are in jobs that service the industry. A fifties 12,000 jobs are created in capital investments related to the for- est industry, and over 13,000 jobs are spun off in transportation and the trade of forest products. i

One in five jobs in the lower main- land are related either directly or indi- rectly to the forest industry.

According to Munro the forest industry ships out 47% of the mer- chandise in B.C. and provides 22% of the gross domestic product of the lower mainland.

Munro said that industry is clean- ing up its act and becoming more responsible. He said more attention is being paid to forest practices and that more trees are being planted

“We have to get industry in B.C. to do more with fig wood we harvest,” said Munro.

“We have more park lands proposed in the Chilcotin and

Cariboo than anywhere in the province.”

— Harvey Arcand, President, Local 1-425

Provincial NDP opposition leader, Mike Harcourt, said that the forest

© IWA-CANADA President Jack Munro said that wilderness and park proposals made by people in urban areas haven't takeninto industry is number one in B.C. and consideration the effects that they will have on rural communities. To his left is Local 1-425 President Harvey Arcand.

Williams Lake fights hack against huge park proposals

WILLIAMS LAKE, BC. — On July 22, 1991 over 300 people attended a rally and information session here to find out more about what the future holds for people in the Cariboo and Chilcotin.

The event, which was organized by the local Save Our Jobs Committee of which is recognized by IWA - CANADA Local 1-425 in Williams Lake, pro- vided the public with information on logging, forestry and manufacturing in the region.

However, the day’s most important event saw a slate of speakers talk about the future importance of forest related jobs and the community’s fears that more parkland may be cre- ated in the area to reduce the forest land base by 1.5 million hectares.

Areas under study by two govern- ment initiatives - Wilderness for the 90’s and ParksPlan’90 - are causing anxiety in Williams Lake and its out-

lying areas. According to the Save Our Jobs

Committee the more than 1.5 million hectares under question is in 6 areas - Chilcotin Wilderness area, Chilco Lake provincial park, the south Chilcotin Wilderness area, Chiko national park, the Alkali Lake Indi- ans’ land claim, and the linking of the Bowron Lake and Wells Grey provin- cial parks.

“We have more parklands proposed in the Chilcotin and Cariboo than anywhere in the province,” says Local 1-425 president Harvey Arcand. “We can’t delay a while and think about tbe later, because then it may be too

ate.”

Sixty percent of Williams Lake’s economy depends on the forest indus- try. Arcand adds that the long-term impacts of those park areas being withdrawn are unknown.

Already 11.2% of Local 1-425’s jurisdiction is committed to wilder- ness parks (Wells Grey and Tweeds- muir). The government has examined

8/LUMBERWORKER/ AUGUST, 1991

a 1990 proposal by the Valhalla Wil- derness Society, which would cause a 35% reduction in logging activity and, if adopted, the government’s own pro- posals may exceed the Valhalla proposals.

In May and July, before ParksPlan ’90 and Wilderness for the 90’s began

© Save Our Jobs chairman Terry Tate.

their processes, B.C. government offi- cials said that they weren’t interested in the Valhalla proposals, which included vast areas of immature timber.

However, in March of this year when the union learned that the gov- ernment was studying whether or not to set aside more areas than the Valhalla proposals, many concerns began to rise.

“We can’t afford to have land with- drawn for 2 years while a bunch of people, who don’t care, study the set asides,” Brother Arcand told the Lumberworker.

Arcand figures that government officials have been sitting down with

preservationist groups and putting together a park and wilderness scheme which doesn’t take into con- sideration the importance of jobs and community stability.

Union member Terry Tate, chair- man of the Save Our Jobs Committee and also an employee of Fletcher Chal- lenge’s Pinette and Therrien Division, told the rally that there’s a lack of consideration for the well being of families in the proposals.

“We think it’s time that govern- ment first look and think before they make decisions before they take land out (of production) and lock it up for wilderness study,” said Brother Tate. “We don’t just want to hear election promises.”

Tate said that the industry is com- pletely open to the public and that logging practices have and are changing.

IWA - CANADA president, Jack Munro, said that people in urban areas have to understand what impact their decisions have on people in places like Williams Lake.

“There is no other industry in B.C. that even comes close to producing wealth and the amount of jobs that we do,” said Brother Munro.

Munro said that forest jobs are wealth creating jobs and not simply wealth redistribution jobs.

“The people in Victoria and politi- cians have had a complete absence of input from people in this commu- nity,” Munro told the rally. “Some of the (wilderness and park) proposals have not taken anything or anybody in this community into consideration.”

Munro said that urban people are largely unaware of how important the forest industry is.

An industry study released in early July revealed that the forest industry is responsible for more than 150,000 jobs in the BC. lower mainland.

Twenty-four thousand jobs are direct forest industry jobs, and 66,000

that it’s going to stay that way.

To maintain the industry Harcourt said that government has to link pub- lic timber to job creation.

“Tn a nutshell, harvests are up but jobs are down,” Harcourt told the rally. “We can come up with some practical ways of having the number one industry in B.C. be viable, healthy and provide the jobs and pay cheques that it should be providing.”

Harcourt said that the province must address the issue of overcutting and the lack of inventory data in regions like Williams Lake.

He said an NDP government would add $50 million per year into a silvi- culture program above current levels of spending for the next 5 years. Those additional expenditures, according to Harcourt, would create thousands of new jobs.

Harcourt also pledged that an NDP government would work to prevent community by community, valley by valley confrontations.

“The Cariboo has already provided more than its fair share of park and wilderness areas in B.C.,” said Harcourt.

Also addressing the rally were Joe Foy of the Western Canadian Wilder- ness Committee, member of parlia- ment Dave Worthy, NDP member of legislature Dave Zerhelt, and chief Ervine Charlieboy of the Redstone Indian band.

© NDP leader Mike Harcourt said the Cariboo has already enough park set aside.