This page contains annotated news stories and press releases with commentary about land reform and the democratic process in British Columbia. Our comments are shown in red.
Communities have spoken loud and clear about their opposition to TFL deletions.
Minister of Forests needs to listen this time, and if he won't, the premier must step in.
The historical track record of TFL deletions is clear, communities, forest workers, recreation interests, First Nations, environmentalist and smaller land owners lose out big time, while corporate interests remain as the big winners.
The real question is; When is our government going to stand up for the people that is represents?
Community rejects TFL land removal, implores minister to act on their behalf
Jun 03, 2008
By Aaron Orlando
About 100 community members from Nakusp and surrounding areas gathered at the Nakusp Auditorium on May 28 to provide public input on private land removal from TFL 23.
Independent consultant Mike Geisler, who was hired to prepare a report on the input session was joined by a panel including several representatives from the ministry of forests and also representatives from the receiver, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
The meeting lasted for over two hours, with many speakers making formal submissions to the panel.
Many different points were raised by community members at the meeting, including lack of government consultation, socio-economic impacts that resulted from the collapse of Pope & Talbot, hardships in the community, and the value of TFL lands as a public asset, amongst others. However, perhaps the two key issues that resonated with those in the crowd when they were raised by numerous speakers were highlighted by Nakusp Mayor Karen Hamling in her opening statement, “Our contractors are sitting here owed millions of dollars and probably will never see a cent. And so unless that money is going to go directly to our contractors, I personally don’t approve of this sale at all,” she said to a loud applause.
Local contractors are owed millions of dollars, and being unsecured creditors, are unlikely to see any of it. Speaker after speaker implored the minister of forests to exercise his power of approval over the land release to somehow come up an arrangement that would see compensation paid to local contractors.
After a brief introduction of the process by Geisler, former Pope & Talbot Director Ken Taylor, now working for receiver PWC, gave an explanation of the events over the past year that led to this consultation.
In June 2007 P&T submitted a formal request to remove the lands, and followed with a formal written information package in October of 2007. He said P&T planned to sell a total of 170 parcels of land, 62 of which are schedule ‘A’ lands in the TFL. The other properties are not within TFL 23. Three properties were later removed, leaving a total of 59.
Taylor said the original intention was to generate cash for P&T, but since they’ve entered receivership, “The intention or the purpose of selling private property is to generate cash to reduce the debt and to pay off creditors.”
He said the removal of lands would equal about a 13,000 cubic metres of annual allowable cut (AAC) from TFL 23, which he said represents about two per cent of the total, and said depending on later determinations, he felt it may not affect the AAC at all.
Taylor said provisions in the deal to sell the private lands would account for maintaining both logging and recreational activities. He said the sale of the Shelter Bay property included a provision to remove the log dump from the parcel and maintain access to it through a 99 year lease. He said that recreation areas such as Eagle Bay were removed from the sale to maintain recreation values, and that P&T had offered to sell the land to the province for $1, provided the province does the survey work. Taylor listed gravel sources that were also removed from the sale because they were important for maintaining and developing roads. He said two lots in the Trout Lake area were identified as critical caribou habitat, so they were removed from sales.
Domestic watersheds, water points of diversion, wildlife habitat for caribou and ungulates, old growth management areas, visual management areas and recreation areas were values that were considered as part of a process to come up with land for sale. He said the process was relatively new to those involved.
Karen Hamling opened the public statements by reminding the ministry of the massive amount of public input that was forwarded to the minister of forests last year. “I’m hoping that the over 600 letters and emails and phone calls that this community made is being taken into consideration. I’m also hoping that the 700 signature petition is taken into consideration,” she said.
She said the TFL has been eroded away over the years, including when the TFL licence was transferred and for mountain caribou habitat, and that further withdrawals are unacceptable.
Nakusp & District Chamber of Commerce president Ulrike Zobel spoke several times at the meeting. She questioned why the many faxes and emails seemed to have been overlooked so far, and pressed to find out if legal opinions had been gathered to see if there was a way to recover money owed to local contractors, questioning if the minister of forests couldn’t find a way to represent their interests. “Surely there must be some way to look at this to find a way to pay the people in this community who are owed a lot of money.”
She said the repercussion has created extreme hardship for individuals, companies and families in local communities. “I find that absolutely appalling that there hasn’t been any public effort that I know of made to find some way to pay these people back,” she said.
