Fe 10 2003

Letters

Over The Page 7

Thoughts on a Working Forest for BC

Stability and long term cer-
tainty is important to encour-
age further investments in
British Columbia’s forests,
thus enhancing BC ‘s commer-
cial forest industry and
encouraging the industry’s
global competitiveness.
Properly developed and
implemented policies and
goals for the proposed work-
ing forest are paramount in
ensuring stability within the
industry. These are my con-
cerns, what are yours?

Public ownership of forested
lands in British Columbia and
much of Canada has benefited
all of the people within the
country. It is important to
retain crown ownership and
full public access, as long as
access is not negatively
impacting public or privet
investment in the forested
lands. I would encourage the
Provincial government to
maintain this ownership and
not privatize forested lands
owned by the people of BC.

A working Forest proposal
creates greater isolation of

parks and protected areas,
thus enhancing the negative
affects of in-land island habi-
tats, i.e. limiting genetic diver-
sity and interbreeding of
wildlife populations. We
should encourage wildlife cor-
ridors to and from protected
areas and enhance buffers
around these areas to mitigate
the impact on these isolated
protected areas.

The discussion paper
alludes to our forests as car-
bon sinks. To view our forests
as carbon sinks is short sight-
ed. Under current forest prac-
tices tree removal and road-
side pile burning releases far
more carbon then the refor-
estation of those stands can
absorb. If we want to assume
that our forests are acting as
carbon sinks we are going to
have to change our practices
of burning roadside piles.
Another option is to expand
tree stock in our underutilized
forestlands. Backlog blocks
(pre-1987) still needs manage-
ment attention. There are an
estimated 2.4 million hectares

of backlog lands that need to
be brought forth and managed
sustainably. Increasing tree
stocks on these lands will
allow us to work towards
accepting our forests’ role as
carbon sinks.

The province should contin-
ue to encourage regional plan-
ning and land and resource
management planning
(LRMP). The province should
also monitor the implementa-
tion of the higher level plans
and continually reevaluate the
stakeholders interests in the
forestlands. Society’s values,

needs and desires for a forest ,

change over time. To ensure
that management of forested
lands is meeting these
changes, LRMP and _ public
input must continually be
solicited, plans changed and
policies adapted.

Under the changes proposed
to the agricultural land reserve
(ALR), I wonder if the protec-
tion currently awarded to agri-
cultural lands be lost? It is
important for food production
sustainability to protect the

“Want a Bursary? That’s Too Bad”

Take a UNBC course calen-
dar. Open it to the
“Scholarships and Bursaries”
section. Glance quickly over
the “Eligibility” section of
several of the bursary condi-
tions. What will you find?
“Must be a resident of Prince
George.” “Must be a resident
of northern British
Columbia.” “Must be a resi-
dent of BC.” Regardless of
your GPA, if you’re from out-
of-province, you'll be lucky to
get a single red cent.

Being a life-long resident of
southern Ontario who has
attained a decent GPA, this
‘no outsiders’ clause reads
quite similar to “Available to
anyone but you”, or, more
bluntly put, “Gyit ‘yer
stinkin’ Ontarian bee-hind
awf ‘mah lawn; we don’t like
‘yer kind ‘round these here
parts”.

Such discriminatory stipu-
lations as “Caucasians Only”
and “Women need not apply”

have been not only discarded
but have actually been made
illegal. So what makes this
regional form of discrimina-
tion okay?

Don’t get me wrong—
‘minority scholarships’ such
as the Canfor Annual First
Nations Scholarship or the
Canadian Federation of
University Women (Prince
George) Scholarship—both of
which state that they give
preference to, but are not
exclusive to, their respective
target students—are very
good ideas. They help to
close the race and gender
gaps that have been torn into
society by generations of sim-
ple-minded biases. But is the
population of BC considered
to be a minority? In offering
well over seventy five percent
of undergraduate scholar-
ships exclusively to residents
of BC, is the university imply-
ing that people from BC are
inferior to the rest of Canada,

and thereby require extra
financial aid? Or is this an
elitist accusation that resi-
dents from out of the area are
all far too rich for their own
good, and that people from
such places should be left to
fend entirely for themselves?
‘Discrimination’ isn’t just
about race and religion. It’s
possible to be (and people
very frequently are) discrimi-
natory to people who are
from specific parts of their
own country, regardless of
race, gender, religion,
etceteras. By offering the
majority of the scholarships
exclusively to students from
the province, this educational
institution is willfully exclud-
ing a specific group of people
from certain _ privileges
regardless of merit or qualifi-
cation. If that isn’t discrimi-
natory, I don’t know what is.

agricultural lands form
becoming golf courses and
subdivisions. Agricultural
land in BC is often the most
desired land for subdivisions.
I am concerned that in the
move to place the current
lands protected by the ALR
into the working forest the
importance of agricultural
land will be over looked, or
poorly managed. Discussion
on moving the ALR into the
working forest should be elab-
orated to further public under-
standing of how this change
will affect agricultural lands.
Healthy ecosystems and
environments are crucial to
the concept of a working for-
est. To maintain sustainabili-
ty: clean water, diverse stands,
and habitat protection are
extremely key to healthy
ecosystems and environments.
A healthy environment is a
healthy economy. Ensuring
that protection of streams,
habitat, watersheds and
wildlife are maintained
through policy and legislation
will help provide productive

ecosystems and healthy envi-
ronments. I am encouraging
policy makers to enhance
environmental protection
within the working forest.

If properly implemented,
with clear goals and policies, a
working forest can be an
important tool to improve
investment in British
Columbia’s forest industry.
But, we must ensure that a
working forest does not limit
public involvement in forest
management, public involve-
ment in land use, and the pro-
tection of ecosystem diversity,
health and welfare. What are
your concerns? Please read the
discussion paper “A Working
Forest for BC” and present
your comments and questions
to the Ministry of Sustainable
Resource Management at PO
Box 9352, Stn Prov Govt,
Victoria BC V8W 9M1.

Sincerely,

Jason Hutchinson

A Response to Racism

To those who are responsi-
ble for the recent acts of
racism, how can you look at
yourselves in the mirror?
How can you do these things,
have you not learned any-
thing from history?

Mahatma Gandhi through
nonviolent means was able to
make one of the most power-
ful nations in the world back
out of India. Studying
Canadian history it is abun-
dantly clear that without the
aid of the First Nations
People, who by the way we
betrayed, Canada would
never have been created.
Now examine Hitler, whose
hatred started the worst war
this world has ever seen.
Even now there are still peo-
ple that judge people based
on their heritage. Why don’t
you think about or even try
living in a place where you
are discriminated against, not
fun eh. I am proud to call
myself Canadian, I am also
proud to call people of all
heritages Canadian. I am
ashamed, as we all should be,

that there are some people
who do not respect other
people, yet they call them-
selves Canadian. Canada is
built on people from all back-
grounds and while
Canadians have never been
perfect, let’s work together to
move ahead. Together we can
unite and help each other to
move ahead and make
Canada the best (and safest)
place in the world to live
again for all people.

To those responsible for
racist actions, step forward
and fess up, the repercus-
sions will be less than when
they find you. I challenge
each one of you reading this,
as well as, NUGSS, UNBC,
PGPIRG, and every club on
campus, to do something to
show that racism and hate
are not welcome in UNBC or
CANADA. Know this, that if
you act in Hate or Racism, we
will find you, you will not be
welcome and you will be the
minority!

Steven DeBoer