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Native blockades of logging
roads in the Kispiox area may
have only begun to heat up. In
fact,.in supporting these block-
ades, the Village of Hazelton
municipal council has suggested
that if the Ministry of Forests

“continues. to allow ° increased
harvesting in the area that con-
trol of: forest management in the
Kispiox region should be per-
manently turned over to local in-
terests.

by. Tod Strachan

In a letter to Minister of

Forests Claude Richmond, .

Hazelton mayor Alice Maitland
says that the Village of Hazelton.
will oppose any additional pulp
or sawlog sales in the Kispiox

area until Native land claims

‘have been settled, an effective
forest management plan has
been compiled with full public

consultation, and all proposed

timber sales have been properly
mapped and assessed by other
Crown agencies as appropriate
clearcut sites. The opposition
was registered following a recent
advertisement by the Ministry of
Forests offering the sale of 6.52
million cubic meters of
pulpwood in the Kispiox valley
_to be harvested over 25 years.
.. Maitland says that her council
_ finds the advertisement *for the
sale of surplus quota as ‘‘objec-
tionable”’ because the advertised
sale represents more than a 20

- percent increase fh -the annual

allowable cut in the Kispiox

‘ Timber Supply Area at a time_.

when a public planning process
into managing the Kispiox forest
" resource is currently only in the
initial -stage. “It seems insulting

to announce. a 20 percent-plus

increase in the existing Kispiox. -

TSA .annual allowable cut
before the TSA planning process
is concluded,’’ Maitland wrote
to Richmond. “There is enough
mistrust. of the Ministry of
Forests without making a
mockery of yet another public
advisory process.”’

‘According to Maitland, on

Nov. 30 Hazelton village staff —

requested a map indicating: the
location of the 6.52 million
cubic meter pulpwood sale and
were told that although general
logging areas could be: pointed
out, no exact map existed. In ad-
dition, she says, the area of the
‘sale has not been referred to the

. Ministry of Environment or any
‘other Crown agency to deter-

mine if the area in question is en-

vironmentally ‘safe for harvest. -

“Isn't it premature,” Maitland
writes, ‘‘to advertise a cut
volume as available when (1)
you don’t know where the cut is,
and (2) you haven’t vetted the
proposed harvest folios with
other agencies for the provincial
and federal governments?”’

Maitland points out that the
Gitksan-Wet’suwet'en Heredi-

tary Chiefs have instigated

blockades in the Kispiox TSA to
force reduction of the harvest of
local forest resources: until a
Supreme Court of Canada deci-
sion, expected between 1995 and
1997, ‘can be made regarding
issues of aboriginal rights and ti-

tle. She adds that the B.C. Court .
of Appeal upheld a Gitksan-

Wet’suwet’en application for an
injunction against a new logging
area north of the Babine River in

1988 and this most recent sale is

- Pulpwood sale creates problems,

apparently partially located
within that same area.

“To .advertise: additional
timber quotas as being available
in the land claims area is an in-

_ sult to the Gitksan-Wet’suwet’en
and an invitation to have the
Chiefs. force a complete shut-
down of the Upper Skeena
forest industry,’’ states Mait-
land in her letter,
The recent Ministry of Forests
advertisement that caught
‘Maitland’s eye calls for a 25 year
non-replaceable pulpwood
agreement utilizing. wood
‘residues, pulp logs, pulp quality

timber stands and deciduous
stands from all or part of
Pulpwood Area No. 17.. A
number of areas are listed, but
specifically an annual cut of
250,000 cubic.meters of timber
in the Kispiox TSA. Over 25
years this would total. 6.25.
million cubic. meters of pulp
logs. _

'. Other areas included in ‘the

advertisement are the Kalum
(north) TSA: with a 100,000
cubic meter annual cut for 25
years, Kalum (south) TSA
40,000, Morice TSA 75,000,
Lakes TSA ‘75,000, TFL#51

Terrace Review — Wednesday, January.3, 1990 11

director sayS

11,000 and TFL #1 72,000. Ac-
cording to the advertisement the
primary objectives of the pulp-
wood agreement are to create
employment and community.
stability, and to utilize wood .
fiber not currently being used by
existing mills. The tender call
gives a Feb. 15, 1990 deadline
and states.that submissions must
include a proposal for continu-

-ance, expansion or the establish-

ment of one or more new mills in
the area. A public hearing on the

‘timber sale has been. scheduled

for May 9, 1990 in Smithers.

