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Feds fork out beetle money |
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Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
and MARK NEILSON
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 21 May 2008 |
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PRINCE GEORGE AIRPORTFRASER LAKEDICK HARRIS
The projects are meant to help the fopest-based communities diversify their economies. The communities are in the heart of the beetle epidemic and will be hit by a drop in timber supply, and with it, a decrease in forestry-related jobs.
The $130,000 study in Fort St. James will identify how to expand the region's farm base, and try to find new "business opportunities."
In Fraser Lake, $80,000 is being put up to study the development of a new waterfront recreation site for residents and tourists.
In Vanderhoof, $420,000 is being provided to beautify the community’s downtown core. Work will include new and improved sidewalks, street lights, landscaping, catch basis and telephone lines.
"The government of Canada is helping turn this challenge into an economic opportunity for communities at risk from the infestation," said Cariboo-Prince George Conservative MP Dick Harris.
The funding for the three communities is part of $33 million the federal government set aside to assist communities with economic growth and job creation. The $33 million, in turn, is part of $200 million in beetle aid the Conservative government has promised to spend last year and this year.
Beetle aid funding has helped support projects like the $33-million Prince George Airport runway expansion.
The beetle epidemic now covers about 13.5 million hectares, an area more than twice the size of Vancouver Island.
The mid-term timber supply is expected to drop 33 to 45 per cent in the vast northern and Interior regions hit by the beetle epidemic, with communities like Burns Lake and Quesnel estimated to take an even harder hit, in the most recent analysis from the B.C. Ministry of Forests released last fall.
The decline in mid-term timber supply -- up to 60 years -- is expected to begin in four or five years in some areas.
The Canadian Forest Service has estimated that a conservative 17-per-cent decrease in the timber supply in the Prince George timber supply area, which includes Vanderhoof and Fort St. James, would cause a job loss of 2,900.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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