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POLITICAL SUICIDE?
Republicans seem to want anyone except Mitt Romney
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AT HOME 33
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Mexico attack arrest
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ARTS 39,40
LET'S COOK — Nathan Beebe, 10, rolls out his pasta with the help of instructor Noeda Blanchard at the Kids are Cooking Pro-D Day event at the Family YMCA Centre on McDermid Drive. Students were taking part in activities all around town during the School District 57 Pro-D Day.
BABINE LAKE MILL
Hampton willing to rebuild, says Bell
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
After a week of doubt, a glimmer of hope arose Friday that Babine Forest sawmill could make a comeback.
The Burns Lake sawmill was destroyed in an explosion and fire Jan. 20, and a week later, its owners expressed interest in rebuilding, according to B.C. Jobs Minister Pat Bell.
Speaking in a telephone press conference from Burns Lake, Bell said Oregon-based Hampton Affiliates, which has a 90 per cent stake in the mill, must first gain confidence in the timber supply before determining whether to start anew.
With 250 employees, Babine Forest Products was the major employer in the community of 3,600 people, 226 kilometres west of Prince George.
Robert Luggi, 45, and Carl Charlie, 42 died in the disaster, the B.C. Coroners Service confirmed Friday.
Forest industry veteran and the B.C. government’s former “beetle boss,” Bob Clark, was named the lead in the town’s economic recovery effort. Bell said his task is to provide Hampton “with the best possible information as to what that
Smoke rises from the Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake last Sunday. On Friday, the mill's owners expressed interest in rebuilding.
fibre supply looks like.”
Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson said mills across north-central B.C. have doubts about long-term timber supply, not just Babine Forest Products.
“I’m very concerned we’re going to get some political kneejerk [reaction] in response to the tragedy at Burns Lake,” Simpson said. “It’s just
not appropriate for us to kneejerk and say we need to give this mill a long-term supply.”
Simpson, an independent MLA who formerly served as the NDP forestry critic, said despite the tragedy the province needs to balance the needs of all mills operating in the province.
— see TIMBER, page 4
NATURAL RESOURCES
Reforestation plan
falls short of need: Simpson
Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizen.ca
Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson is disappointed the province isn’t going far enough to heal beetle-killed pine forests.
The province announced an initiative Friday to allow companies to replant Crown forests damaged by the mountain pine beetle and forest fires in exchange for carbon credits.
Simpson, an independent MLA who formerly served as the NDP forest critic, said the proposal falls far short of the need to replant Crown forests.
“The only reason this is possible
is because in 2002 the government changed the law that required the Crown to take care of forests that are damaged by fires, pests and disease,” Simpson said.
“They say they hope to do as much as 10,000 hectares a year. Even using the numbers the provided in their press release, 800,000 hectares, that’ll be 80 years to meet the demand of today.”
Under current legislation, forestry companies are legally obligated to replant forests they harvest, but forests damaged by fire, mountain pine beetles or disease which are not commercially harvestable are not required to be replanted.
On Friday, Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thompson announced the province would accept bids from private companies to do the replanting.
Thompson wasn’t available for comment, but a ministry spokesperson said the province is targeting a 300-hectare section of forest near Vanderhoof and a 700-hectare section near Quesnel in 2012.
The ministry is intending to start the program at 500 to 2,000 hectares this year, with a goal of reaching 10,000 hectares per year by 2015.
— see PROJECT, page 4
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