This page contains annotated news stories and press releases with commentary about land reform and the democratic process in British Columbia. Our comments are shown in red.
It is interesting that Forest Minister Rich Coleman is using the argument that parks are the reason why industry workers are loosing there jobs, when he has just handed 28 000ha over to Western Forest Products to be sold to a developer. Rich Coleman who had promised to come up with plans to restrict old growth logging is now saying he is sick of hearing people complain about it, and there will be no more parks created. He fails to mention that the majority of parks in 'old growth’ areas are comprised of rock and ice and unsuitable for logging. He fails to mention that the annual allowable cut has gone up in recent years in the province, indicating access to the land base for logging is not a problem. If our Minister was truly interested in maintaining forest jobs he wouldn’t be granting TFL deletions, instead he would be consulting communities about decisions that affect them, taking power back from corporate logging companies, and keeping raw logs in the province.
Plenty of parks in B.C., forest minister says
Jan 17, 2008The British Columbia coast has enough parks and protected areas, Forests Minister Rich Coleman told the annual Truck Loggers Association convention Thursday.
Loggers no longer need to worry about losing timber to parks, he said.
"We are not going to have any shrinking landbase any more. We have enough protected areas and parks," the minister said during a panel discussion at the annual convention now underway in Vancouver. "Let's recognize that and celebrate it. But remember: we need a working forest for the future of our system."
Coleman, who had to defend his government over criticism from the loggers that it no longer considers forestry a key file, made the statement after saying stakeholders in the troubled industry need to "set aside issues between each other."
He also vented some annoyance about his own job.
"I'm just a little frustrated with the people on the coast of British Columbia who keep saying 'quit cutting all the old-growth forest' when there is four million hectares of old-growth forest in the province of British Columbia and there is only 700,000 hectares available for harvest."
At one point Coleman mused: "I wonder some days just what I did to the premier to have been made the forests minister."
Coleman also said the government is working on resolving other issues to ensure there is a enough timber on the coast, such as getting timber on the market that was taken from tenure holders and provided to first nations. The first nations often didn't have the capacity to harvest it and it has not come back on the market.
He referred to it as "the black-hole wood."
Fellow-panelist and association president Don Bendickson, who spoke before the minister, said the government no longer lists the forest industry as one of its top-three files, a situation that must change.
He called for major policy changes to encourage more players in the industry and a deeper commitment to the forest landbase. The coastal region now has 30 per cent more land in parks and protected areas than is available for logging, Bendickson said. He also said contract loggers need assurances that the new ecosystem-based management being developed won't make harvesting too costly in the working forest.
"If we want an industry, we need a land base. Somebody has to draw a line in the mud and say 'enough is enough.' ''
Coleman responded by saying: "This is B.C.'s critical industry."
Later Bendickson said in an interview that he is encouraged by the minister's statement that the park-building era is over.
"We very much appreciate the minister's commitment to conserve the working forest land base," he said, noting that forestry provides benefits from funding schools and health care and providing employment to capacity-building for first nations.
