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Friday, March 28, 2014
SERVING MISSION SINCE 1908
Hatzic Prairie, Durieu, McConnell Creek Ratepayers Association president Sharie Conroy examines the rock in Pattison Creek. She worries any logging up stream will bring more debris to the area.
CAROL AUN PHOTO
Residents voice slide concerns Helicopter logging will be used to harvest 49 hectares of land on north side of Pattison Creek Carol Aun MISSION RECORD
Tamihi Logging Company (TLC) will be proceeding with plans to log 49 hectares of Crown land on the north side of Pattison Creek this year, according to TLC manager Ted Holtby. Holtby and Westrek geologist Tim Smith met with Hatzic Valley residents last Thursday night at McConnell Creek Hall to explain the plan and listen to concerns including landslides. About 75 residents attended the meeting to try to convince the logging company to recon-
sider its plans. “We have opposite points of view,” said Holtby after the meeting. “We’re still proceeding. We have a right to be there.” The harvest will be done by helicopter, said Holtby, who recognized the need for various levels of tree retention in the area. “It’s a partial harvest,” he stated, noting the area will be separated into three blocks. About 85 per cent of trees will be removed from the largest block, and 35 per cent will be removed from each of the remaining two areas. One helicopter will be used,
and it will generally run seven days a week, weather permitting, explained Holtby, adding the aircraft will not operate before 7 a.m. It’s difficult to predict how long logging will go on because the work is dependent on good weather, but if 800 cubic metres are harvested in an eight-hour work day, then logging should be finished in about 23 days, said Holtby, estimating 18 to 20 truckloads will be hauled out during weekdays. Smith studied the ground in the area for six months and
determined an old logging road built in the 1940s posed the biggest risk to the valley. Unmaintained drainage structures are impeding drainage patterns on the mountain, which increases the likelihood of a landslide initiated along the route, he said, recommending deactivation of the road, which would require an excavator to stabilize the hill. Such plans would have to be discussed with the Ministry of Forest Lands and Natural Resource Operations as well as the Scowlitz First Nations, which holds the licence for the area.
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With the road deactivated, Smith said he is confident the slide risk is low. “What [TLC is] doing, in my professional opinion, won’t increase the risk of a slide,” said Smith. But area residents disagreed. “There are huge water problems when it rains hard,” said one speaker. “You’ll never see them if you don’t go there when it rains … chances are something will happen if you log it. Even if you don’t log, there’s still a problem. It’s a safety risk up there.” There are 14 creeks in the CONTINUED ON 5
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