a millet A ns A te Pa PS
By

This i ds the. » fra gritelé: ina”

_ - series: ‘On: the future: of the: Kit-
lope: ‘River: watershed. ‘On' Jan.
"| 23'and 24-a group of more than.
20 people. representing a diver-*
«sity of interests mét at the Mount
vs _ Layton: Hot. Springs. resort in an
~ attempt to discover a designation
"| and management scheme for the
» ° 350,000 hectare area that would:
be: “satisfactory. for. everyone
. involved, ° “The. result was an
agreement. .for further ‘meetings ”
-. between. the'two ‘primary inter-

ests, West Fraser-Enso ‘and the

_ Haisla: Nation.: West Fraser has”

the: timber. harvesting. rights: to

oe othe area, and the Haisla claim it
“ay as part of. their ancestral terri-
, “tory. :

"Previous. articles outlined:

‘the: ‘options presented at the
: ‘meeting: cand the Haisla history

of occupation and their present.

. perspective on. the- area. This:

week we examine West Fraser’ 5
i position. :

by: Michael Kelly

Sy ; Loo. .

Bh timber: harvest.

An: established - fact about

mo Sy Tree. Farm: Licences, at . least:
a until: now, is that. once part of |
' . the Ignd. base is removed the

timber on it:cannot be replaced.

. With. each- alienation of the land _
-- base the company holding the

licence. faces a loss of annual ©

"Because -.the . company’s

: a processing: facilities, in theory,

1 #6 Matched to the amount of

' timber“‘availabic- in’ its: tenure,
- arly 1oss-of: cutting rights means -
the’ company. must find: other
timber, elsewhere, build. further -

production facilities to get addi-

- tional value out of the timber
- available, ‘or cut back produc-.
- tion. All of these options are’ -

it.

s cwlti ng the wo rid

~ gurtounded by hazatds.°

Acquiring: timber - ouisidé the.
tenure is more~ expensive than’
logging | it on the company’s own.
‘forest: ‘base, and buying. logs on.
the-open market. makes the oper-:

- ations vulnerable. to. fluctuating
"supplies - “and. ‘costs.: Acquiring
additional tenure is nearly’ ‘outof’
the © question © “because - nearly”
every. hectare . of - “productive oy
forest in.B.C. is under one com- -
-mitment-or another; buying: an”

established: ‘tenure: ‘from: another:

company means buying: ‘another *
‘processing facility with it, some-"-

times giving the buyer a broader

timber profile and more flexibil-
‘ity in: the way. it is used but
never adding.a iiet gain in the

amount: of wood available.

_ Using | the available wood to |.

gain “additional value from it is
in ‘the. long run the preferred
solution, but it is not a simple

one. Companies | holding: tree.
farm licences are set up to pro-
~ cess a lot. of fibre-in the most

expeditious way possible, which

. .up to this point means dimension
lumber-and pulp. Adding. value:
on: that scale usually means
" rewotking-an entire established .
structure from one end to. the
other, from logging, scaling and .

sorting to manufacturing, mat-
keting and shipping. The costs
are enormous, the risks are high,
and the markets are crowded,
The last option is production

cuts, which means lost'jobs and.

‘all the implications that go with

‘None of these options “are
attractive to the average corpor-
ation, but there.is another option -
even less appealing. It has

‘become manifest most clearly on

Vancouver Island, where corpor-
ations s desperately tried to hang.

| is Ford #1 in

on 40° ‘the: Status quo. The: result - Russ |
- vice-president: of: woodlands for:
West Fraser, explained to the hot.
springs gathering ‘that the com-.

was. demonstrations, | neéar-riots,
animosity among neighbours and-
industrial sabotage in the woods.
The ‘ corporations “and ~ radical -
-environmentalists wore. most’ a
“the blame; there. were. many
losers -but no clear winners.
‘Representatives : of West |
Fraser Timber went into the hot

Terrace Review —— Wednesday, February 19, 1992 9 -

‘itcan be done ~

secure supply on its forest tenure. -
of: 465,000 cubic metres; the'rest. .
is picked up on tlie open market.
Wedeene River. Timber, : ‘the
“recently —

” Russ “Clinton, : the senior

pany canriot consider the: Kitlope

in: isolation. but must view. it in.

the. context of the ‘tree - farm -

“*- ficence as a whole. As he began

pulling out numbers, : it became

“apparent ‘that, even. without. land »

povatas

_ ‘CANAL .
" KOWESAS RIVER

springs summit on the ‘Kitlope,.
hauling with them all this freight
of concem. The closest thing to
a niagic bullet.they. had was a
concept called the Model Forest,
and with luck and. cooperation it
just may work.

pe "Boundary of Tree
- Farm Licence 41

a: Area under discussion |
at Jan? 22: & 24 4 Workshop ;

ow

4 KEMANO RIVER

- KEMANO

og TSAYTIS RIVER

‘base deletions the forest industry
as a whole in the Northwest is-
facing. some grim decisions.

