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MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLE EPIDEMIC
UNBC lands research projects
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
UNBC is being given an opportunity to help stamp out the infamous mountain pine beetle that is infesting forests in north and central B.C.
UNBC will become a centre of research to study the problem in partnership with the federal and provincial governments and industry.
In making the announcement Friday, federal minister of Natural Resources Herb Dhaliwal said part of the $40 million designated (over five years) last October to mitigate the impacts of the beetle infestation will be used to create five new federal government jobs in Prince George to work with UNBC researchers, provincial agencies and industry.
The new jobs will be staffed by Natur-
al Resources Canada employees who work within the Canadian Forest Service. In addition, the research cluster is expected to include staff from national forest research institutes Forintek, Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada and Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada.
UNBC officials who will work out the details of the research with Paul Addison, director general for Canadian Forest Services, will include Max Blouw, vice president of research and Bill McGill, dean of college of sciences and management.
Dhaliwal said it was Canfor CEO David Emerson who requested the research be done in the Prince George area, and particularly with UNBC.
Although research work on the pine
beetle is underway now, Dhaliwal said more research is necessary to determine how to stop the spread of the infestation and the effects of climate change.
In addition to research, the funding will also be used to identify and assist in the clean-up of beetle infested areas.
Dhaliwal expects the work will continue on a long-term basis after the five-year commitment is up.
Dr. Charles Jago, UNBC president, said he was delighted to hear the minister commit for the longer term, explaining the focus of research on new forestry products along with the health of the forest will have huge significance in this area.
Local officials saw Dhaliwal’s announcement as good news.
Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley
Feds to promote wood across Asia
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
In a bid to open up new world markets, the federal government announced a group of projects Friday to showcase Canada’s wood products in India, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
In making the announcement at UNBC, federal minister of Natural Resources Herb Dhaliwal said the federal government is committing $3.3 million this year, (under the $35-million Canada Wood Export Program) to eight wood-industry associations that are part of the initiative.
“This has encouraged an additional investment of $3.6 million from other partners, for a total package of $6.9 million,” Dhaliwal said during a launch of a research partnership program between the federal government, provincial agencies and UNBC to study the mountain pine beetle infestation.
The projects to expand world sales of wood products include market development activities such as trade shows, promotional material and seminars in the five countries mentioned.
Other activities are designed to reduce barriers to Canadian wood products, like development of wood-friendly building codes and product testing.
The associations receiving money for 2002-03 are B.C. Wood, the Canadian Plywood Association, Cariboo Lumber
Manufacturers, Coast Forest and Lumber Association, Council of Forest Industries, Forest Products Association of Canada, Quebec Wood Export Bureau and Wood Panel Bureau, which are doing market research and promotional activities in other lands.
“Expanding into other global markets will strengthen Canada’s forest sector. It will become more vibrant and less dependent on traditional markets like the U.S., and will strengthen the entire economy.”
Dhaliwal said during a trip to India last year, he discovered “an enormous demand for commodity lumber and building materials.
“There has never been a better time to bring our products to the world market. We know if we work together, we can develop these international marks,” said Dhaliwal, who wants to brand Canada as “a supplier of high-quality, competitively priced wood products.”
Natural Resources Canada is working closely with the B.C. government to broaden offshore markets, he said.
The federal government initially funded a $5.3 million Canada-China Wood Export Initiative in October 2001, and expanded the program to include more countries with an additional $29.7 million in May 2002, for a total investment of $35 million to expand wood-export markets.
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INDEX
Annie’s Mailbox .........17
Bridge........ .........26
Business ...... ......20-23
City, B.C...... ......3,5,15
Classified ..... ......24-28
Comics....... .. .34,39,40
Coming Events .......2,18
Crossword .... .........34
Entertainment . ......32,33
Horoscope .... .........26
Lifestyles...... .........17
Movies........
Nation ....... ........6,7
Sports ........ ......10-14
Television..... .........33
World........ ........8,9
No change in rail plans: minister
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
The province still plans to find a private operator for B.C. Rail, since the Crown agency’s profitable 2002-2003 year was unexpectedly caused by increased shipments of lumber to combat U.S. softwood tariffs, Transportation Minister Judith Reid said Friday.
