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“TERRACE _ Setting up a _ aystem which will allow. local a people lo be part of resource oe planning decisions { in their area = will Tesule in “better and more - oar gomprehensive decisions;”* the “= provincial New Democrat forestry critic said last week. . 4 But-the final say on any such decisions: should have remain with, thé provincial government, Said Dan Miller, His: “comments followed. a Public’ meeting at which ; residents gave their ideas on the ~ extent’ to which and by what “Means government should be in-- 7 volvedwith local people on deci- - sions affecting their forests and. environment. * While emphasizing the NDP had not yet decided how such a * system would work, Miller said. he was “leaning” toward ‘one where representatives on pro- posed = “community advisory. . bodies were appointed rather than: elected. “If care.was taken to ensureall . inierest groups —_ industry, ; environmentalists and ‘al:goverment '— ° were’ représented, ‘I’m. sure people willbe satisfied with: that ap- proach, ”* he added. “Miler said the system would also help people better unders- tand why certain decisions were made. Explanations of those detisions would have greater impact on people if made by a member of their own communi-

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TERRACE — ‘Approximately - $0 people were on hand for the New Democrats March 4 open house featuring provincial MLAs Dan Miller (Forestry critic), John Cashore (Environ- ment critic), federal MP for Skeena Jim Fulton and Helmut Giesbrecht, wha will contest the | Skeena riding abt vinciaft ‘election. a

Those - present “included representatives of labour, native bands, angling organizations, other'special interest groups and the forest service.

‘While: the :main purpose of the: meeting was: to seek: local views on: what role communities should play in resource manage- ment.- decisions in their area,

baser on

speakers also raised a number —

of other, related issues. -

Below, a summary of what the politicians heard during the three-hour meeting.

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‘Steve Azak of the Nisga’a Tribal Council said the Nisga’a had always emphasized the need for integrated Management of. the” province's resources, For that to be achieved, people liv- ing in-a particular area should haveé"'a say in any decisions ef- fecting local forests and rivers.

Inthe case of the Nass Valley, .that-meant natives —: the ma- jority:. population — should have: ‘a big say’' in what hap- pened there. “A lot of people have: banded together because government is not listening to people about their local pro- blems," he pointed out...

A, move in that direction would :be to have more timber harvesting carried ‘out by small, locally-based companies rather thay, mult nationals.

ores

TERRACE — The province can’t simiply adopt hew forestry - policiés‘based on recommenda- ‘tions! coming from numerous task forces . now criss-crossing B.C. Says local. Forester Rod Am d.. oo You can’t just walk ‘away | oS ‘wind then:have to come back to the table 20 -years later. to try “and work ‘out what happened and As

ae ‘Wrong,’ Amold ‘told members

gtoup wee me “THe . group =~" "BO: members. : eee s from government and in-- 4 bes. — was struck by.

during thelr stop here last .

possibly what:.went

OF. the. Old Growth’ Strategy . . ‘on-behalf of the city —‘he sits. on its forestry advisory commit=

jtee: + Amoid: also suggested:

'. forest management should not

only -'concentrate” on.” whad' thie biti alio

ty rather than a politician, he: explained,

Suggesting local ‘opinion would likely not- favour short- term decisions, he said, “People _ generally look to thieir own long-term best interests, They want their community. 10 be sus- iainable, to’ make sure there are jobs‘and an economic base.”’

That would ulso be true even ‘where the individuals involved were loggers. Deseribing (hem “as “much maligned’, he said

_ loggers knew what had beer and

was happening out in the bush and certainly did not approve of praclices, such as . over-cutting which .might- ultimately eliminate their jobs.’

While there needed to be ‘a shating. of power", Miller cau- tioned’ the’ governmént.- could tat abdicate ‘its’ constitutional responsibilily to. manage the - provinee’s - | resources, “Uhimately, the buck: ‘stops in Victoria,” he pointed out.

