Report offers good advice, union wants action
FRA not working for Nadleh Whut’en
Working in sustainable forestry in the Pacific North Coast
Report offers good advice, union wants action
The largest forestry union in Ontario is vowing to ensure recommendations from an independent report released October 3rd on forestry renewal in Northern Ontario are acted upon.
“The Solutions Agenda for the Northern Ontario Forest Sector has some excellent advice on the way forward,” says Cec Makowski, Ontario Vice-President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP). “It’s a very thoughtful report that offers hope to a major sector of our economy that’s been devastated by cutbacks and closures,” he says.
CEP and the United Steelworkers (USWA) had commissioned the independent panel to study the forestry crisis and recommend solutions. The panel heard from some 60 industry stakeholders including municipal leaders, industry, labour, Aboriginal and other groups.
Among the key recommendations are:
- A Northern Ontario Investment Fund of $500 million per year for five years;
- Regional energy pricing that would allow the industry the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of amply available and cheaply-produced electricity;
- A change to the existing tenure system allowing for control by all stakeholders of the forest resources in specific geographic areas;
- A national forestry summit.
“We intend to make sure these recommendations are acted upon,” says Makowski, adding that “as soon as the Ontario election is over we will be on the doorstep of the new Premier, the Energy Minister, the Finance Minister, the Natural Resources Minister and the Minister for Northern Development and Mining.”
“Plans are underway to involve all the parties necessary to implement these recommendations.”
Solutions Agenda for the Northern Ontario Forest Sector is available at www.cep.ca
FRA not working for Nadleh Whut’en
By Malcolm McColl
A provincial Forest Range Agreement (FRA) has turned into an economic disaster for the Nadleh Whut’en community, said Chief Martin Louie. He feels that members have suffered financial setbacks ensuing from the FRA signed two years ago.
“The FRA that we signed was a loser,” said the Chief, although the reason they entered the agreement was to make forestry viable for community members. “We’ve talked to everybody about how to make it work – the premier, the minister of forests, and the minister in charge of Aboriginal affairs.”
The Nadleh Whut’en traditional territory.
The BC government explains, “Forest and Range Agreements are interim agreements between the Ministry of Forests and eligible First Nations designed to provide for ‘workable accommodation’ of Aboriginal interests.” They also provide economic certainty to industry. “These agreements provide the ministry with operational stability.”
Chief Martin Louie said Nadleh Whut’en signed the FRA, “because it was supposed to be an interim settlement leading to treaty.” However, “it has not only drained the finances of the Nadleh Whut'en community budget, but individuals who bought equipment and invested into business are going down the tubes.”
By mid-October Nadleh Whut’en First Nation was holding off on a blockade of logging roads in their traditional territory around Fraser Lake west of Prince George, BC because they believe there is hope to resolve their concerns with the province over the costly FRA.
Chief Louie announced the First Nation had a meeting scheduled with BC forests minister Rich Coleman for mid-October that was supposed to tell the story, but nothing has materialized, with the Chief adding that Nadleh Whut'en was preparing for court actions in case concerns are not addressed. A previous meeting with deputy minister Doug Konkin last July in Victoria did not resolve problems.
“The problem is that the stumpage paid on the five-year non-renewable licence makes the wood more expensive than the massive amounts of wood being sold through B.C. Timber Sales in the beetle-epidemic area,” said Chief Louie, regarding Nadleh Whut’en’s traditional territory.
The 390 members of the band are therefore seeking stumpage relief. Without it, the timber harvesting licence, and any hope of gaining economic benefits, Chief Louie believes is “dead in the water.” He also noted that other area First Nation communities are having issues with the FRA program and timber rights and revenue sharing.
More than 100 forest and range agreements have been signed in the province with the intention to provide economic benefits to First Nations communities or as interim measures in lieu of treaty settlement. Meanwhile the mountain pine beetle has caused there to be a glut of timber for B.C. Timber Sales, which is harvestable at lower stumpage rates.
The Nadleh Whut’en has a licence for 150,000 cubic metres of timber a year for five years, ending in 2010, as well as $194,000 in revenue sharing annually. They only managed to find buyers for 125,000 cubic metres. The Chief said they haven’t made a penny from it, and in fact, had to use Department of Indian Affairs funding to help make up shortfalls in community financing and forestry programs.
