcome addition to our
staff, funding to support such a
development has yet to material-
ize,

Prospective volunteer tutors
might be interested to note that
Project Literacy Terrace already
has a list of 26 peopie looking for-
ward to being participants in the
January tutor training. Unfortu-
nately, we only have the means to
train eight people per training ses-
sion. Our apologies in advance to
those of you who will have to
remain wait-listed.

Nathaniel J. Purcell,
Coordinator/Administrator
Project Literacy Terrace

Terrace Review —— Wednesday, December 11,1991 7

Forestry
Insights

by Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Amold and Doug Davies

reached a height of three or four
feet for lack of adequate attach-
ment to the land.

“Who in the heck did that job?
Bud ’n’ Bili’s Economy Her-
bage? Something like that. Who
in the heck would want to re-
member?"

Squish pondered a few other
disasters with less humour, then
decided to follow an overgrown
trail down to the edge of the
lake. .

Alternately he idled and
Struggled through sections of
barren failure and thriving plan-
tations in sad need of thinning.
"Sustainable yield?" he ques-
tioned the struggling young
forest. "What is it? Really."

He remembered a presentation
made by F.L.C Reed. He was the
forest policy chair at UBC’s
Forestry Faculty and it was
sometime in 1990... March
Squish thought. At the third
annual B.C. Forest Industry
Conference in Vancouver.

"What was the title?"

Squish neatly skirted some
evidence that a moose population
existed in the area.

"Yeah... The Implications of
Sustainable Development for
British Columbia Forestry."

Reed’s objective, as Squish
remembered it, was to explore
the economic significance of the
Brundtland Commissions’s
sustainable development model
for the province.

Squish remembered Reed’s
words well. His presentation had
begun something like this: "The
British Columbia forest industry
now has manufacturing capacity
at least 10 percent above the
present level of harvest. More-

over, the harvest is also running
ahead of the long run sustained
yield, given the present level of
forest management.

"This means that B.C. is short
of high quality timber which can
be delivered to mills at a com-
petitive cost. We can of course
increase the supply by a more
aggressive program of plantation
establishment and intensive
timber stand improvement, but
neither policies nor adequate
budgets are in place to effect
such an increase."

Reed then delved into some
philosophical meanderings on
the international philosophy of
sustainable development before
settling down to the question at
hand.

"We need commitment... From
everyone," Squish thought aloud.
"From the government, the in-
dustry, the public... Commit-
ment. Without it we have noth-

ing."

Squish broke over a small

ridge. A long row of mature
trees marked the shoreline of
Gearbox Lake. The sun, poking
through high, scattered clouds,
marked the time. It was noon.
"Should have packed a lunch,"
Squish quipped. Then, realizing
he had been lost in thought for
nearly four hours, began to feel
the onset of depression. Four
hours. And still the solution he
sought had no more substance
than valley mist. Was there a
solution? Could a single man
make a difference if there was?
He sat down on the crest of the
hill and tried to get his mind
back on track. "Where was I?"
he pondered. "Commitment...
Yes. That’s it. Commitment."

Cooper takes helm
of regional board

Terrace alderman Bob Cooper has taken the helm in the
regional district board room. The chairman’s seat is up for
grabs every year at this time, and after past chairman Jack
Talstra stated he wouldn’t be in the running this year, two
nominations where made —- Cooper and Thornhill director Les

Watmough.

Cooper won the vote, but the results are to be kept secret so
we can’t tell you by how much. As the only other director in
the running, Watmough was declared vice-chairman.

Appointed city alternates for Cooper and Talstra are the same
as last year. Danny Sheridan is the alternate for Talstra and
Ruth Hallock will sit as a director when Cooper is absent.

The regional board consists of five elected directors from
rural areas and representatives from the municipal governments
of Terrace, Kitimat, Stewart and Hazelton.

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