’ Helou ‘Giesbrecht, NDP cuidate for Skeena in the next provineial: election, agreed membership of any local ud-

' visory body would fave to be

representative of that communi-

ty. :

; However, he added, it, must

kiso include a “good | mix of

professionals.” . me Suggesting politicians faking

“short-term decisions when you want a long-reit, sustainable

Les Watmough

However, Azak added, he. was encouraged by the level of public awareness of what was happening in the remote areas of the province,

Renee Mikaloff,— a silvicuturist since the mid-70s,- called for a royal commission on all aspects of forestry and a change in the current practice of achieving - “maximum = extrac- tion with the minimum of jobs. ”

While supporting public in- volvement in forestry decisions, she pointed out people could nat’ be expected to make deci- sions of. recommendations without first being given ade- quate information on which to base them. Therefore, Mikaloff emphasized the need for a full inventory. of the. province's forests. ©,

“We can't manage them when we don’t know what we have,” she pointed out.

Slamming. ‘past © government cuts in. forest. service jobs, she

what to do with remaining old growth forests. Its meeting here was one of six in the province.

‘The recommendations are ex- pected to take questions of logg- ; ing and also how to save what is left. They’re due the end of the month,

He said monitoring’ of whiat

‘that- not enough scrutiny had -been‘done in the past, by: gover ments or by: industry.:::

. Appearing: béfore: the. grou

HAVING ALREADY indicated they favour communities being involved in resource management deci-

‘say province should have 2 final say in resource’s use

tl

sions that affect their area, New Democrat politicians were given a good idea of local. opinions at a Public meeting they held here fast week. Above, Steelhead Society representative Robert Brown makes a rase for protecting local rivers to Jim Fulton, John Cashore, Helmut Giesbrecht and Dan

Miller.

type of decision” had been a major couse of today's pro- blems, he said government

needed to rely on the advice.

Provided by its professional

Bruce Hill

said the role of ministry person- nel had been reduced to that of contract administrators rather then “stewards of the land’’. Brian Liberman, president of the Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council and Canadian Paperworkers Union represen: tative, said companies that fail- ed to log in ‘‘an environmental- ly friendly manner” should be subject to heavy fines and equipment confiscation, Maintaining forest company harvesting plans should be ac- ceptable to people of the region, he ‘said their views should be sought through local steering committees to include labour,

_ natives, local commercial in-

terests and members of the general public,

He also called for-an end to raw log exports, describing the Practice as ‘morally wrong and economically disastrous."*

Les Watmough, Thornhill directér for the Kitimat-Stikine regional district and an

Forester wants scrutiny — ‘of new forest

come. If @ decision was made to Preserve 12° per cent of old

‘growth’ forests, that didn't Mean: the old growth portion ‘couldn't “move ‘around, over ‘ time, within a drainage. That’s " another option, another way of

* looking at it,’’ he said.

will be adopted is vital, adding |:

Arnold also cautioned that

‘unexpected problems.

One such example took place ‘the Wells Gray Park in the

in,

“South Cariboo some years ago

after fire destroyed timber. ; Becanise! th aa-banned, no effort ealvage the wood,

economic impact.of. any, any. logging ‘within - panned, fo the immediate area, bi : Ahose witht ex

staff, ‘‘peopte who know what they're talking about, ”

Referring to the progress be- ing made locally through the

Steve Azak employee of Skeena Cellulose, warned politicians should rely on the advice of forest service staff rather than succumbing to outside pressure,

.An example was the “disastrous” Sustut-Takla cut- ting rights award where the government ‘‘went against every recommendation of their professionals."

Pointing out ‘timber in the Khutzeymateen Valley had already been “tied up”, Wat-

mough opposed similar action’

in the Kitlope Valley south of Kitimat.