“We’re going bankrupt,” he said. “I can’t help but think the government set us up to fail,” he added, noting the licence does not offer enough timber for the band to have any chance of securing financing to build their own manufacturing facility.
A First Nation leadership council, including Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, has also been critical of the province’s FRA program in the past and extended offers to help address Nadleth Whut’en concerns.
British Columbia possesses approximately 20% of the commercial forest land in Canada and forestry accounts for about 3% of the annual gross domestic product. It supplies raw materials for its most important manufacturing industries. Commercial forests cover about 55% of the total land area of BC.
Nadleh Whut’en has traditional use territory in the centre of BC's interior rainforest, whereas the coastal forest, with western hemlock, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, and various pines, grows rapidly in the mild, wet climate and produces the largest trees in Canada.
About two-fifths of the lumber cut in BC comes from the coastal regions where nearly all of the output is softwoods, principally Douglas fir, hemlock, and western red cedar. The annual timber harvest totals about 93 million cubic metres.
Working in sustainable forestry in the Pacific North Coast
By Malcolm McColl
They have been busy this year on the coast says Gwen Blandov. “I like busy.” Presently she is setting up safety certification in accordance with Worksafe BC regulations, using the BC Safety Forest Council guidelines to pull it together. “I’m doing a lot of cross referencing,” she said laughing. “Once it is all up and ready I will doing inspections, internal audits and incident reports, so it is a lot of getting ready.”
Why did Gwen choose a career in forestry? “An instructor in school saw something in me and challenged me to take a couple of natural resources courses.” Until then this particular career hadn’t occurred to her.
Once she attained the education required to practice as a forest resource technician, “I was in the field for a few months doing timber cruising before I joined my present employer,” in Prince Rupert, BC, in the office and commercial access to forests. “Basically you are following the map from a point of access along a compass bearing going 'x' metres, walking a straight line over windblown, over cliffs, whatever it takes, you hike the terrain and make an inventory of timber.”
She said, “You look for things, quality of timber, defects, Culturally Modified Trees (CMT), and so forth. Decisions on archaeology will be made and the information shared with First Nation commmunities in the area related to Aboriginal Rights and Title. Archealogical impact assessment teams will come through and process the site."
First Nations have people specifically trained to get involved, sweep over and ribbon out the land, and place it on the map. “CMTs are often found in cedar, and in cypress, hemlock, and spruce (for medicine). The cedar were high value trees in providing housing, clothing, containers, baskets. Cypress, hemlock, and spruce were modified for medicine. It is always facinating to come upon them. It is amazing to reflect on how the First Nations were able to do these things.”
On the odd occassion she has bumped into canoes in mid construction. “I found a beautiful one near the Lax Kw'alaams. The Elders had asked us to go in and sweep the area and try to locate a canoe that had been talked about from decades ago. They told stories about it until over the years the existence of this canoe joined part of the oral histories.”
It was a fully carved canoe and an amazing discovery, an overpowering piece of history. “My partner Ron Smith and I were sweeping the ground,” and had the distinct pleasure of ribboning it out, genuflecting for a period of time to respect the discovery’s significance, then composing documentation, and, “The best part was phoning the community.” It was about 50 feet from the shoreline.
“Yes, I see it as a good career choice. As First Nation person I have opportunities to ensure CMTS are intact and we are looking after the trees and the marine environment. The First Nation perspective really informs that part of the work for me. I’d like to see these streams and forests in 50 years from now with important CMTs standing and places intact. It is part of the history of the country. It’s a recording of the past.”
This history book exists in a living culture and inside an active forestry, so the careers are important. “You have to find a balance or you will have struggles in the heart and soul. Most people want it to remain pristine, and a company like ours provides a great service by taking into consideration First Nation concerns and by adapting the plans for timber harvests.”
She noted, “Sustainability is looked at from different angles, and it should be, because I still live off the land and the ocean and want sustainable resources and wildlife as most people do. I work against the plunder of forests which I saw in my youth around Port Simpson. The trees are growing back but the mountain facing Lax KW'alaams was stripped and the only solution was to stop looking.”
She works for Triumph Timber, a company that harvests a lot of first retention timber commonly referred to as select logging. “If you are on the water or 100 ft above sea level you should barely notice where we’ve been logging. We tend to look at the visuals in coastal logging. In places like Grenville Channel the visual quality objective is high priority. People still see pristine forest where in fact there’s been logging going on. A lot of people really favour that kind of logging.”