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par nlreapaanet creer

The Terrace Post Office was hit with a strike by Canadian Union: of Postal

Workers (CUPW) employees from Oct. 9 to Oct. 16, but last Friday the inside
postal workers were lagislated back to work. The legislation provides for a
90-day mediation period, after which the Canada Post Corporation and
CUPW will have an agreement imposed on them by an arbitrator if they

_haven't reached a settlement.

Everyone welcome.

and see what it's all about.

Kermode Knit Wits, a club for all persons interested in furthering
machine knitting. Regular monthly meetings will be held:on the 2nd
Tuesday at noon and the 4th Thursday at 7:30 p.m. For. further: Informa-::.-
tlon call Audrey at 638-1335, Jan at 635-7517 or Nancy at 635-5379.

The Toastmasters Club meets on the first and third Tuesday of every
‘month at Caledonia Sr. Secondary School, room 3, at 7:30 p.m. Drop in

The Terrace Friends and Familles of Schizophrenics Is a support group
that meets once per month. Meetings are the 3rd Tuesday of the month
at 7:30 p.m. at the Psych. Conference Room at Mills Memorial -Hospltal.
One alm of the group Is to provide community education about this Ill: -
ness. Anyone wising to learn more or become part of this group Is -
welcome to attend the meetings. Please cail 638-3325 for further info. .

‘After a 17-day strike inside
postal workers have been legis-

lated back to work by the federal .

‘government.

The 23,000 CUPW members’

were given 24 hours to return to
work by legislation passed in the
Commons last Friday. Canada
Post Corporation spokesman
Mike Bradshaw said the legisla-
tion puts the.dispute into media-
tion for 90 days, which he term-
ed an ‘‘exceptionally long period
that should be more than ample
to reach an agreement’,

Bradshaw said if the media-
tion fails, the mediator will

assume the position of an ar- ©

bitrator and a binding agree-

ment will be forced on both

sides, ee
After 15 months. of negotia-

: Terrace Review — Wednesday, October 21, 1987 9 —_

have been unable to reach an
agreement. The core of the
dispute has been Canada Post's

‘determination to allow private

contractors to perform. func-

tions which up to.this point have.
‘been done by CUPW members.

The job action escalated from a

series of rotating strikes to a full

general strike on Oct. 9.
During the strike ‘‘replace-

-ment’’ workers were used in

some locations, but Bradshaw
said that in Terrace the mail-
sorting was done by supervisory
personnel, who he said worked a

‘number of 18 and 20 heur days.

Bradshaw noted ‘that the
previous CUPW strike in 1981
that lasted 43 days cost the na-
tional economy about $3 billion
and bankrupted thousands of

7) Postal workers ordered —

return to the job

-. tions Canada Post and CUPW

businesses. He said - prevention

_of ‘similar losses ‘in’ this strike ©

was the reason Canada Post at-

tempted ‘to continue ‘moving . ©
mail.: ‘‘Most people think the *’ -

mail- consists: mainly of. things ~
like Aunt Hildy’s ‘Christmas
cards and letters from relatives.
In fact about 80 percent is busi-
ness mail, like accounts, cheques
and so on. The point in moving
the mail during the strike was to

_ensure the mail stream remained

intact to return it to normal as
soon as-‘possible.”” =
Bradshaw said. the’ Canada
Post. Corporation .handles be-_
tween 30 and 45 million pieces of -
mail daily, and after a disrup-
tion the backlog of sorting. and

‘delivery takes months to clear: -

““No. one suffered. during this
strike,’’ he claimed. - or

’ Skeena Mall' manager Gall Currie spent time last week preparing a series of displays for the Mall's participation in

“Kids Say K(no)w”, a nationwide program to promote awareness in children of the realltles and dangers of drug and

alcohol abuse. The campaignis sponsored by the Intern
formation booth are set up In the Skeena Mall this week.

ational Council of Shopping Centres, and displays and an in-

_———

Kh utzeym ateen — continued from page 11 |

obviously. supports a small,
stable grizzly population.
Knowing that there are

“estuarine (river delta) grasses
and sedges and riparian (river
bank) grasses as well for spring

feed, skunk cabbages later on
and other roots and shoots, pink
salmon for summer along with
huckleberry, salmonberry ‘and

_ later runs of coho to enjoy with

osier berries and devil’s club
fruit, all in proportions ade-
quate to meet the needs of this
population, suggests to me that

logging activities cannot im--

prove on this basic ‘balanced
econsystem. —~

__ It will in fact place it in serious
danger. To prevent windthrow,

one would have to leave large.
‘tracts of tall streamside spruce, .

or to not log at all or to log right

to the stream’s edge, a situation

ripe for erosion and. damage to
the fish population. °

To regenerate conifers, fruit-
bearing bushes would need to. be
either fire damaged or herbicid-
ed, activities that seriously
change the dominance of these
species and the balanced rela-
tionships each must have in their

respective season of use by

grizzlies.

