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No free lunch
in the forest

Yet the "pillar of the sustainable.

A report written by a professor
of forestry picks out the ‘holes in
planning by the B.C. forest in-
dustry and the government, then
calls for major investment by
both to restore the resource and,
maybe, even enhance it. Forester
Herby Squish ponders those
matters on the shores of Gear-
box Lake.

"Compromise," Squish mut-
tered distastefully. "It blinds
even the most well meaning
people. They don’t see a plan in
compromise... They see defeat."

What issues did Reed say
needed to be considered? Squish
tried to retrace the list. There
was roundwood production.
"Targets for industrial fibre
supplies do not exist for the
coming decades," Reed had said.

development thesis" was expan-
sion in the order of doubling the
supply in the next 60- to 80-year
rotation.

There were non-timber values.
"Forward targets for fish, wild-
life and recreation days do not
exist either," according to Reed.
"A. deficiency which cries out
for attention."

There was preservation.
According to Reed, the Brundt-
land report states that 12 percent
of old growth in each forest
district, regardless of timber
constraints, should be preserved.
But no one seemed to be able to
agree on a number. For the
purposes of his presentation,
Reed suggested adding three
percent to old growth already
protected and that the selection

of sites should be done in a
“consensus process with a clear
understanding of the trade offs",

There was intensive forestry.
But that requires a commitment
that doesn’t seem to exist. Reed
had pointed out at the 1990
conference that B.C. and other
Tegions of Canada spend less
than three cents of their
silviculture dollar on timber
stand improvement while our
major competitors spend 30 to
50 cents on the dollar.

But there were many in gov-
ernment and industry who said

we can’t afford to keep up with

the Joneses. "For B.C.," Reed
had admitted, "a 30 percent
share would add $2 per cubic
metre to delivered wood costs
which are now in the $40 to $60
per cubic metre range."

And there were other costs to
consider as well. New planta-
tions, for example. Reed said
that industry was spending about
$3 per cubic metre of harvest
teplanting trees, but that wasn’t
enough. They should be spend-

-ing another $1 per cubic metre

for brushing and weeding.

Terrace Review: —— Wednesday, December 18, 199] 7

\Forestry
Insights

‘by Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Arnold and Doug Davies

But Reed had an answer to the
problem of ising costs...
Research. "The increases in
silviculture spending suggested
above can be reduced substan-

tially by forestry science," he -

had said. "We must learn to
spend smarter and to stretch
scarce silviculture budgets fur-
ther."

Research, however, costs
money. A lot of money. And
researchers would have to pro-
duce. Reed noted a 1990 Science
Council of B.C. report on for-

— Continued on page &

Local youths contribute to Round Table

To the Editor;

A recent experience with 93
bright, articulate and concerned
young people from secondary
schools throughout British
Columbia prompts me to ask that
you publish this letter to let your
readers know that our young peo-
ple offer great hope for the future
of our province, our country, and
the world.

The young people, including

Smithers Secondary student

Rachel Moser and Caledonia Sec-
ondary student Alayne Fleisch-
mann, spent two days in Vancou-
ver November 19 and 20 attending
a Youth Forum sponsored, by the
B.C. Round Table on the Environ-
ment and the Economy, the B.C.
Ministry of Education, and Cana-
dian Airlines/Time Air.

I had the opportunity to speak
directly with many of the students.
What a privilege it was to meet so
‘many motivated, energetic and

concemed young people, each of.
the anxious to find ways to make a
personal contribution to the
achievement of a proper balance
between the need for economic
development and the protection of
our environmental heritage.

T have no doubt that they will
make their contributions with a
new sense of confidence and
enthusiasm as a result of their
Youth Forum experience. Nor
would you or your reader have any

Not an unreasonable demand

To the Editor;

After a few drinks at a get-
together, the thing called “sober
enough to drive” has become non-
existent,

If, after having these few
drinks you decide to drive home,
don’t be surprised to find that
when you are stopped at a road
block, the A.L.E.R.T. has deemed
you a risk to be in control and
operation of a motor vehicle.
Chances are that this little
machine will be the beginning of a
whole series of serious events,

Some people feel that they can
operate a vehicle better after a
couple of drinks, but these are the
same people who will say that
they didn’t deserve to be picked
up for impaired driving and that
all their rights had been violated,
and that they were unfairly treated
in their arrest.

