Hey. This plan works

By HUBERT BEYER LIKE ANY new organization, Forcst Renewal B.C. had its growing pains, but after nearly two years in operation, the still young Crown corporation is doing what it’s supposed to do, and doing it well,

In a nutshell, Forest Renewal is a partnership of government, forest companies, workers, environmen- lal groups, communities and First Nations, Its mandate is to reinvest about $400 million a year, col- lected from increased stumpage fecs, and: royalties paid by companies harvesting timber on Crown lands, into the forests, forest workers and com- munities dependent on forestry,

About a ycar ago, I mentioned that'Forest Renewal was a little bogged down in its own bureaucracy, and at the time, my sources told me that chief execulive Officer Roger Stanyer’s reaction was: ‘‘Hubert’s right, but how the hell does he know?”?

Weil, I’m happy to say Forest Renewal is doing very well, thank you, and has overcome whatever bureaucratic hurdles it once may have stumbled over.

To date, Forest Renewal has reinvested about $200 million of the collected revenues, and committed ta spend an additional $200 million, some of it this year, some of it further down the road.

There is about $700 million in the bank, waiting to be spent on projects that wiil benefit not only our forests, but the people working in them and the com- munities dependent on them.

Of the money collected from forest companies and earmarked for Forest Renewal, 50 per cent is spent on growing better and more timber on active forest land. Twenty per cent goes towards retraining workers, and 15 per cent to environmental projects such as watershed restoration and deactivation of ald logging roads. .

The remaining 15 per cent goes in equal shares to value- adding projects and support for forest com- munities, It’s important to remember that these are not tax dollars, This money comes out of the pockets of forest companies.

So why hasn’t Forest Renewal spent all the money it has collected? The main reason is a lack of trained people, The educational institutions can’t crank out qualified forestry technicians fast enough.

Forest Renewal is trying to alleviate that shortage by operating ils own training programs. In one case, about 40 people are going through a two-year train- ing course in Grecnwood. The course is exactly the

Of the money collected from forest com- panies and earmarked for Forest Renewal, 50 per cent is spent on growing

better and more timber on active forest’

land. Twenty per cent goes toward retraining workers, and 15 per cent to projects such as watershed restoration and deactivating old logging reads.

Same as the one offered at Selkirk College in Cast- legar, .

The people taking the course are from Greenwood. They had been laid off by a forest company. Offering the course in Greenwood, benefits not only the town, but also the participants who are spared to problem of having to commute to Castlegar.

Last February, the B.C. government, Forest Renewal and MacMillan Bloedel reached an agree- ment, according to which Forest Renewal would pay $3.7 million on training forest workers in new log- ging practices to be applied to logging operations in Clayoquot Sound.

Forest Renewal also agreed to fund up to $5.6 mil- lion in additional costs incurred by MacMillan Bloedel in developing operations at the higher stan- dards required in Clayoquot Sound.

The environmentalist complained, saying it was wrong to subsidize a forest giant like MacMillan Bloedel.

Begging your pardon, but that’s exactly the sort of thing Forest Renewal is supposed to do. Should these subsidies for higher logging standards exclude a com- pany just because it’s big? Nonsense.

Furthermore, MacMillan Bloedel agreed to repay the $5.6 million by contributing a portion of future Clayoquot Sound operation profits to local economic sevelopment. And in any case, a large chunk of the money that flaws into Forest Renewal comes from MacMillan Bioedel to begin with.

5a, lay off and let Forest Renewal do its job. In the end, we will all benefit.

Victoria correspondent Hubert Beyer writes a reg- ular weekly column for The Terrace Standard.

He can be reached at: Tet:(604) 920-9300; Fax:(604) 385-6783; E-Mail: khbeyer@direct.ca

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