‘

_ MUNRO, THOMPSON APPOINTED
_ TO NEW FOREST FOUNDATION

Regional President Jack
Munro and Ben Thompson,
President of Local 1-71, have
been named to the nine-man
founding board of directors of
The British Columbia Forest
Foundation, a newly-estab-
lished non-profit society, which
has proposed the construction
of a forest centre near Stanley
Park at a cost of $6 million.

The project would be'a major
public education, information
and exhibition centre of British
Columbia’s forests and related
industries.

The proposal to develop the
Centre on the Harbour Park
site, adjacent to the entrance
of Stanley Park, is being pre-
pared by the Foundation for
presentation to Vancouver City
Council and Parks Board
Commissioners on May 30th.
The site is most favoured
among fourteen locations be-
ing actively considered for the
Centre in the greater Van-
couver area.

President of the new founda-
tion is Bill - Moore,
owner/operator of W. D.
Moore Logging, a logging com-
pany on northern Vancouver
Island. In announcing the pro-
ject, Mr. Moore said, ‘“The
Forest Centre will be the most
comprehensive public educa-
tion and exhibition facility, re-
lated to a forest theme, in
North America. A major archi-
tectural competition will be
held to obtain the best design
concepts possible for the Cen-
tre.” He said that design and
construction of the Forest Cen-
tre would take 2% to 3 years
following site approvals and
agreements. _

In addition to the Centre’s

many exhibits, mini-theatres
will also present new ideas
about our forests and their fu-

ture and stimulate interest in-

the modern technology and
skills that are used to produce
forest products. Some of the
exhibits will provide a realistic
and intimate look at wilderness
areas and at the managed for-
ests in the Province, as well as
a look at what goes on inside a
sawmill, a pulp or paper mill
or a plywood plant. The Forest
Centre will also demonstrate
how important the Province’s
forests are and how the forest
industry is helping to provide a
better standard of living for
people all over the world, as
well as at home in B.C., by
making useful products from
wood.

Dynamic presentations will
help visitors examine many of
the often misunderstood and
controversial practices in Bri-
tish Columbia’s woods ranging
from reforestation and slash
burning, to road construction,
fish and wildlife protection,
insect and pest control, forest
fire prevention and control, log
loss in coastal waters and mul-
tiple-use of the forests.

Of special interest to. stu-
dents will be comprehensive
presentations and exhibits on
the various careers to be found
within B.C.’s forest industry
ranging from opportunities in
the woods to those in mills and
offices. The presentations will
focus on those people who pre-
sently work in the industry and
the special skills and abilities
they possess. The Centre will
-also work with B.C.’s various
educational and employment
institutions to help guide young

LABOUR MISSING
AT FOOD CONFERENCE

By LORNE NYSTROM

The Federal Government’s
Food Strategy Conference in
February was a very small
step towards an effective Can-
adian food policy.

For most participants, the
conference was the first
chance to sit around a table
with farmers, consumers, re-
tailers, processors and civil
servants to discuss food policy
-issues.

Only one representative of
organized labour participated
at the conference, grossly in-
adequate given the over 400,000
workers employed in food pro-
cessing, distribution and re-
tailing.

Some understanding of the
participants’ interests in the
food system emerged.
However, major conflicts —
particularly between con-
sumers and farmers — were
evident.

Astrongly-worded statement
by Canadian Federation of
Agriculture president Dobson
Lea flatly rejected consumer
representation on marketing
boards. Consumers Associa-
tion of Canada president Ruth
Lotzkar was quick to condemn
the CFA statement as com-

pletely out of keeping with the
spirit of the conference.

Little controversy emerged
from the workshop reports.
They were mostly vague mid-
dle of the road statements with
few concrete suggestions ex-
cept that the dialogue and con-
sultation should continue.

In small workshops, con-
sumers and farmers at times
felt out-numbered by the food
corporation executives and
lobbyists, and by the provincial
and federal bureaucrats.

In their closing remarks,
farm leaders expressed some
frustration: with the con-
ference. Christian Farmers
Federation president Albert
Van Donkersgood said some-
times farmers don’t feel
they’re wanted by the urban
society. He commented that
the trend to increasing cor-
porate control of food produc-
tion. was of concern to his
organization.

National Farmers Union
president Roy Atkinson stated
that a food strategy must be
part of an overall Canadian
economic strategy. Food for
Canadians must be produced
wherever possible within
Canada, Atkinson stated.

(Lorne Nystrom is NDP food and agriculture
critic in the House of Commons)

people into correct educational
paths should they have forest
career interests.

