‘Tenure:
forms,

problems.
I

Licences are by far the largest, but
Pulpwood Agreements are growing
in number, Also discussed were

n the last few weeks we have
discussed the major forms of
forest tenure. Tree Farm

Forest Licences, which aren’t
confined to any specific area, and
Woodlot Licences, which resemble
Tree Farm Licences but are far too
Small to be considered viable oper-
ations,
There are a number of other
"forms of tenure, though, that figure
Prominently in the province’s
forest policy. The primary dif-
ference in the forms of tenure we
are going to discuss this week is
that the Ministry. of Forests is
responsible for silviculture prac-
tices, not the company holding the
licence.
These include Timber Sale
Licences which, according to the
- Ministry, "allow for the orderly
harvest of relatively small volumes

Pifer —

Continued from page A6

they say, especially fom among
the 15-to-20 percent who remain
undecided.

No wonder they think it will be
worth the wait!

* Are you eligible to vote... and
can you prove it? Whenever the
election does arrive, recent legis-
lation means that you will not be
able to register on Election Day,
as has been O.K. in the past.

So; as a public service, this
comer advises you to phone
Elections B.C. at 660-8676 to
make sure. You're welcome.

many
same

of timber". Tenure through a Tim-
ber Sale Licence is sold by com-

petitive bid and is intended to

serve the needs of operators with
small allowable annual cuts, those
registered under the Small Busi-
ness Forest Enterprise Program

(Small Business Program), holders .

of Pulpwood Agreements, and
others with temporary cutting
rights.

Timber Licences are an old form
of tenure. No licences have been
issued under this provisions since
1913, but a number of these
licences still exist. Timber licences
were devised in the days when we
believed it was impossible to run
out of trees — the devastation
caused under this form of tenure is
still visible today.

Timber Licences designated a
specific piece of real estate and
gave the holder of the licence
permission to cut all timber that
was mature at the time of the
award anytime he liked. This is the
form of tenure MacMillan Bloedel
held in the Kitimat Valley that
allowed them to clear cut almost
the entire valley. MacMillan
Bloedel has since sold these
licences, something that is allowed

‘ with government permission, and

the land will revert back to the
Crown only after every tree that
was mature at the time of the
award has been cut.

Then there are a number of
minor forms of tenure. A Free Use
Permit allows the cutting of fire-
wood and fence posts and rails for
personal use and makes it possible
for prospectors. to-cut the timber
they need to develép their mineral
claims. A Licence to Cut

Letter to t. the Editor

Is this the rig

ht

place for a retailer?

Open letter to Terrace
mayor and city council:

It has been brought to my atten-
tion that the city plans to amend or
change the zoning on Keith and
next to the overpass to accommo-
date a company which plans to
open a video rental store in this
area, now zoned only for ware-
house or light industrial.

I find this very disturbing
because in this area we already
have one of the most congested
traffic problems in the city, a
situation that has already claimed
one life of a young lady. Now, I
find this city plans to let a com-
pany operate a video store —
which generates a tremendous
amount of traffic, approximately
50 percent of which is children.
Children crossing the highway,
dashing between logging and
freight. trucks plus all the other
traffic with no crosswalks or safety

zones I find unacceptable.

I also have been informed that
the company involved is trying to
convince council that their store is
going to be warehousing videos for
the purpose of obtaining a business
licence. If a video store resembles
any other type of business I would
say that would be a library, not a
warehouse, Would this city con-
sider this as being a good spot for
a library expansion site?

If this company is to proceed
4 with this without a permit, I think
it will only show their irrespon-
sible feelings for our children in
this city. I don’t feel this should be
permitted for the cost is far too
high. Anyone using this highway
or people concerned with our
children should let their feelings be
heard now before anything hap-
oe "James Wold,

Terrace.

authorizes private property Owners
and the holders of an agricultural
lease to cut timber on their land
and sell it on the open market,
And Cash Timber Sales allow the
ministry to sell minor volumes of
timber without advertising or
accepting. applications from other
persons. This form of tenure
generally relates to areas of
blow-down or beetle kill and
covers @ volume of up to $2,000 in
stumpage.

There are also Special Use Per-
mits, which cover the cutting of
timber for land development such
as log sorting areas, the construc-
tion of an industrial camp or the
development of a gravel pit, Road
Permits, which authorize holders to
harvest timber for the construction
or maintenance of a Ministry of
Forests approved road, and Christ-
mas Tree Permits, which give
holders the right to plant, grow
and harvest Christmas trees on
Crown. land. |

ith all but one of these
7 W forms of tenure, how-
ever, there are two

common problems: reforestation
and roads. The Ministry of Forests
is responsible for all reforestation
and road construction under all
these timber sales, but only the
Small Business Program has a

built-in structure which covers the

y Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Arnold and Doug Davies

cost. The others fall under funding
sources such as the Forest
Resource Development Agreement,
(FRDA) and money for replanting
trees has traditionally been either a
feast or famine situation — usually
the latter — and consequently the
rate of reforestation has fallen well
behind the rate of harvest.

There are, of course, other com-
pounding problems. Nursery capa-
city at the present time, for
example, wouldn’t be able to keep
up with the demand even if suffi-
cient funding was available.

Still, this is rather ironic con-
sidering the fact that the financial
structure of the Small Business
Program offers something closer to
the concept of sustainable yield

‘than any other form of tenure in

the province. It is a form of tenure
that can be described as
self-funded. Money from the sale
of timber under the Small Business
Program goes into a "pot" that

covers the necessary cost of.

replanting and road construction.
It could easily be argued that this

is the way the whole industry

should operate, regardless of the

_form of tenure. If the government

were to retain a portion — let’s
say 20 percent for the sake of
argument — of all taxes and stum-
page fees coming from the indus-
try, then take on the responsibility
of replanting all areas that are

harvested, we might address at
least one of the problems facing
the industry today, a fact of life
commonly called the Falldown
Effect.

Although we have suggested 20
percent as an arbitrary figure that
might cover the cost of reforesta-
tion, it wouldn’t take any great
business mind to figure out exactly
what a realistic figure might be.
Businessmen, industry leaders and
farmers do it every day. You sim-
ply have to look at the facts and
decide how much of your profits
you have to re-invest in your busi-
ness in order to assure its con-
tinued operation.

And as far as government
management practices as they
relate to our forests, there’s @
simple question that needs to be
answered. If a business takes
everything it earns and spends it
on something else, how is anything
put back? The answer is rather
obvious. It isn’t. And as any good
businessman knows, if you put
nothing back in you lose what
you've got.

Next week, we will take a part-
ing took at forest tenure and,
according to the interim report of
the B.C. Forest Resources Com-
mission, some changes that might
be made. Following that, we'll
begin a new segment of Forestry
Insights when we begin to examine
- the appraisal system in B.C.

We know you,
the advertiser,
will appreciate
. Todd’s
enthusiastic,
businesslike
approach.

concerns,
call Todd today
at 635-7840,

Terrace Revien.

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APPOINTMENT

The Terrace Review/Close-up Business Services
welcomes Todd Vogt, our new sales representative.

Todd Vogt
Sales Representative
Terrace Review and Close Up magazine