Nakusp employment counsellor Susan Gustafson said she was one of the only busy people in town these days. “I’ve first hand seen the trauma that’s happening in this community to all our displaced forest workers.” She noted previous comments that land sales had been cancelled to protect caribou, campsites and log dumps. “I’m wondering if [the minister’s] integrity and compassion could extend to a bit of a sweetheart deal to support the community, as well as caribou,” she said.
Dan Wiebe of Box Lake Lumber raised a point regarding money that was put in trust with P&T. Aside from money that was never paid for work done by local contractors, they were never paid back deposits they gave to P&T. Contractors are required to put up the deposits as a type of insurance. For example, if the contractor causes environmental damage that the company is required to mitigate, the licensee would access the trust deposit to rectify the situation. “That’s like a crime,” he said. “Someone should be put in jail for that. If I put up money in trust and it’s put in the blend and disappears...” he said to an overwhelming applause. He pushed for the ministry of forests to rectify the trust fund issue. “That’s our only ace in the hole. We’re asking they don’t give it away,” he said later.
Ken Taylor responded by saying he made every effort to get the money released, but he wasn’t successful. “Sureties were one area where I did question the company and request they be released, and I agree that they have not been released,” he said.
Mayor Hamling said that trust fund issue should be considered separate from general monies owed, and Wiebe’s questioning led to several other comments questioning what had happened with the trust money.
Nakusp resident Laurie Page implored the ministry to consider public values. “The minister should be working for the people, and not the company.” She questioned the timing of the consultation, wondering why it took a year for community consultations to take place. “It doesn’t seem like it was done in consultation with our local politicians ... which would have been the proper thing to do.”
Resident Barb Chwachka questioned the meaning of “higher purpose” as a reason for removing the lands from the TFL. “The schedule ‘A’ lands can be removed for a higher purpose. I really question that the higher purpose used for this land is used to pay off a company’s debt that hasn’t managed their company properly,” she said, also to an applause.
David Morel, executive director, timber and revenue division, with the ministry of forests explained that under the Forestry Act they have the obligation to review applications to remove private lands from TFLs, and this was what they were currently doing.
Independent consultant Mike Geisler repeatedly implored everyone in the crowd and all community members to put their comments in writing, saying this was by far the most effective way of submitting input, as they will be attached as is to his report. Comments can be sent to him directly by e-mail at mgeisler@shaw.ca, or they can be mailed to Mike Geisler, RRI S12 C31, South Slocan, B.C. V0G 2G0. The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2008.
More information on the proposed removal is available at the ministry of forests’ Southern Interior forests region website at www.for.gov.bc.ca/rsi/. Follow the links to find comment forms, maps of the areas in question, as well as Pope & Talbot’s submission to the Ministry of Forests to have the private lands removed from the TFL.
Independent consultant Mike Geisler, who was hired to prepare a report on the input session was joined by a panel including several representatives from the ministry of forests and also representatives from the receiver, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
The meeting lasted for over two hours, with many speakers making formal submissions to the panel.
Many different points were raised by community members at the meeting, including lack of government consultation, socio-economic impacts that resulted from the collapse of Pope & Talbot, hardships in the community, and the value of TFL lands as a public asset, amongst others. However, perhaps the two key issues that resonated with those in the crowd when they were raised by numerous speakers were highlighted by Nakusp Mayor Karen Hamling in her opening statement, “Our contractors are sitting here owed millions of dollars and probably will never see a cent. And so unless that money is going to go directly to our contractors, I personally don’t approve of this sale at all,” she said to a loud applause.
Local contractors are owed millions of dollars, and being unsecured creditors, are unlikely to see any of it. Speaker after speaker implored the minister of forests to exercise his power of approval over the land release to somehow come up an arrangement that would see compensation paid to local contractors.
After a brief introduction of the process by Geisler, former Pope & Talbot Director Ken Taylor, now working for receiver PWC, gave an explanation of the events over the past year that led to this consultation.
In June 2007 P&T submitted a formal request to remove the lands, and followed with a formal written information package in October of 2007. He said P&T planned to sell a total of 170 parcels of land, 62 of which are schedule ‘A’ lands in the TFL. The other properties are not within TFL 23. Three properties were later removed, leaving a total of 59.
Taylor said the original intention was to generate cash for P&T, but since they’ve entered receivership, “The intention or the purpose of selling private property is to generate cash to reduce the debt and to pay off creditors.”
He said the removal of lands would equal about a 13,000 cubic metres of annual allowable cut (AAC) from TFL 23, which he said represents about two per cent of the total, and said depending on later determinations, he felt it may not affect the AAC at all.