Land status change endorsed

TERRACE — The Kitimat-

Stikine Regional District board

of directors say they have no ob-
jection to the removal of 5.75
hectares (14.2 acres) from the
Agricultural Land Reserve to ac-
commodate the newe Kalum
Wood Products sawmill.

The property in question is
presently owned by Skeena
Cellulose and is located on the
West Kalum Road about half a
mile north of the Kitsumkalum
Reserve boundary. Kalum
Wood Products is currently
employing 26 people at the site
to build a log-breakdown mill,
and they estimate that at least 50

. jobs will be created when they go
; into production next year.

> In a letter to the regional:
district describing their project,

-Kalum ‘Wood Products: presi-
* dent"R:K. Smurtliwaite says the
: property in question has been
“used as a’ maintenance site for

logging equipment since the ear-

ly 1980’s, He adds, though, that
the site has been under-utilized
since Skeena Cellulose con-
tracted out their logging opera-
tions two years ago.

According to Smurthwaite,
Kalum Wood Products con-
sidered other locations in the
region, but the West Kalum site
fit their requirements best; in
particular, it is far enough from
urban areas to minimize noise
and traffic concerns. He says

that Kalum Wood Products has .

since agreed to purchase the
property from Skeena Cellulose
and is current]y installing equip-
ment in the existing building on
the property..

. What’s most exciting about
this new mill, though, is the type
of production proposed by
Kalum Wood Products. Smurth-

‘waite’says that the new equip-
‘ment being installed is designed
to extract value-added lumber

products from low grade logs in

the’area that are currently being
wasted. He says that under cur-
rent practices these logs are
either left in the bush or turned
into chips. ‘‘The log breakdown
mill will enhance’ the
utilization,’’ says Smurthwaite,
‘fin order to salvage a valuable
resource insuring more efficient
use of British Columbia’s
lumber resources and addressing -
proper forest management-
environmental concerns.”’
Smurthwaite concludes by
saying, ‘‘Kalum fully intends to
work with other Terrace area
businesses such as Terrace Pre-
Cut to upgrade the latter’s plant
facilities in order to process
Kalum’s product.”’ The full im-
plications of this: final statement
are unknown at this time,
however, because any agree-
ments for other local businesses .
to benefit from the Kalum
Wood Products: operation have

yet to be made.

The Government of Canada recently
presented to Parliament a series of
amendments to the Unemployment
Insurance Act (UIA). The purpose

of the propose

improve existing legislation and to
provide additional funds for programs —
and job training in areas critical -

to Canada’s economic future. Major
improvements include additional
maternity/parental benefits and the
extension of coverage to people who
choose to work beyond age 65.

- Although passed by the House
of Commons on
Bill C-21 is still under consideration
by the Senate and will not become
law on December 31.

Under one section of the
current law, workers may qualify for
regular UI benefits with at least 10 to
14 weeks of work during the previous

ear. That section of the law expires

anuary 6th, 1990 and until amend-
ments to the Act are adopted the
following interim rule applies:

Anyone making a claim for regular

UI benefits that would have started

on or after January 7, 1990, must have
worked a minimum of 14 weeks during
the last year to qualify.

For more information contact
your local Canada Employment Centre
(CEC). There are more than 500 CECs
across Canada; phone numbers are
listed in the Federal Government .
section of your phone book. - *

amendments ts to

ovember 6th, 1989,

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