- Until this year the: regional’.
supply. wood chips has been at a _..
‘moderate surplus to the. needs of

pulp’ mills, Earocan. in. Kitimat; |
owned. by West Fraser's: partner
Enso. of -Finland, “habitually
# exports 150,000 .cubic, metres a-
| year: Clinton. said the surplus
.@ exists ‘because. the regional saw-.

q milling industry has grown faster

- than the pulp industry, creating | a

F150 SERIES
-. FLARESIDE
-XLT LARIAT

Ft 50, D SERI ES
~'SUPERCAB_

£ . that

attracted
. demand for chips. is escalating
cand the supply is about to choke,

| “S-GuYRENTTAVENUDTERNACE, BG Oueacne
CALL TOLL, FREE - ~ 1-000-463-1128

rn

- (7.9% 13:48 Months O.A.
4+ $1,000.00 Cash Back. .
Available onthe Plan for

».aS-low as-5. lad

HERE ARE 2 GOOD REASONS! © 1

ation is coming to an end.
For years the timber. harvest

| -in>the Prince George Forest °
‘4 Region has far outrun the estab-

* lished . sustainable. cut.
- because. the Ministry. of Forests
has been ‘keen. to- salvage vast
areas, of” insect-infested wood ©
“would have.» otherwise
become. unusable over". time, A
., brisk sawmill. industry has’ grown.

tS

_ up inthe northern. interior, based:

on the. long-term: overcut, but -

. that is about to end. At ‘the, same |

time. the profitability of pulp has
investment —

"When the cut is brought

into. line: with the published
annu®! aliowable cut," said Clin-
ton, "the . sHortage will be

- 360,000 cubic metres of chips in
the ‘north." He added that the:
Prince Rupert’ Forest Region is _
. facing, in the near future a.
| 950,000 cubic. metre shortfall of °
_ gaw logs: At the present’ time, he’.
said, Skeena Sawmills-in Terrace.
~ requires. 743, 000: cubic: metres. of ..
mI (Sam logs: per: oats atd. has a

4

level -

the

bankrupt. . company *
bought. by- West. Fraser, . comes

with a. sawmill that requires
436, 000 ‘cubic metres of timber’
a ‘year to run two shifts and a.
-timber tenure that. supplies only:

122,000 « cubic metres.

ine

. Ecologist. Grant Copeland’ .

asked. Clinton,

Clinton replied, "That’s one © way
_ to put it." |

"Doesn’t: ‘that — -
“+ wepresent. an. overcommitment?®

Clinton outlined: ‘the com-:

‘pany’s timber tenure,‘Treé Farm

Licence, 41. Its area is one mil-_

lion hectares, but even though

the company has extensive stew-.

§ = ardship responsibilities for all of

§ it the land is far from. ‘being a
entirely productive. forest, "The.
S TFL is drawn on ‘watershed: ~
- boundaries, which makes: it easy

to administer. forthe govern- °

' ment, but as a forester I have no _

interest in managing.-mountain .°

tops," he remarked. "West Fraser a

has identified. 107,000 hectares

as productive forest land, and of

. that 64,060 hectares is viewed as

- economically operable. -Of that.
16,000

"netted . down: -area",.
hectares . is. under study for.

"deferral". meaning off-limits

for logging. If all of that land

was pulled from the tenure, —
West Fraser figures 373 ‘of. the

| 1,043’ people ditectly. employed

.in its Terrace and Kitimat ‘oper- — _

™ - ations would probably lose their :

jobs if thé company can’t, find

additional. timber or. doesn’t —
build’ additional manufacturing .

ace

- When asked if adding value
‘on products isn’t the best course.

bee

of action, Clinton. replied: that.

the company will have to inten- —
sify forest management - and .
maximize its product value-just. —.
to counter the fall-down effect, _
even if none of the land being »

considered for deferral is taken

away.
At that. point Clinton turned

- matters over to Scott Marleau, 7
‘the ‘resident planning: forester at.

-Skeena Sawmills. and the man

responsible for overseeing con-—

struction of the company’s pend-

ing five-year management and-

-working plan for the TFL.

_. Marleau~ ‘explained. that the:
company had been able to leave”
jo date.
‘pecaaae it-had othet areag j in: the =. *

Kitlope - alone .

TFL that could be worked, even.
though the . Kitlope: was the

“large and-obvious choice” for a’

field of operations. As it turned
out, however, the. Kitlope is
going to be a. tough area for
logging plans.

Access. and transportation

‘are problematic, Marleau’ said ~
thé Kitlope River forms’ a large: -
floodplain’ upstream: -ftom «its
mouth, discouraging” the -con-.-
struction of roads and bridges. —
The. best. remaining option’ for

‘transporting logs. to. tidewater.

from the. cutting: grounds, he.

said; ‘was 8 plan. to boom. the

‘fogs in the river and drive them:
down’ to the mouth at: ‘high: tide,

- Continued, on: page 10.

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