NEWS: Bringing landscapes to life
NEWS: Funding for Forest Recreation Sites
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013
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Salvage timber nearly doubles By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
BLOOMING Baskets
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
Gerrit Keegstra and Keriann Delege show off two spring baskets already blooming at Riverside Gardens. The greenhouses are full of all varieties of plants and hanging baskets crowd the rafters overhead as Riverside Gardens prepares for their annual opening May 8.
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Small scale salvage in the Morice Timber Supply Area has nearly doubled in response to recommendations from the Mid-term Timber Supply Committee. Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad says that the small scale salvage now has 40,000 cubic metres available, quite an increase from the past 25 years, when there has been 25,000 cubic metres for small scale salvage. “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to provide this opportunity in Houston,” said Rustad, adding that it is critical in his opinion that they recover as much wood as they can from what would have been available if not for the pine beetle epidemic. Rustad says the Mid-term Timber
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“It will give more work for smaller contractors around.” - Kevin Johnson
Supply Committee, which toured through B.C. last summer, gave 22 recommendations to the Legislative Assembly in August 2012, and one of those was to reduce as much as possible the unsalvaged loss. The goal of the small scale salvage increase is to maximize the utilization of the unsalvaged loss, and bring additional wood back into the system, Rustad said. See TIMBER on Page 2
Babine Lake Community Forest expands allowable cut By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
The Babine Lake Community Forest has an expanded annual allowable cut of 11,460 cubic metres per year, said a recent government press release. Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad
says it’s part of an effort to enhance economic opportunities and forest stewardship. “I’m pleased to see an expansion in the allowable annual cut in the Babine Lake Community Forest … this expansion will provide jobs and allow economic expansion for the community
It will provide jobs and give economic expansion.” - Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad
of Granisle,” Rustad said. Community forest
is an operation managed by a local government, community
group or First Nation for the benefit of the entire community. They are longterm licenses designed with area-based management that gives communities exclusive rights to harvest timber, as well as opportunity to manage and profit from other forest resources such
as botanical products, recreation, wildlife, water and scenic viewscapes. The Forest Sector Strategy for B.C. says community forests are a ket element in supporting prosperous rural forest economies. These licenses support the government’s Mid-
IT’S BIG. 0% financing. IT’S ON NOW.
term Timber Supply Action Plan, prepared in response to the mountain pine beetle infestation. The action plan will help improve stewardship of our mid-term timber supply, while supporting B.C.’s fo re s t - d e p e n d a n t communities.
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