This week: - Between a rock and a hard place Part IV. . This week we return to a clear cut logging site, with Herby Squish perched on a stump and meditating on past errors and the all-too-present nightmares ' they have spawned. aving dismissed phase H contracting as being any part of a useful answer to the day's problem, Squish set his mind to other forms of iog- ging. All things considered, he decided, his basic harvesting approach in the design of his new five-year management working plan would consist of three years of tower logging and ground skidding, followed by two years of skyline logging. After three more years of har- ‘vesting Jovial’s forest licence, ground skidding would be nearly impossible anyway. The terrain would be too steep. And a sky- line operation, even though more expensive at first glance, does offer some real savings. Yarding would cost around $26, but Jovial wouldn’t need to build as many roads. Road building and maintenance costs could be cut by a factor of four. There were other advantages as well, Fewer roads would mean less environmental damage. A skyline operation could work Jovial’s coastal licence eight or nine months each year... And that meant saving a few jobs. - Jovial was already destroying small contractors by offering them only six months work each year. But many of these same contractors would be put out of business anyway if the company changed to skyline logging as well. But as those companies went under, most workers would find employment with new and bigger companies specializing in skyline logging, the wave of the not-too-certain future. Still, he admitted, there would be a net loss of jobs, and he would be forced to keep that information from the public if he could. The public would never accept a plan that predicted bankrupt contractors and fewer jobs. But the harvesting plan Squish was mulling over still left him with a major problem... Jovial’s bottom line. Would the savings on road construction be enough to turn a profit? Probably not, he concluded, Because of the dis- tance and steep terrain, trucking costs would soon eat up a lot of the savings on road construction, If Jovial was going to have a chance at turning a profit, he would have to purchase timber from other licensees located closer to his mill. But that would mean undercutting his own licence, which would only become another problem Squish would have to deal with. That ended his line of thought. "I’m still going in circles," Squish cried out even though there was no one to hear. "If there’s any answer at all, I’m on the wrong track. There must be another approach. By concentrat- ing on harvesting methods that meet Jovial’s bottom line, I’m doing nothing more than playing Jovial’s game." Squish left his stump-top perch in the centre of the tire-scarred remains of the old phase logging site. He looked around the site in disgust and began wandering towards his truck. He wasn't certain were he was going, but he needed a change of scenery. A-change in his line of thought. "I’ve got to concentrate more on the real problem at hand," he muttered as he climbed up into the driver’s seat of his pickup truck. "Don’t worry about the next five years, Herby. Worry about the future in general and the next five years will take care of. themselves." Was it possible, though? Major forest companies and the govern- ment had received plenty of warning. Squish recalled a pres- entation given to the Forest Resources Commission by UBC’s F.L.C. Reed on May 15, 1990. "It is my firm conviction that we have just begun to tap the storehouse . of opportunities which beckon," Reed had sald, "Our forest lands have the bio- logical capability to double the present harvest of industrial timber within a crop cycle of 60 ~ to 80 years. "Moreover, within the same time frame we also have the prospect of doubling, tripling. and even further expansion of our annual enjoyment, and use, of fish and wildlife, recreation days, scenic wonders, and wild- land attractions." A nice picture, Squish thought. And an achievable goal. Yet -here he sat, three years later, wondering how he could single- handedly move Jovial’s thinking from the bottom line to respon- sible harvesting. Why? Perhaps Reed had answered that question in May, 1990. "It is because we have con- straints of an institutional, tech- nical and economic nature which must be dealt with before we can expect to achieve our goals," he had told “the Forest Resources Commission. "Even more impor- tant is our failure to grasp what is called "The Big Picture’." Reed added later, "It is fair to say that no systematic forest resource strategy has been offered, prior to these Commis- sion hearings, by government, industry, academia or any other group. We have instead fallen into the trap of short term, ad hoc, political decisions made — Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 4, 1991 7 Insights by Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Amold and Doug Davies without reference to any sense of destiny." Reed had much more to say, of course. He termed the buzz word of the day, "sustained yield," a myth. "We are desperately short of sawlogs, with deficits actua! or looming in all regions," he had said. "Some will say that ! don’t understand sustained yicic and then they proceed to re- define the term simply to mear prompt regeneration of cutovers. If they define sustained yielc recklessly enough, then ot course falldown is permissible." Yes, there had been plenty o! warning and positive suggestions for change, but little had been done to effect any real change. Our forests were still being managed by remote corporate boards who either didn’t know or didn’t care there was a need for change. They were blinded by the bottom line. If you don’t turn ¢ profit, shares drop and panic- Stricken shareholders jump ship... Or demand a change in the board. The bottom line, therefore, must be maintained. Squish turned the key in the ignition and began driving absent-mindedly south towards Gearbox Lake. “The bottom line,” he mumbied. "I run into it . everywhere I go." Project builds extended families for the disadvantaged Contributed by Ruth Hallock The hand of friendship is all that’s required in a revolutionary new concept being introduced throughout North America by a determined professor of the humanities from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. His name is John McKnight and the concept is one of “con- necting”, through friendship, those in the community who are blessed with all of the normal physical and mental facilities — with those, who have been short-changed by Fate and labelled by society. McKnight was the key facilita- tor at a three-day workshop in Prince George last week under the joint sponsorship of the B.C, min- istries of health, and social ser- vices and housing, The Prince George “Project Friendship” soci- ety hosted the conference, called “Northern Connections — a Workshop on Communily Build- ing”. * Representatives from commu- nities throughout the northwest attended the event, with Bev Greening of the Terrace Seniors Commission, Gerry King of the Terrace Anti-Poverty Group and Terrace city alderman Ruth Hal- lock comprising the Terrace dele- gation. The thrust of the conference was to re-instate the elements of [| friendship and true hospitality in |, the community. The workshop was aimed at citizens who want to |, reach out to people who are isolat- ij ed and disconnected from the mainstream, such as the disabled, the elderly, disoriented youth, families at risk, and ex-offenders. Assisting with the workshop ‘? were members of the Prince George “Project Friendship” soci- ety and Powell River’s “Commu- nity Life Project”. Both of those cities have a high success ratio in de-institutionalizing and re-con- necting, and are star players in Professor McKnight’s program. Anyone interested in obtaining more information regarding the John McKnight philosophy is wel- come to call Ruth Hallock at 635- 4273, Bev Greening at 635-7868 or Gerry King at 635-4631, FRIENDSHIP FANS. Terrace residents Ruth Hallock, Gerry King and Bev Greening recently returned from Prince George bearing enthusiasm for "Project Friendship", a concept to re-build the personal caring element in communities.