Mushroom pickers to protest logging Don't cut productive patches, group says By GRETEL MILES HAZELTON — This season’s first pine mushroom pickers have discovered some of the best picking arcas are slated for log- ging. Hoping to find strength in numbers and a callective voice, a Skeena Mushroom Har- vesling Association is being formed. Pete Weeber, one of the- organizers, has been buying mushrooms in the area since the early 80s. Each picker who showed up at his stand this year seemed to have a tale of woe about ribbons (colorful plastic tape indicating future logging) and new roads on special sites. The prime areas for mushroom that are Slated for logging are Shandilla Creek and Andimaul near Kitwanga, and Helen Lake, Corral Creek and Ironside in the Kispiox Valley. Weeber, who also worked in the logging industry for decades, says it used to be un- derstood by government and industry that mushroom areas should be left alone. Around the Hazeltons, about a million dollars is generated during the mushroom season, and Weeber says it is the people who need it most who benefit from it. For the unemployed or marginally employed, Weeber explained that this is the lime for them to earn enough to buy things and to pay off bills. ‘No one is taking the mushroom business into account and the whole business is at severe risk,’’ says Weeber. Bob Pumey, forest resources manager with the Kispiox Forest District, says there has been a trend by local foresters over ihe past seven or eight years to take mushroom habitat into consideration. The foresters, employed by business directly or on contract, actually make the silviculture prescriptions. Purney says they would give their opinion on the economic viability of the patches. An organized effort by pickers is a good idea, says Pumey. The forest service is bec- oming more aware of where the mushroom areas are, but needs more specific informa- tion. Purney says il would be good if pickers would get together, review development NIGHTS ALIVE plans and approach businesses and different levels of government to point out which areas are commercially viable. . Following that, a public process could determine which sites should or should not be logged, and in which areas selective methods could be used to maintain the mushroom patches. *