—Al6. Terrace Review — Wednesday, February 21, 1990

harter attac } S ft fo orest | c orobl A) :

_ A Forest Industry Charter of Rights? No, Ottawa has. not gone mad. This is not a part of the Meech Lake Ac- eord. This is a proposal coming out of the Corporation of the Village of Hazelton, who say they are fed up with having little or no rights of their own.

by Tod Strachan

Village of Hazelton mayor Alice Maitland says, ‘‘It is time for a different approach to forest industry and management in British Columbia. Instead of communities and citizens strug- gling separately to address dozens of forestry issues in isola- tion, a more unified and power- ful response is required.’’ Thus, the Forest Industry Charter of Rights, as presented by Maitland to the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine in a letter at the board’s January meeting.

As a basis for this Charter, Maitland writes: ‘‘Over the past decade many citizens of British Columbia have learned enough

_ of the politics and ‘science’ of forest management to become extremely alarmed. The. owners of forest tenures have been shown to be motivated dominantly by -profit considera- tions, and not by a fundamental concern for environmental or community sustainability. B.C. .Ministry of Forests management policy appears to have been overly influenced by both the will of the large corporations

with which they deal, and a pro- fessional mentality which stead- fastly clings to management ethics of a bygone era.

“As a result of this chronic situation the forest industry and Ministry of Forests have remain- ed in an isolated limbo as other sectors of B.C. society and economy have evolved a more holistic view of how environ- ment, economy and politics should interact. Consequently, there is an almost daily confron- tation between the public of British Columbia and those who are determined to clearcut, harvest community watersheds, pump chemicals into oceans, defeat park proposals, and generally operate ‘as usual’ in a secretive and single-minded manner.”’

Maitland says that the Village of Hazelton has ‘‘closely observ- ed” the operation of the forest

industry in the Upper Skeena

region for more than a decade, and she notes a few facts from a Hazelton perspective. While, among other things, there is a proposal to clearcut a portion of

a ae

Centennial Christian | School

Operated by the Terrace Calvin Christian School Sociely 3608 Sparks Street

the village’ § watershed, local government interest in the Northwest has proven to be ‘negative’? and “‘frustrating’’. The fact that the ministry has given the licence to log their

watershed to a Prince George

conglomerate. has done little to.

- calm the Hazeltonian move for a. ’ benefit analysis to be prepared

Chartei of Rights. From past observations, she

continues:. “Proposals to create - parks in the Seven Sisters and

Swan Lake areas have been either ignored, or assessed in a perfuntory manner. Govern- ment-sanctioned slash burning poisons the atmosphere, and plans for aerial spraying of tons of herbicides have been prepared. There is absolute disregard of legitimate Native land claims of: Native Cana- dians. Dangerous fungicides contaminate run-off from lumber storage areas. Massive clearcuts dominate every accessi- ble valley bottom. Our new government-subsidized sawmill has a capacity to cut twice as many sawlogs as the region can sustainably supply.’’ Simple lit- tle facts, she says, that are no doubt familiar to every.region of the province.

Hazelton, would change all this, Maitland claims. It would preserve wide ecological diversi- ty and stability, guarantee sus- tainable harvests that can be converted into high-value pro- ducts, provide high qality employment, provide a fair

return to forest industry invest-

ment, and allow stable growth of communities whose citizens participate in management of

their local forests. —

In order to. do this, the Charter calls for ‘“immediate’’ amendments to the. B.C. Forest Act that would require a bio- | physical. inventory and cost

prior to harvesting an creekshed

or watershed. Logging of water-

sheds would only be done -with the permission of the water licence holdér and only after an acceptable logging/silviculture

plan had been filed. Clear cuts. -

would be no larger than 15 hec- tares and designed in a manner

to minimize viewscape disrup-

tion.

All timber sales would only be .

finalized after full public disclosure and acceptance. All timber would be fully utilized and the export of round logs and cants would be prohibited.

Small representative samples of — _each forest habitat contained in

each T.S.A. would be preserved.

_A tree nursery would be ‘established in each forest district _with stocks recruited from the

local area and silviculture con-

- tracts would be offered only to The Charter, as proposed by |

companies with a head office within 100 miles of the contract site. Aerial broadcast. spraying of herbicides, pesticides, or fer- tilizers would be banned. And, most importantly, the Charter guarantees public participation in all aspects of forest resource management.

The conditions listed here are

ms

of course only an overview of

the entire document, but the |

bottom line of the Charter is the

. dollar. The final clause asks for

a percentage of forestry ‘revenues collected by the pro- vince to be returned directly to local governments in the area where the revenue was gener- ated. The Charter concludes by giving the province two years to

come up with a range of pro- posals giving local and regional. governments control of each .

“TSA (Timber Supply Area).

BURN SMART

TO MINIMIZE AIR POLLUTION FROM YOUR WOODSTOVE: Watch for signs of - incomplete burning such as visible smoke coming from your chimney or long, lazy flames in the firebox. When you see these signs, more air is needed to b improve your fire. e» You must open mg the dampers to allow additional B air into the stove.

A message from the

BRITISH COLUMBIA LUNG ASSOCIATION

Registrations for Kindergarten-Grade 7 and the possi- ble addition of Grade 8 for 1990-91 school year are be- ing accepted until March 15, 1990.

* Centennial Christian School is a parent run Indepen- dent school offering Christian education to students of parents from a variety of Christian backgrounds.

Our school is certified by the B.C. Ministry of Educa-: tion and meets all requirements.

Please contact the Principal for more information:

Mr. Frank Voogd School: 635-6173 Home: 638-0108

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