Regional board demands end to burning

THIS IS WHAT THE REGIONAL DISTRICT DOESN'T WANT TO SEE. The board has repeatedly called for a moratorium on the forestry practice of broadcast buming of slash left on logging sites. This photo was taken in September of last year, the day after a Skylink commuter airplane crashed at the Terrace-Kitimat airport, killing seven people. The Canadian Aviation Safety Board has not identified smoke as a factor in the crash, but the regional district wants prescribed burns stopped,

particularly in the area of the airport.

Letter Help when i's needed

To the Editor; We would like to say thank you very much to all the people who helped at the time of our ac- cident Sunday, April 1, [990 on the highway from Prince Rupert to Terrace. This includes the people who took Delorous and our sister and brother-in-law to the hospital, Dr. Dunfield, Dr. Appleton, Dr. Brown, the nurses and staff of Mills Memorial Hospital. Also, thanks to the RCMP and Monica Peacock for spending the first night with Delorous. We really appreciate, too, the many gifts received of flowers, teddy bears, etc., and the phone calls both local and from the U,S.A. . Arnold and Delorous Smith, . Terrace,

F

B.C.

Z Saenger

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Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 9, 1990 AS

by Tod Strachan

The Kitimat-Stikine Regional District board of directors has a question they would like the Min- istry of Forests to answer. Spec- ifically, just how they’re going to meet with the general public and come up with an acceptable smoke management plan in relation to their broadcast burning policy.

The regional district wrote Kaium Forest District manager Brian Downie April 2 complaining about the number of broadcast burns in the area of the Terrace airport planned for later this year and the detrimental effects they have on the area. The board has since received Downie’s response but they’re not satisfied. They are writing a second letter restating their total opposition to broadcast burning.

In his response, Downie said that the Kitimat Valley, the Kalum Valley north to Kalum Lake and the Hwy. 16 corridor east and west of Terrace has been designated as a "smoke sensitive atea". Smoke sensitive, he explained, means that precautionary measures are con- sidered before any burns take place.

He listed these measures as: stringent burning permit condil- ions, favorable smoke venting indexes and favorable three- to five-day weather forecasts, restric- tions as to the size and number of burns at any one time, consider- ation for alternatives to broadcast burning,: and: the acceptance -of higher cost alternatives for site preparation to achieve higher air quality and smoke reduction stand-

ards. Downie also pointed out in his

letter that not all sites in the

— again

Thunderbird area adjacent to the airport are going to be broadcast burned. At two of the sites, "spot burns" will take place only at landings and areas of heavier accumulations of wood waste.

He concludes: "It is our intention to explore any possible alternatives to broadcast burning in the smoke sensitive designated areas, while ensuring that harvested areas are satisfactorily re-stocked to our target levels for these ‘sites. We appreciate and share your concerns with respect to smoke management - and are working with the Ministry of Environment, other agencies, and over the next few months with the general public, to improve the exisiting guidelines and, build a comprehensive smoke management plan for the entire Kalum Forest District."

If nothing changes, however, it appears that there might be at least one protester at the site of this fall’s burns. Regional district director Les Watmough told the board he would be "camping out" when the burning starts and invited the others to join him.

It was difficult to determine if an actual protest was a serious threat, though. The discussion following Watmough’s comment drifted to ideas like the need for an "asbestos suit" and "bring your own marsh- mallows", but the position of the board was quite clear. As was stated by director Bev Rodrigo, the board doesn’t want any burning at all and one of the reasons accord- ing.to director Andy Burton is the fact that slash burns are the source of the largest carbon dioxide emissions in the province. A vol- ume of carbon dioxide, he says, that is greater than pulp mills and twice that of motor vehicles.

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