“Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back” 32 days ‘til Relay for Life, May 26th.
20 BELOW
REVVING UP
Tanning for grad makes no sense.
Motocross enthusiasts hit the trails on the weekend.
SPORTS/A18 S
OPINION/A6
THE INTERIOR NEWS 105th th Year - Week 17
Smithers,, B.C.
Wednesday, y, April p 25,, 2012
www.interior-news.com
Single g Copy py • $1.34 (($1.20 $1.20 + 14¢ HST))
Weak timber supplies worrisome By Andrew Hudson Smithers/Interior News
BASSETT It’s all about the story.
OUR TOWN/A5
INSIDE OUR TOWN A5 LETTERS A7 SPORTS A17 COMMUNITY A9 THREE RIVERS B1 CLASSIFIEDS B5
FEATURES INVESTORSGROUPA21
WEATHER Wednesday HIGH: 12 LOW: 3
Thursday HIGH: 10 LOW: 4
Dana Gorbahn slices up a piece of moose meat, one of the special ingredients used during the 2012 Rob’s Amateur Chef Showdown Saturday night. Dan Mesec Photo
Friday HIGH: 10 LOW: 2
Saturday HIGH: 10 LOW: 2
Sunday HIGH: 13 H LOW: 1 L
Timber and job loss estimates found in a confidential ministry report are sharpening the debate on whether Victoria should relax forestry rules to ease the impact of the mountain pine beetle. The Bulkley timber-supply area was left out of the report, which focused on four timber areas with a higher share of pine trees: the Lakes, Prince George, Quesnel and Williams Lake. It estimates that without opening up protected areas and harvesting low-volume stands, up to 12,000 forestry jobs will disappear from that region. Changing the rules could save up to 3,500 jobs, the report says, but that job-saving potential is much lower in the Lakes and Quesnel areas than in Prince George and Williams Lake. On April 16, Smithers Mayor Taylor Bachrach joined four other northwest mayors in signing a letter to Premier Christy Clark saying they need a more
detailed understanding of the available timber supply before they can support the changes. While expressing sympathy for the situation prompting the changes, the destruction of Burns Lake’s only sawmill and chief employer, the mayors said, “We want to ensure these remedies do not have a negative impact on the survival of our own community.” Since the Hampton Affiliates sawmill was destroyed by an explosion and fire in January, a provincial recovery team led by forestry consultant and former “beetle boss” Bob Clark has worked on a plan to secure enough timber to allow Hampton to rebuild the mill. The plan isn’t expected until May 1, but MLAs on the recovery team have toured several northern B.C. towns to float its key proposals. Among the more controversial changes are plans to cut into future forestry reserves and relax logging restrictions in scenic areas, wildlife corridors, and oldgrowth areas. See TIMBER on Page A2
Smithers 2012 Budget to achieve council goals By Dan Mesec Smithers/Interior News
After unveiling their 2012 budget and five-year plan, Smithers council now looks to adopt the budget and initiate plans to fix roads and move ahead with projects like the second sheet of ice and a water
main looping along Railway Avenue. “This budget puts a high priority on fixing the roads,” Mayor Taylor Bachrach said. “Everyone’s aware of the challenges we face and the current condition of the roads isn’t acceptable. “The reality is we haven’t invested
enough in the maintenance of our roads and streets. The town has set aside $400,000 for road maintenance. “Council has chosen to tackle the issue and to make some progress on getting on top of the problem.” Although the fiveyear plan sets out a
number of projects to be completed there are other projects high on everyones list of improvements they want to see. In the past, council took $100,000 out of land sales reserves which isn’ta statutory reserve,Councillor xxxx Bandstra explained.
“Each year there’s about $170,000 dollars budgeted for major patch work.” However, in 2004 a study outlined what Smithers needed to allocate to ensure roads were maintained to a suitable degree. It noted council should have spent about $400,000 a year
to maintain the roads. “But because there was nothing in the budget for roads we had to start which was the result of this council,” Bandstra said. “So we’re putting $400,000 out of reserves into some major repair work this year.” See Budget on Page A3
see page A-28