The Liberal government has come under attack recently from the Opposition NDP and the Council of Trade Unions on B.C. Rail for paying out bonuses to managers when it’s saying the rail is being privatized because it’s cost taxpayers $1 billion over the bast 15 years. B.C. Rail is also expected to pay a dividend of $61 million to the provincial government.
“We were anticipating less movement of wood, not more. It took B.C. Rail by surprise. It took everybody by surprise,” Reid told reporters following a breakfast speech to the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. “But this is not long term. It is not sustainable.”
The province is looking to find a private operator to protect the long-term viability of the rail line, improve service and create more competitive freight rates, said Reid.
“The problem is government doesn’t run things well,” she told the Chamber breakfast.
“Part of it is there’s an attitude of entitlement. That if you are somehow attached to government, even if you are a Crown corporation, you can have much different working conditions and you don’t have the same need to respond to your customers because somehow government becomes your customer. It just doesn’t end up in efficiencies.”
The plan is to keep ownership of the rail right-of-way and the tracks, and seek an operator to run freight service, allow
REID
for passenger service and re-invest in the operation, said Reid.
The province is developing a request for proposals, and then will get input from mayors along the rail line and shippers which use B.C. Rail, she said.
There’s no guarantee at this point a private operator take over the Crown agency, noted Reid. “We have to see if there is somebody willing to come forward and meet (the province’s conditions),” she said.
Reid said she hoped to have a request for proposal ready within months.
Prince George mayor Colin Kinsley said he’d like to see the process get going since it already looks like there will be no passenger service for the summer tourist season.
Kinsley also want to ensure that there’s no chance any of track between Prince George and North Vancouver will be ripped up.
“The rail companies I’ve spoken to, I’ve told them quite candidly that they will not get my support if they don’t guarantee the track and it’s entire length will stay,” said Kinsley.
Lumber production in the Interior of B.C. increased after duties of 27 per cent on U.S.-bound lumber went into effect in May of 2002.
Major forest companies like Canfor, Slocan and West Fraser ran their operations flat out in order to reduce the cost of each board, which increased production significantly.
There has been no indication of a slow down of that strategy this year.
said “The important point is that they’ve recognized UNBC and Prince George, located in the heart of the forest, as the place where forest research and activities should take place.
“This will make Prince George a centre for arboreal forest research.”
B.C. beetle boss Bob Clark said the announcement of the research centre has been his vision, and “the synergy is in line with industry, government and academia.”
Doug Routledge vice-president of northern operations. Council of Forest Industries, said, “We welcome federal involvement, especially on the mountain pine beetle problem.
“We need more research in better and earlier detection of the problem. We need to look at things we can do to ease
DHALIWAL
the problem in the future, like distribution of the harvest across the landscape to achieve different tree growth and aging since the beetles like to attack mature trees,” said Routledge.
In October, 2002, the federal government announced a $246.5-million funding package to support softwood lumber workers and communities. The $40 million to address pine beetle problems is part of that package.
SATURDAY REPORT
Forestry frustration
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
It’s October 1993.
Justa Monk is saying the provincial government won’t get on with settling treaties.
“Members of my band say to me, ‘We elected you to settle our land claims four years ago, but they aren’t settled yet,”’ Monk, then the chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, tells The Citizen. “But I can’t get the federal or provincial government to hurry up the process, although I’ve tried.”
A decade later, Monk and other Carrier Sekani leaders are citing the same frustration. At a news conference on Monday, Monk sits at the Carrier Sekani’s boardroom table with now tribal council chief Mavis Erickson and Mary Teegee, a councillor with the Takla Lake First Nation, one of the Carrier Sekani council’s eight bands with a membership of 12,000.
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SPRING IS IN THE AIR — Neil Lamont leaps for a frisbee thrown by friend Brett Fletcher in Fort George Park Friday. The weather is expected to stay mild with sunny breaks over the weekend.
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