Volume Ten, Number One   January 2005   www.columbiajournal.ca

Huge Service Cuts Threaten Public Forests, say Workers, Ecologists

CPP News
 
The Campbell Liberals' cuts to the BC Forest Service are threatening the ability of the provincial government to properly manage and protect British Columbia's forests, according to a new report released December 7.
 
"The Sierra Club of Canada has documented how 800 jobs have been cut from the Ministry of Forests since 2001," said BC Government and Service Employees' Union President George Heyman.  "These cuts have come in some of the most important jobs in the Forest Service - the employees responsible for compliance and enforcement."
 
The Sierra Club report also shows that scalers, the staff who measure the value of the wood cut by the forest companies, are now only able to check one out of every 147 truckloads of wood, calling into question whether the people of BC are receiving full compensation for our resources from forest companies.
 
"The cuts to the Forest Service have hit communities outside the Lower Mainland especially hard," said Heyman.  "The Campbell government follows a cynical policy of short term resource exploitation which just helps line the pockets of industry at the expense of British Columbians and a sustainable economy for forest dependant communities."
 
The Sierra Club recommends increasing the minimum stumpage rate and hiring more staff to monitor and safeguard BC forests.