An important aspect of the
Forest Centre will be the oper-
ation of a major outdoor
education program related to
the forest including a variety of
educational forest workshops,
nature tours, forest manage-

ment demonstrations and ~

visits to active forest opera-
tions. Programs will also in-
clude environmental and con-
servation demonstrations, pre-
sentations on reforestation,
junior tree planting programs
in the special children’s minia-
ture. forests, seedling develop-
ment demonstrations, and for-
est management demonstra-
tions as they. relate to fish and
wildlife. Some of these pro-
grams will be demonstrated on

or near the Forest Centre site, -

some will take place in the for-
ests of Stanley Park and others
will occur at the U.B.C.
Demonstration Forest near
Haney. Bus tours will be con-
ducted to the Demonstration
Forest from the Forest Centre
for student groups and for
other visitors.

It is anticipated that the For-
est Centre will be a highly im-
portant visitor attraction in
British Columbia. Its forest
theme will not just deal with
the story of the industry on the
Coast and. coastal forests but
with all forested regions of the
Province, making it truly the
British Columbia Forest Cen-
tre.

Special events, of interest to
British Columbians as well as
visitors, will be held through-
out the year at the Forest Cen-
tre including entertaining and
competitive logger sports,
Christmas tree pageants, wood
carving festivals and many
presentations by youth groups.
It is hoped that the Province’s
native community will also
present their special skills in
working with wood, at the Cen-
tre.

The Forest Centre would
occupy only a small portion of
the Harbour Park site, but the
Foundation hopes to obtain
Council approval to allow the
Foundation to turn the balance
of the site into a beautiful

public park and children’s
miniature forest that would
harmonize with Stanley Park
and the unique water setting
nearby.

The ‘British Columbia

Forest Centre’ as it is tenta- -

tively being named, has drawn
early support from City and
National Harbours Board of-
ficials and from the senior
levels of the Provincial- Gov-
ernment, forest industry
executives, labour leaders,
forest related associations and
from many educators and
businessmen. The Foundation
president said, ‘Considering
that about half our Provincial
economy is derived from the
forests, it seemed that such a
presentation as we are plan-
ning was long overdue. The

‘support we have received to

date indicates to us that our
conclusion was correct.”

The new facility is expected
-to host several hundred thous-

Ss
JACK MUNRO

and visitors each year.
Through its architecture and
design, the Forest Centre is to
be a model of the best that
British Columbia’s forests can
produce.

The exhibits will actively in-
volve and stir the senses of
visitors to the Centre. Visitors
will be invited to use and han-
dle most of the exhibits, creat-
ing an environment of inter-
action and personal involve-
ment.

A small conference facility
will be located on the Centre
site as a meeting place for
groups related to the Centre’s
objectives. The Forest Centre
is expected to become an im-
portant forum for debate and
small conferences on the fu-
ture practices and policies re-
lated to our forests and the de-
pendent industries.

The British Columbia Forest
Foundation is expected to have
broad representation on its 30
member Board of Directors.
Several directors have yet to
be named. Bill Moore is one of
nine founding directors. The
other directors include Dr.
Thelma Cook — Assistant Pro-
fessor of Education in the
Faculty of Education at
U.B.C., Victor Heath — head of
the Department of Forestry
Resources at the B.C. Institute
of Technology, Douglas Mait-
land — Chairman of Hastings
West Investment Limited,
Gerry Burch — Vice-President
of Timberlands and Forestry
with British Columbia Forest
Products Limited, Jack Munro
— President of Region No. 1 of
the International Woodworkers
of America, Ben Thompson —

movement and the NDP.

SOLIDARITY between the party and the labour movement: ;
New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent and CLC ;
president Dennis McDermott demonstrate the new bonds of _
solidarity McDermott says he will build between the labour _

(CPA photo — Murray

§

BEN THOMPSON

President of Local 1-71 of the
IWA, Doug Evans — Manager
of Corporate Communications
at British Columbia Forest
Products Limited and Landis
Smith — Executive Assistant

-to the Minister of Forests for

the Province of British Colum-

’ bia.

Membership in the new
foundation will be availalbe to
all British Columbians and to
B.C. organizations and com-
panies, with all funds collected
going towards the Centre’s on-
going development and opera-
tion and its educational pro-
grams. It is anticipated that
once the Centre is constructed
it will be largely self-sup-
porting through admissions,
memberships, gift and
publication sales, lectures and

tours.
It is expected that Forest

Centre facilities will initially

be developed through contribu-
tions from forest industry com-

panies, government, various —

industry supplier companies,
labour and business organiza-
tions, the business community
of B.C., educational and pri-
vate foundations and from pri-
vate citizens everywhere who
believe that forests are im-
portant enough that people
ought to know more about
them. A major fund raising
program will begin in the near
future.’

The Foundation is now in the
process of establishing offices
in Vancouver and undertaking
a search for an Executive
Director to administer the
Forest Centre development
project and to oversee the
Foundation’s activities.

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