e Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 10, 1986 Forest action needed Forestry is the largest industry in Canada, employing close to one million men and women. Huge family and corporate fortunes have been made and now much of this money is flowing out of Canada to forestry projects in other areas of the world. - by Jim Fulton, M.P. Skeena Here in British Columbia the forest industry is under great pressure. The IWA is fighting contracting out of their jobs, having lost thousands of jobs in recent years. The 15 percent U.S. duty on softwood exports is hur- ting; the 35 percent U.S. duty on shakes and shingles is hurting. According to the Minister of Forests, expen- ditures on forestry in B.C. last year exceeded $350 million and only $150 million was collected in revenues and royalty, Our forest economy and workforce are in trouble. We have huge areas of B.C. that have been logged in recent years but are described by foresters as Not Satisfactorily Restocked (NSR). These areas must be replaced and experts such as Dr. Les Reed at UBC calculate the cost at $300 million per year. B.C. and Canada are spending only about one-fifth of that on B.C.’s NSR. Our forests are in trouble. The roughly $600 million per year that will be ‘‘lost”’ from the Canadian economy by the 15 percent duty on softwood exports should be paid back into our economy, - not into the U.S. economy. We should have won that case and may yet if B.C. and the federal government show some backbone. For some reason, journalists in B.C. seem to be hesi- tant to look at the real crisis developing around our number one industry and the 15 percent duty. A November lead editorial in the Los Angeles Times hits the 15 percent duty with the following quote ~ “‘... the issue has been clouded by what appear to be premature offers from inexperienced new ministers in the provin- cial government of B.C. who are suggesting that they ‘might raise the fees charged the lumber companies for - access to the province-owned forests. Canada insists that this was not an admission of unfair pricing practices ...”” . We need a national strategy on forestry anda full Minister of Forests at the national level to bring order out of the growing chaos. I am fighting for this at the federal level and think you will agree — our number one industry deserves no less. * Letters to the editor will be considered for publication only when signed. Please Include your phone ettevz editor - number. The reserves the right to condense and edit letters. Opinions expressed are nol necessarily those of the Terrace Review. Terrace Review Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review is -published gach Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Lid. To the editor: The Terrace Museum Society would like to ex- press its thanks to the community for support during the recent bake and stationery sale. A special thank you to all those who contributed home baking; the quality and variety were superb. We would like to voice our appreciation to Casey Braam for the generous use of his pen and ink drawings that were used Mane Teytord on the hasti-notes. The Editor: money raised will be going Maureen Barbour Staff Reporter: Michael Kelly Advertising Sales: Jean-Luc Roy primarily into Heritage Park which has a current project of building a storage shed and the on- 635-7840 going projects of restora- Production: tion and preservation. Kim Kimble The hasti-notes and Cate Ce on 1987 calendars (featuring Accounting: pioneer women and Marj Twyford recipes) generously Second-class mail registration No. 6896. Reproduction ot this paper or any por- tlon thereof is prohibited without per- miasion of the publisher. 4535 Greig Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7 Phone: 635-7840 Po donated by Totem Press, will be available at several locations in town: Head First Book Store, Something Good, Video Stop, and Sight and Sound. Sincerely, A. McConnell, Terrace Museum Society B UU ead LAT 00 Rea. ~~ Hubert Beyer Terrace Review ‘Victoria Correspondent — British Columbians _ know their forests There was a time not too long ago when British Col- umbians took virtually no interest in their number one natural resource. Forests, they believed, were a never-diminishing com- modity, forever providing a solid base.for the province’s economic health. Back then, only a few people warned that the future of our forests was bleak, unless better management techniques were implemented, but the industry had no difficulty branding them ill-informed malcontents. That picture has changed dramatically, according toa recent public opinion survey conducted by Decima Research for the Canadian Forestry Service. The survey involved 1,000 British Columbians, a more than adequate number for a sophisticated poll. The results are, therefore, retiable. The objectives of the poll included determining cur- rent perceptions of the importance of the forest industry in relation to other industries in the province, and assessing attitudes towards specific forest-related issues such as the use of pesticides and the co-existence of log- ging and other uses, including recreation and wildlife. Here are some of the results: Sixty-two percent of the respondents said they believe it will be impossible to continue meeting the demand for forest products, given current levels of replanting. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents said reforesta- tion should be the number one priority with the forest industry and government. So much for the effect of slick TV commercials of years past, showing forest company employees lovingly replanting three seedlings for every tree that was chop- ped down. Sixty-five percent of the respondents said forestry was important to their own individual economic security and - prosperity. Only 12 percent said forestry does not con tribute to their personal economic security. Equally interesting are the figures on what the respondents consider the most important economic sec- tor in British Columbia. Sixty-two percent said forestry ranks number one, while 22 per cent chose tourism. Only four percent of the respondents ranked the fishing industry in first place, followed by three percent in favor of mining. Multiple-use of our forests is a concept embraced by the overwhelmingmajority of respondents. An im- pressive 83 percent said they consider logging compati- ble with other uses such as fishing, wildlife and recrea- tion. Reaction to the use of chemicals to deal with pests was, I’m sure, surprising to the hard-line environmen- talists, Seventy-three percent of the respondents said they are in favor of using chemicals in the event of a threat that could disrupt the timber supply to the forest industry. The authors of the report call it a “‘remarkable pragmatism.”’ The question of whether governments should be more or less active in the management of our forests ‘‘in an environmentally sound way", produced some in- teresting results, Thirty-two percent said governments should be ‘‘far more active’’ in its enforcement of environmental stan- dards, while 48 percent said they should be ‘somewhat more active’’, Twelve percent considered governments’ current en- forcement standards at ‘‘about the right level’’. Six per- cent said governments should be ‘somewhat less active’ while a mere two percent said they should be “much less active’’. The pollsters draw the conclusion that there is an overwhelming perception that governments could be do- ing more to promote environmentally sound manage- ment of resources. ‘Clearly, most British Columbians recognize the im- portance of environmental issues and consider this to be the proper purview of government,” the pollsters say. “‘Most endorse higher levels of government interven- tion in setting or enforcing environmental standards, but this is balanced by a high recognition of the impor- tance of the forest resource to the economy, as well as a pragmatic vision of the mutual compatibility of logging and other recreational uses.”* I'd say that on the whole, British Columbians emerge from this public opinion survey as very knowledgeable and responsible custodians of our number one natural resource. And that’s something both the industry and govern- ment should keep in mind when they shape future forestry policies. News staff commended To the editor: The Totem Saddle Club (TSC) would like to thank news reporter and photog- rapher Daniele Berquist and the Terrace Review, for the excellent coverage given us throughout 1986, We are grateful that the Terrace area has a newspaper that extensively covers our local events in an interesting and infor- mative way. The TSC executive would also like to take this opportunity to wish our members and supporters a safe and happy holiday season. Frances Knull, Vice President, TSC.