For
many living in northern BC … in particular the Burns Lake and Prince George
areas, a story in today’s Province newspaper has to remind them of the vulnerability
of living and working in small and rural BC communities.
I
just returned, on the weekend, from an annual motorcycle trip I take each year with
my brother. Part of the trip took us
along the northern coast of Washington State.
Sadly … I saw MANY sawmills in small communities that were shuttered and
closed.
In
some the equipment was totally removed; while some, long-neglected, remarkably still
had the equipment in them.
We've
already seen many sawmills closed here in BC as well.
So the
question becomes, “How can we keep jobs
available for our small rural communities, and yet still ensure that we do not
over harvest?”
Perhaps
we have sadly become so efficient in our saw-milling processes that 'small town'
BC is only going to be needed, to log the resources, to send them to an ever
shrinking number of mega-sawmills.
Even
then however, those logging jobs are ever shrinking through on-going
mechanization that has been underway for decades.
Is
there a balance to be found? … can we retain the jobs needed so that small northern,
and interior, communities are able to survive and grown? … will there be more
for the next generation, of people in these communities, other than low and minimum
pay tourism jobs?
I’m
not sure what the answer is, but I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.
I’m
Alan Forseth in Kamloops … with the questions of one conservative.
RESPONSE ... well I did ask for your thoughts and comments, and I did receive one from Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad. Here is what he had to say:
This article makes a number of assumptions that are plain and simply
wrong. First, marginally economic stands: in Williams Lake, companies are
operating in stands with volume as low as 85 cubic metres per hectare. In the
Lakes TSA that number is 140. If we partition off volume between 100 and 140,
the Lakes TSA can sustain an additional cut of 380,000 cubic metres annually.
Companies can do this in other areas so why not in the lakes? In
addition, by partitioning this volume, companies would actually have to operate
in this type of wood to gain the volume. They can't use it to leverage taking
additional wood from better quality stands.
Second, fertilization is something we're already doing in BC. Other
jurisdictions have been very successful with their programs and the committee's
recommendations is to look at this and beef up a program in BC. Growing more
fibre and capturing more value from it is the key to our forestry future.
Finally, many supply areas treat old growth management areas as
NON-SPATIAL. In the Lakes TSA, they are defined spatially which is what creates
the reduction in the supply. So if a spatial OGMA gets hit by a fire, pest or
another issue, does it still have OLD GROWTH values?
These types of stands are now called DOGMAs or Dead OGMAs. Non-spatial
OGMAs allow for the targets and goals of these areas to be met over a supply
area rather than a specific spot. But keep in mind that the committee isn't
recommending doing this. Rather, do a scientific review and then provide that
information to the local LRMP group for their review and recommendation.
The committee's report tried to provide a sign-post towards a shift in
forest management. This shift works towards higher levels of silviculture
investments, growing more fibre and growing more value. It's the right
direction to go which is also why it was unanimously supported.