- Maintaining Kitlope. timber was ‘'very valuable”’ to Terrace, he added, “I say you can log there, but you have to do it ina different style.’ ;

That view, however, was. not shared by Bruce Hill, a fishing guide operating on the Kitlope. “The fact it is not logged is what makes it unique,” he said, adding the list of northwestern Tiver valleys that had been logg-

policies

The result was a’ beetle! infesta- tion which ultimately began. to

effect timber outside the: Park's Ss:

boundaries...

_ Assuming’ any” ormula for: old growth conservation would : be applied on an area-by-area | basis, Arnold said care would ;. have to be taken in establishing’ those boundaries. That was par- ticularly true of the northwest «:

where the type of forest ranged ©

from coastal at Prince Rupert to .”

interior in. the. Smithers Hazelton area... - Also importan

8: : th deci

sion not: just ir communi i

recently formed - Thunderbird advisory committee, Giesbrecht said, “I see some good things happening. ”” However, he add- ed, “It’s just so darn late.”

Is give resource views -

Brian Liberman

ed was ‘‘endless’’.

While recognizing the Kitlope timber represented a significant portion of Skeena Sawmills an- nual allowable cut, he said there had to be a system which allow- ed preservation of both wilderness and jobs.

Robert Brown said the local Steelhead Society chapter was particularly concerned about what would happen in the upper’ section of the Copper River.

Pointing out the environment ministry had designated the Copper a Class 1 steelhead stream, Brown said almost half the valley had been logged already resulting in an ‘unstable’? water quality.

A. full inventory of fish and wildlife in the upper valley should also be carried out before any logging was allowed there,

Noting only four or five Skeena tributaries now remain- ed unlogged, Brown suggested “some ought to be set aside.”’

Rod Arnold

‘He pointed. to cutting Tights for the Sustut-Takla area north

: Of Hazelton’ tot going to com- ‘panies basedthere but Instead all é: to. companies: based. in’ Prince ing: George and Fort St. James,

“LETTERS

+" TO THE TERRACE STANDARD

~ Port guy

| and not merely a focusing on

distance of the wood, ” said Ar- : noid; .

comment

An open letter to NDP Candidate Skeena

Dear Sir:

1 read with interest your} letter to the editor. I made no

“*pronouncements’’, 1 simply gave my opinion on a ques-]- tion which was posed to me about a change in or of government,

Change represents a Fisk i and could tnreaten the com- pletion of the Kitimat Port Project, which I have been shepherding for over four years,

It heartens me to see that

you hold hope for the. ‘

Kitimat port project as a job generator for the citizens of Kitimat and Terrace. As vice chairman of the Kitimat-| Terrace Port Committee 1! am certain. that once. you have seen the prospectus documents’ which will be Presented io the provincial major project review process in the near future, that you too will agree that the port will bring much needed jobs to Kitimat.

The Kitimat Port project Tequires a visionary look many years into the future —

what is happening in the market place today. If all proposed projects were based on today’s conditions then very few would ever proceed Lo become realities.

1 hope Prince Rupert can overcome its negative at- titude toward regional development. Prince Rupert and Kitimat should be work- ing together to enhance both North Coast ports. It is only through cooperation that our region will prosper economically to benefit all its citizens.

Yours truly, Richard W. Wozney, Mayor, Kitimat,

ope

* Report. lacking

Dear Sir:

I recently attended the Parks 90 meeting held in Ter- race. The session was con- vened so thal the Ministry of Parks and the Ministry of Forests could hear from the public on the land proposed to be set aside for parks, and to listen to arguments for the preservation of areas not listed in the proposal.

As 1 expected, there were representations from a varie- ty of groups presenting a diversity of opinion. Ian Gordon presented an ex- cellent argument for the preservation of the Seven Sisters Area on behalf of the Society of the same name.

Rob Brown of the Steelhead Society of B.C, asked that the panel consider the Khyex, Khasiks, Ex- chamsiks, Khutzeymateen and a section of the Upper Zymoetz be set aside because of their unique and ir- replaceable values.

cont'd A7

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