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Pemberton council threatens to block logging trucks

Weyerhaeuser wants to log in watershed above Signal Hill school

Pemberton council, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and several Pemberton residents are on a collision course with two logging companies over a plot of land behind Pemberton’s Signal Hill elementary school.

In a lively council meeting Tuesday night the members of Pemberton council made it patently clear to two representatives from Weyerhaeuser/CRB Logging that they are opposed to their plans to log the hill behind the school and will "sit on the road in front of the trucks" if it goes ahead.

SLRD Chair Susan Gimse said later that if the project went ahead against the wishes of the community she would "join the council on the road in front of the trucks."

The trouble started a month ago when Weyerhaeuser, through CRB, gave notice that it wanted to amend its Forest Development Plan to include the timber behind the elementary school.

The problem is that that piece of land is visible from the village, and it’s also within Pemberton’s watershed, which means it could affect the two wells where Pemberton’s drinking water comes from.

What makes this project even more explosive is that by law, there is little the SLRD or Pemberton council can do to stop CRB and Weyerhaeuser except to ensure that the right people in the right places know how they feel.

According to the Tenures Officer with the Squamish Forest District, Andre Germain, the decision on this logging tender rests with District Manager Paul Kuster.

But even Kuster, in some ways, has his hands tied because, according to the Forest Practices Code, if a logging company fulfils all its obligations then the district manager must allow the project to go ahead.

Germain said there are several things a district manager can do even if a company fulfils all of its obligations, such as restrict the amount of logging that takes place or force the company to use certain methods to remove the logs.

"But if they (CRB and Weyerhaeuser) meet all the requirements under the Forest Practices Code then the district manager must ultimately approve it," said Germain.

"He can make demands of the crews to restrict how much they can log, but he can’t deny them the right to log."

Germain said that at this early point in the process it’s up to the public to ensure their voices are heard during the mandatory 60-day consultation process.

During the consultation process, which started on June 10, members of the public can view the logging proposal at the Pemberton library and are encouraged to write to CRB, Weyerhaeuser and/or the Ministry of Forests with their opinions on the project.

While there are a number of obvious issues for the public to grapple with, Pemberton councillors highlighted a number of other issues Tuesday night.

Councillor Richard Doucet pointed out that Weyerhaeuser was operating on a logging licence that was created in the 1920s and asked why, after all these years, the company wanted to log the area now?

Councillor Mark Blundell said the village went through the same argument four years ago when CRB proposed to log the area.

In that dispute CRB accommodated the Village of Pemberton by logging the backside of the mountain.

Blundell said there had already been an enormous public outcry about the project, like there was four years ago, and he urged CRB to consult the public further before taking any action.

Councillor Michelle Beauregard asked what had changed since 2000 and urged the public to write as many letters as possible to stop the project.

Mayor Elinor Warner summed up the councillors’ arguments when she said: "Nobody supports logging more than I do, but I cannot support logging that mountain and there is no way we are going to support logging there.

"The community has got to have control of their own visuals," she said.

"We only supported the plan last time because you went away from the face of the mountain."

Warner said earlier that if CRB/Weyerhaeuser were allowed to log then they would take between 250 and 300 truckloads of logs out of Pemberton.

"Four years ago it was tried and they (CRB) actually went down by One Mile Lake… and I thought that was the end of it.

"Now they’re reapplying and I think that’s a bit of a shocker.

"If you come into town and you stand at the elementary school and look behind they’re talking about that nice little mountain right there."

Despite all the opposition, CRB and Weyerhaeuser forestry consultant Bernice Patterson was adamant CRB could do a good job in removing the timber without dramatically disturbing the "visuals" in Pemberton.

"We actually logged in that timber licence in the spring of 2002 and we started that process in 2000, but it took us that long before we got everything approved," said Patterson.

"On that job we met everything the community asked us to do and we did some partial cutting that was visual, we used helicopters to meet deadlines and we did a good job."

In response to questions about the timing of the operation Patterson said: "Why not now?"

"It doesn’t matter what time you do it, we’re doing it now… essentially it might take us another year or two before we’re at the point where we’re ready to log.

"But we’re amending our forest development plan – it’s common practise, it’s not something out of the ordinary."

Patterson added that logging companies were "like any other business" in that they needed to make money and she said CRB and Weyerhaeuser had deemed that they could make money off the area of forest behind the elementary school.

"It’s the same as any business, you’re going to try and make as much money as you can, right?" she said.

There are scores of residents that do not support CRB’s plan, but local faller Allen McEwan, who has worked for CRB and logged in the Pemberton area for 22 years, said decisions about logging should be based on scientific evidence, not emotion or visual aids.

"I think this protest is based on emotion and misinformation and shouldn’t carry the debate at the end of the day and there should be much more careful reasoning done," said McEwan.

"The logging operation could be managed to minimize the visual impact.

"We need to look at that stand and realize that it’s not going to live forever. It’s a decandent stand, some of the timber is already dying and falling down and some of it is a tremendous fire hazard.

"As I see it, it would probably benefit the village to take enough timber out to fire proof the hillside a little bit more, and secondly we’ve got to look ourselves in the eye and say, ‘Do we want to have a forest industry, or don’t we?’"