When the new forest closes its
canopy 15-25 years hence, there
will be little-light penetration to
the forest floor, thus killing

_ What fruiting species. survived,

thereby further ‘damaging the
vegetation balance further. |
 : There will be the noise of

development, -a harassment to |

bears, and it may well. drive
many shy bears out of the valley
where they may not have as high
a survival rate, thereby impac-
ting on the population. a

Some bears may have to be

shot or transported for threaten- —

ing humans in inadvertent en-
counters, Even biologists carry
guns for protection, so even the
study of bears can harm their
population,

teen.
Bark beetles and porcupine
control, stand tending, thinning

‘and so on all require presence of

humans, leading to further hu-
man impacts of an unforseeable

nature, :
Skidding and yarding tall

spruce over soft valley soils may
‘cause unavoidable .damage to

fish habitat through erosion and

debris and vegetation decom-
position.

Siltation and erosion induced
by logging will be unavoidable,
and we do not yet know how
long it will take to stabilize a
watershed from these effects.
This will impact on the salmon
species and as yet, we cannot
precisely predict how, once
again placing the seasonal food
balance into jeopardy.

to the system may well change in
gravel and particle size and
abundance, with deleterious ef-
fects on certain fish stocks.
Research has identified this as’
one of the main impacts of logg-
ing. So

if it is already -
tenuous, as in the Khutzeyma- .

My experience has shown that
‘systems such as this, where there
is no major lake at the head of

the valley, are less resistant to

the effects of logging.

A healthy fish population pre-
sent in abundance in each season
is one of the key food resources
for the bears in this valley.

Black bears are also present in
the valley, and grizzly may well
feed: on them and occasionally
vice versa, _ .

There is thus a dynamic
equilibrium between the grizzly
and black bear populations,
which may well swing towards
favoring the blacks which res-
pond better to disturbed sites.

- I noted not a single ungulate
in the valley floor on two visits,
though goats could be seen on
the valley walls. There were
wolves present though.

The main mystery to me of the

Khutzeymateen is how three.

large predators manage to coex-
ist without ungulate prey
species. .

‘This would be a wonderful
research question to address in

. the Khutzeymateen, and perhaps .

only in the Khutzeymateen.
_ Conclusion
I have described how vegeta-

‘tion changes and management
Spawning gravel recruitment:

intervention. and human ac-
tivities might throw the existing
dynamic equilibrium out of
balance. . oo

_ All of the above changes
might require human manage-
ment intervention to prevent

‘harm to the grizzly population,

thus. destroying this balanced
wilderness ecosystem forever,

I have shown how the bear is-

declining globally, nationally
and provincially. There is ‘no
ecological reserve dedicated to
this species anywhere in Canada.

I have demonstrated how we
are largely ignorant of its actual
numbers, method of population
regulation, or the impact we are
having on it through our

"Management strategies.

We cannot guarantee the pro-
tection of the Khutzeymateen
population with the present state
of knowledge, as we cannot
forsee what will happen to affect
the forests once we intervene.

We cannot guarantee stability
of habitat protection measures
over four years, let alone over
the rotation period of such a
forest.

It will not be cheaper to set
aside a valley in the future for
these magnificent animals, nor
will it be easier to find one when
most of the country is into se-
cond growth. ;

The Natives often included
the bear in their totems, and
people might belong to the bear
clan, The bear is thus connecte
to humans spiritually. .

In this sense, I found that my
own spirit took second place to
the spirit of the bear in this
isolated valley. Be

I have been to the Khutzeyma-

teen and I found a world where I
was the alien, It was a precious

. experience and. one which we.

should reserve for our grand-
children and beyond.

Even armed with firearms,
our safety was not guaranteed if _

the inhabitants had rebelled, But

they did not.

I found the inhabitants shy,
curious and peaceful though a ~
bit fearful of our presence.

For human kind to be hum-
bled thus is a wonderful ex-
perience, for we have devastated.
and conquered almost every
niche of the planet.

To satisfy our curiosity, we
seek to communicate with in-
habitants of other worlds by
sending satellites beaming radio
messages proclaiming our glor-
ious existence.

Ironically, here, right under.
our very nosés, shuddering
before the threatening blades of
the poised iron cats, is a world
with strong proud inhabitants
not unlike ourselves in many
ways, masterfully living in har-
mony with other kinds.

Yet, we do not seek to com-
municate with them, or to un-
derstand their social structure or
the secrets of their harmony with
their environment — instead, we
callously seek to destroy their
world. -- ne

Are we not yet civilized
enough to give this strong, pro-
ud symbol of a world that
flourished: prior to the human:

_ explorsion, a tiny remnant of

that once ‘untainted land, the:

valley.of.the Khutzeymateen? =