Some of the more serious
offenders were caught and taken
off the road, and yet some are
caught and then caught again, only
to fecl that they are being singled
out, picked on or even made an
example of... Not truc!

Our RCMP officers don’t just
sit and wait for that special

impaired driver, Instead, they wait
for any impaired driver, and if you
just have had a couple, that will
register on the breathalyzer, and
you’re one of the ones in the road
black. Well, Merry Christmas, you
just received a gift from the
RCMP that just keeps giving,

For anyone who thinks that he
or she didn’t deserve to be picked
up for impaired driving, well, do
the parents of the child you just
ran over deserve it? Do the people
whose house you just put your car
through deserve it? Does the lady
who ended up in the hospital
because you went through a stop
sign and hit her broadside deserve

it?

I don’t think anyone deserves
the pain an impaired driver can
bring to other people. Impaired

drivers will eventually get caught.

It is far better to see the
impaired driver in jail at Christ-
mas than to see a family in mourn-
ing at Christmas, Driving while
intoxicated is like Russian
roulette; eventually you lose and
eventually someone else will lose
as well.

Please, if you drink, don’t drive
— leave the keys at home.

J. Rocky Gray,
Terrace,

Generosity appreciated

To the Editor;

The Canadian Diabetes Associ-
ation would like to thank all the
businesses and residents for their
generosity in the recent annual
Appeal.

A special thanks goes out to all
the canvassers, who braved the
rain and cold weather, to go out
there and collect. To date, $8,380
has been raised, with donations
still coming in.

If you were overlooked in the
canvass or mail-out, it is still not
too late to mail in your tax-
deductible donation to the follow-
ing address: Canadian Diabetes
Association, P.O. Box 667, Ter-
race, B.C. V8G 4B8.

Marilyn Dahl,
Jane Braam,
1991 Appeal

Coordinators,

Terrace.

doubt if you had been able to hear
what Michelle Affolter and Ilario
Biagi had to say to delegates at the
Joint Meeting of Round Tables
from across Canada. Michelle,
from Enderby, and Ilario, from
Queen Charlotte City, were select-
ed to deliver the Youth Forum’s
message to that audience, which
included four provincial Ministers
of the Environment and the chairs
and senior representatives of 11
Round Tables from across Cana-
da,

Michelle and Ilario said that
the students recognized that there
are no easy solutions, and they
came to realize as well that there
“is definitely hope”, They said
they discovered in this forum that
there is “an extraordinary opportu-
hity” for young people to make a
difference.

“We realized that many of us
have the same concems and objec-
tives,” they said in their address at
the Joint Meeting. Through the
Youth Forum they have been able
to establish a network which will
give each of them new energy and
Support as they put ideas into
action back in their own schools
and communities. “Now we feel
empowered,” Michelle said.

The students who attended the
Forum have forwarded recommen-
dations to the B.C. Round Table
and the B.C. Ministry of Educa-
tion. They want improved envi-
ronmental and economic educa-
tion, from Kindergarten through
Grade 12, and new training for
teachers to help them deliver that
improvement.

There is great reason for all of
us to be proud and pleased that we
have such outstanding opinion
Icaders among our youth, in every

e dialogue
region of this province, in our
public and independent schools,
among our aboriginal peoples and
among the many and varied cul-
tural groups which comprise our
society.

When a pebble is dropped into
a pond, the ripples can travel very
far, I expect the ripples from the
1991 B.C, Round Table Youth
Forum will extend very far indeed,
because these young people dis-
covered that they do, in fact, have
the ability to change the world if
they work at it,

I encourage your newspaper to
give these inspired young people
full support as they work at find-
ing sustainability solutions with
new levels of energy and confi-
dence as a result of their experi-
ences at the B.C. Round Table
Youth Forum.

Congratulations and thanks to
all of the students, their parents,
and their schools. Your sense of
hope is ours, too.

C.J. (Chuck) Connaghan,
Chairman, B.C. Round
Table on the Environment
and the Economy.

If you don’t know
what’s going on,
things go on
without you.

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