Taylor said provisions in the deal to sell the private lands would account for maintaining both logging and recreational activities. He said the sale of the Shelter Bay property included a provision to remove the log dump from the parcel and maintain access to it through a 99 year lease. He said that recreation areas such as Eagle Bay were removed from the sale to maintain recreation values, and that P&T had offered to sell the land to the province for $1, provided the province does the survey work. Taylor listed gravel sources that were also removed from the sale because they were important for maintaining and developing roads. He said two lots in the Trout Lake area were identified as critical caribou habitat, so they were removed from sales.
Domestic watersheds, water points of diversion, wildlife habitat for caribou and ungulates, old growth management areas, visual management areas and recreation areas were values that were considered as part of a process to come up with land for sale. He said the process was relatively new to those involved.
Karen Hamling opened the public statements by reminding the ministry of the massive amount of public input that was forwarded to the minister of forests last year. “I’m hoping that the over 600 letters and emails and phone calls that this community made is being taken into consideration. I’m also hoping that the 700 signature petition is taken into consideration,” she said.
She said the TFL has been eroded away over the years, including when the TFL licence was transferred and for mountain caribou habitat, and that further withdrawals are unacceptable.
Nakusp & District Chamber of Commerce president Ulrike Zobel spoke several times at the meeting. She questioned why the many faxes and emails seemed to have been overlooked so far, and pressed to find out if legal opinions had been gathered to see if there was a way to recover money owed to local contractors, questioning if the minister of forests couldn’t find a way to represent their interests. “Surely there must be some way to look at this to find a way to pay the people in this community who are owed a lot of money.”
She said the repercussion has created extreme hardship for individuals, companies and families in local communities. “I find that absolutely appalling that there hasn’t been any public effort that I know of made to find some way to pay these people back,” she said.
Nakusp employment counsellor Susan Gustafson said she was one of the only busy people in town these days. “I’ve first hand seen the trauma that’s happening in this community to all our displaced forest workers.” She noted previous comments that land sales had been cancelled to protect caribou, campsites and log dumps. “I’m wondering if [the minister’s] integrity and compassion could extend to a bit of a sweetheart deal to support the community, as well as caribou,” she said.
Dan Wiebe of Box Lake Lumber raised a point regarding money that was put in trust with P&T. Aside from money that was never paid for work done by local contractors, they were never paid back deposits they gave to P&T. Contractors are required to put up the deposits as a type of insurance. For example, if the contractor causes environmental damage that the company is required to mitigate, the licensee would access the trust deposit to rectify the situation. “That’s like a crime,” he said. “Someone should be put in jail for that. If I put up money in trust and it’s put in the blend and disappears...” he said to an overwhelming applause. He pushed for the ministry of forests to rectify the trust fund issue. “That’s our only ace in the hole. We’re asking they don’t give it away,” he said later.
Ken Taylor responded by saying he made every effort to get the money released, but he wasn’t successful. “Sureties were one area where I did question the company and request they be released, and I agree that they have not been released,” he said.
Mayor Hamling said that trust fund issue should be considered separate from general monies owed, and Wiebe’s questioning led to several other comments questioning what had happened with the trust money.
Nakusp resident Laurie Page implored the ministry to consider public values. “The minister should be working for the people, and not the company.” She questioned the timing of the consultation, wondering why it took a year for community consultations to take place. “It doesn’t seem like it was done in consultation with our local politicians ... which would have been the proper thing to do.”
Resident Barb Chwachka questioned the meaning of “higher purpose” as a reason for removing the lands from the TFL. “The schedule ‘A’ lands can be removed for a higher purpose. I really question that the higher purpose used for this land is used to pay off a company’s debt that hasn’t managed their company properly,” she said, also to an applause.
David Morel, executive director, timber and revenue division, with the ministry of forests explained that under the Forestry Act they have the obligation to review applications to remove private lands from TFLs, and this was what they were currently doing.
Independent consultant Mike Geisler repeatedly implored everyone in the crowd and all community members to put their comments in writing, saying this was by far the most effective way of submitting input, as they will be attached as is to his report. Comments can be sent to him directly by e-mail at mgeisler@shaw.ca, or they can be mailed to Mike Geisler, RRI S12 C31, South Slocan, B.C. V0G 2G0. The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2008.
More information on the proposed removal is available at the ministry of forests’ Southern Interior forests region website at www.for.gov.bc.ca/rsi/. Follow the links to find comment forms, maps of the areas in question, as well as Pope & Talbot’s submission to the Ministry of Forests to have the private lands removed from the TFL.
